There Call of Duty: Vanguard Beta is currently underway on PlayStation (here are all the dates, if you are interested), and even before the official confirmation of the developers, it seems to have reiterated the return of one of the most articulated and criticized dynamics of the last few years of the Activision series: the SBMM.
With this Beta version, Sledgehammer Games is allowing users to try Call of Duty: Vanguard for the first time in anticipation of the game’s release, set for November 5th – and despite only a few weeks left until its release, there are already those who think. to Call of Duty 2022 and 2023. Just last night the first update of the Vanguard Beta arrived with some new features, including changes to the playlists and the first details on the feedback received from users.
We remind you again that this Beta phase is reserved only for PlayStation users, but in the coming weeks even Xbox and PC players will be able to play the title in preview.
READ ALSO: Vanguard Beta, all the details on dates, contents and platforms
We were saying, with the Beta, players have begun to understand that the SBMM will also return to Vanguardand this has already begun to cause discussion.
The SBMM, or Skill-based Matchmakingis a practice that Activision has now included on a permanent basis within its Call of Duty series titles, which basically tends to match players in multiplayer lobbies who have the same, or almost the same level of experience – experience understood as skill, and not as level, equipment, weapons, etc.
The controversy surrounding the SBMM, which Activision has claimed to be present in many, if not all, of the Call of Duty games, broke out fiercely during the first months of Black Ops Cold War. As we also told you in our special article dating back to many months ago, the SBMM of the latest Treyarch game has included some very questionable dynamics, so much so as to give rise to new discussions:
Activision and Treyarch have detailed how SBMM works and the entire Black Ops Cold War matchmakingwhich, surprise of surprises, is capable of change the experience of the player in the game according to his statistics, skills, history on the game. In essence, this algorithm is able to improve the assisted aim of a “poor” user, so to speak, or to worsen it for all those users who otherwise would have no problem leaving behind blood trails on the title.
SBMM in Vanguard? It seems so
Will the much-talked-about dynamic multiplayer return to Call of Duty: Vanguard? It seems so, and the main clue comes from the Beta where, at the end of each online game, the lobbies are dissolved with matchmaking that looks for new combinations, which also happened in Modern Warfare and, as mentioned, in Black Ops Cold War.
The COD community appears to have divergent opinions regarding this feature. Many believe that the dissolution of the lobbies is proof that the SBMM will be at the forefront. Others believe that disbandment is simply a way to keep opponents always different, thus suggesting that Skill-based Matchmaking will not be present. Forecasts, the latter, a little too optimistic, given the precedents.
Pending official confirmation from Sledgehammer Games, the impression that most of the community has at the moment is that the SBMM will be present in Vanguard, and that its effects are already being seen in the Beta. Various users, as has often happened in recent times, complain about Activision’s choice to revive the SBMM and the forced change of lobbies in every game, regretting what happened with the old titles of the series.
What do you think of the potential return of Skill-based Matchmaking in Vanguard?
Call of Duty: Vanguard will be available from November 5th on PS5, Xbox Series X | S, PS4, Xbox One and PC.
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