Activision report claims players don't hate SBMM as much as they say they do

If you were to look at any of the conversations among players regarding skill-based matchmaking (SBMM) in Call of Duty, Destiny, and other first-person shooters in the last few years, one would think the system is one of the most problematic of all time with regular arguments over whether it’s fair or not. Activision just added fuel to that fire, but not in the way one might not expect. According to a report from the publisher, a majority of Call of Duty played less if SBMM wasn’t in effect.

The report from Activision regarding SBMM was posted this last week, as shared by GamesIndustry.biz. The report reveals that Activision performed a test back in early 2024 with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 in which it loosened the constraints and workings of SBMM. Activision claims this resulted in over 90 percent of the Call of Duty playerbase playing less. Meanwhile, quit rates in matches spiked by about 80 percent during the test.

Activision quit rate chart from its deprioritized SBMM test showing a severe spike in mid-match quitting.
Source: Activision

Activision went on to share the conclusions it drew from the stats collected in its testing:

So it seems that despite loud arguments to the contrary, it seems players actually enjoy SBMM in first-person shooters more than they think they do, and it seems just as likely that Activision is going to keep the system running strong in the likes of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 this coming October. Stay tuned as we continue to follow this story for further updates.