Apex Legends players have hit out at developers’ philosophy with skill-based matchmaking, with fans claiming the current system is “killing” the game.
Skill-based matchmaking (SBMM) is featured in just about every multiplayer game out there now, and it’s absolutely crucial in determining the players you’re matched with in games like Apex Legends.
Though the goal of putting you among players at a similar skill level is an attempt to make it a fair playing ground, Apex players often get frustrated with the system.
It’s believed that the standard SBMM approach takes into account stats such as K.D, playtime, rank, and more. However, many fans believe Respawn have included recent performances in their algorithm for Apex Legends, which they claim is “killing” the game.
Apex players claim SBMM is “killing” the game
In a November 13 Reddit thread, Apex player ‘Riflejustbadengine’ hit out at the SBMM system, and kicked off a community-wide discussion on the matter.
“It’s pretty common knowledge at this point, but the apex devs have said that they purposefully make games easier or harder based on past performances,” the player wrote. “What is different about how Respawn does it, is they will make sure the highs are super out of reach and the lows are extremely below your current skill level.
“This is why you can get in the top 3 teams at level 200 and suddenly get places in a masters three-stack pubs. Respawn’s justification for this awful system is that this improves and lengthens playtime.”
They continued: “It also makes people stop playing much earlier as well. Who wants to play against a three-stack pred team in pubs? The answer is practically zero.”
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“My question is how are these two games anywhere close to the same skill level? Should good SBMM slowly increase and decrease based on average performance instead of saying, you got close to a win, so we are going to punish you with the hardest lobby we can create.
“Honestly, the issue is just that, punishing players for good games by placing them in lobbies they are intended to lose in,” the player added.
While no one but the devs knows how the system actually works, other players added in their thoughts, many of which agreed that the system has its flaws.
“It’s a cruel sbmm you literally getting railed first couple of games then sbmm throws you a bone and give you an easier lobby you do well and it’s back to sweatville,” one wrote.
“Once you know how the SBMM works, the game becomes almost insulting and extremely unfun,” said another.
Although it hasn’t been proven that SBMM takes your recent performance into consideration, fans certainly want some changes to the system.
With Season 16 set to kick off in February, there’s plenty of time for the devs to make some improvements.
