Pros, streamers, and content creators dissatisfied with SBMM in Call Of Duty: Black Ops Cold War

Call Of Duty: Black Ops Cold War's skill-based matchmaking has a large section of the player base upset.

While the game is still in its early days, various streamers, YouTubers, and popular pro gamers have raised their voices about the matchmaking in COD: Black Ops Cold War.

Following up on the events of the first Black Ops game, this title is set in the 1980s during the perilous times of the Cold War. Regardless of its brilliant single-player plot, players are avoiding the game as it shockingly doesn't account for competitive integrity. The multiplayer side of things apparently leaves much to be desired, especially if players aren't looking to play too competitively.

Further, popular streamers like Timothy "TimTheTatMan" Betar, Seth "Scump" Abner, Kyle "Mongraal" Jackson, and others have also openly criticized the matchmaking and ranking process.

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Popular streamers and COD legends react to SBMM in Call Of Duty: Black Ops Cold War

According to several experts, Call Of Duty: Black Ops Cold War still has a long way to go in terms of providing an enjoyable multiplayer experience. With the way things are going, Black Ops Cold War may earn a bad reputation for the entire Call Of Duty franchise.

Esports Talk made several videos highlighting what streamers said about SBMM. It is not just professional players who have their concerns but also regular content creators that are just trying to make creative videos.

The latest Esports Talk video features TimTheTatMan ranting about how SBMM isn't an enjoyable experience in Call Of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. TimTheTatMan said the following:

"I'm smart enough to know that SBMM is literal dog ***t bro. Its trash, it is garbage. There should not be an SBMM in casual, period, end of story. If you have a ranked mode where you earn a rank and compete at a level, there it is, that is your ranked skill-based matchmaking mode."

TimTheTatMan's point was about SBMM ruining casual game modes. One of the main reasons for this is that in Call Of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, there is no dedicated ranked mode.

He also mentioned how professional Call Of Duty players like Scump do not have a K/D ratio higher than 2.0. He also added that this means that the game is going wrong somewhere.

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Related - Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War voice actors reveal problems behind developing a game during the pandemic

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Community stands divided against SBMM debate in COD: Black Ops Cold War

When it comes to Activision, they can easily have two separate modes, one for ranked and the other for casual games. Matthew "Nadeshot" Hagg spoke extensively about why this would ease up things in Call Of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. In the video below, Nadeshot talks about exactly how SBMM is affecting shooter games.

It seems that Call Of Duty: Black Ops Cold War has restrained professional players from rising above a 2.0 K/D ratio. Recently, Censor posted a tweet explaining how SBMM is a broken system in COD: Black Ops Cold War.

The question boils down to whether a game that effectively doesn't have a ranked mode should feature SBMM. This system may be beneficial for casual players, but not so much for professionals or content creators who built a brand around creative videos or pub stomping.

SBMM tries its best to balance out matches so that a solo player would have a fair chance against a lobby containing groups of people. Casual players are obviously ranked against players of their skill and this makes for less infuriating gameplay for them. In contrast, content creators and streamers have a higher skill ceiling.

So, the issue here for content creators and streamers is that they cannot dominate public lobbies anymore due to SBMM. Queueing up in lobbies where everyone is trying incredibly hard to win is not always for making content.

While both sides have equally valid points, a ranked system seems essential for SBMM to function in any shooter game. Hopefully, Activision and Treyarch will find a solution for all these problems in Call Of Duty: Black Ops Cold War soon enough.

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