Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 developer Treyarch is reminding players what playlists do and don’t have skill-based matchmaking (SBMM), stating it’s “committed” to its current approach.
In a post on X, Treyarch said it was following discussions surrounding Black Ops 7 multiplayer, and wanted to “assure everyone of a few things.” Those few things are that the game’s Open playlists and Quick Play use what Treyarch calls “open matchmaking,” where skill is “minimally considered.”
They also feature persistent lobbies from match to match that, when combined with Quick Play, results in what Treyarch states are “unique interactions that we are monitoring to improve over time.”
The decision to not include SBMM has been a major discussion point for Black Ops 7, after years of calls for it to be removed by some vocal players, not only in Call of Duty but in other shooters as well. Ubisoft’s short-lived XDefiant looked to capitalize on its lack of SBMM. Call of Duty’s main rival this year, Battlefield 6, does use SBMM to some extent, but also factors in a player’s location, ping, and server availability when putting together a match.
While most modes and playlists in Black Ops 7 multiplayer don’t use SBMM, there are a few that do. Those include a rotating Moshpit playlist and the game’s ranked mode.
Black Ops 7 received its latest patch on November 16, which fixed exploits in the Ashes of the Damned Zombies map, issues related to custom loadouts when using Spanish as the in-game language, and a bug that saw selected game modes in the Quick Play filter sometimes become inverted.
In other Black Ops 7 news, Activision confirmed in a statement that its developers do use AI tools, but that “our creative process continues to be led by the talented individuals in our studios” amidst players accusing Black Ops 7 of using AI to generate artwork for Calling Cards. The game’s Steam page also discloses that AI was used to develop some in-game assets.
In GameSpot’s Black Ops 7 review, reviewer S.E. Doster called the game’s multiplayer package “a fresh experience that avoids any dreaded fatigue,” while its co-op campaign “is not one of Treyarch’s strongest campaigns” despite some strong emotional character moments that tie back to Black Ops 2.