Call of Duty discusses matchmaking process for multiplayer games
Activision said it will actively discuss its multiplayer matchmaking process with Call of Duty fans in an effort to be more collaborative.
The company talked about its current process for multiplayer matchmaking in a blog post today, but it also said that it will discuss other matchmaking processes, such as for Warzone and Ranked Play, in the future. Activision will be testing refinements to matchmaking in the days to come.
The community refers to the matchmaking process as skill-based matchmaking, but while Call of Duty considers skill (or more specifically player performance) as a component as do most in the industry, the truth is that developers consider and prioritize several other factors when bringing players into lobbies.
Activision said it considers these factors in matchmaking right now:
- Connection — As the community will attest, ping, or response time, is king in Call of Duty matches. Connection is the most critical and heavily weighted factor in the matchmaking process.
- Time to match — This factor is the second most critical to the matchmaking process. All players want to spend time playing the game rather than waiting for matches to start, the devs said.
Other factors that matter are:
- Playlist diversity — The number of playlists available for players to choose from.
- Recent maps/modes — Considering maps players have recently played on as well as player mode preferences, editable in Quick Play settings.
- Skill/performance — This is used to give players –- a global community with a wide skill range -– the opportunity to have an impact in every match.
- Input device — Controller or mouse and keyboard.
- Platform — The device, PC or Console, that the player is playing on.
- Voice chat — Enabled or disabled.
Game data indicates that having some limitations on the disparity of skill across the players in a match makes for a healthier ecosystem. The devs also understand that many high skill players want more variety of experience, but often feel like they only get the “sweatiest” of lobbies. The devs have heard this feedback clearly and will continue to test and actively explore ways to mitigate this concern.
In addition to today's blog, the technology team is developing a ping and matchmaking white paper to provide more granular information about Call of Duty matchmaking. Call of Duty previously talked about matchmaking for the launch of Modern Warfare III Season One late last year.