Apex Legends' skill-based matchmaking algorithm has been such a hot and divisive topic that Respawn now use it as a reference point for the community's anger. Anger or not, though, it's not going away.
It's not hard to see why has Respawn been reluctant to discuss SBMM since, because no math was sufficient to prove that SBMM is good for the game.
In an interview with VG247, Apex Legends game director Chad Grenier practically repeated what the studio was saying from the get-go - they have tested and retested the game with and without SBMM, and the results are clear.
"It's clearly good for the game. I know that we get backlash from certain key players who want to go pubstomp people, but for every person pubstomping, there's many victims that have the opposite experience, where they're getting smacked. We need skill-based matchmaking", he said.
Emotionally charged accounts normally aren't very scientific account, but one thing kept popping up in just about every post - SBMM usually punished players up the skill ladder the most, pitting them against Predators regularly.
Design director Jason McCord reminded, however, that Apex Legends' matchmaking is a complex process and that delivering perfect matches isn't always so simple.
"I get that you expect a perfect match, I really do, I’m not being sarcastic, but there's only so many people playing in Iowa at 2am. And the options are, we either expand you out and you have a bad ping, you could matchmake with Tokyo or whatever, but you won’t have a good game. Or we can let you sit forever, and then you will never play", he said.
Respawn
You can find the full interview here .
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