'Warzone': A supposed ex-Activision staff details SBMM involving microtransactions

Some from the “Call of Duty: Warzone” player base – for quite a while now have been speculating the presence of skill-based matchmaking in the game, though Activision-Blizzard remained tight-lipped about it. However, this individual is said to be a former employee of the game publisher, claiming that there is indeed SBMM in the battle royale shooter, and it’s based on the game’s microtransactions.

'Warzone' SBMM and microtransactions

This was revealed over on Reddit in an AskReddit thread about people who are “no longer bound by their NDA,” Dexerto noted.

The post was since deleted, but the website managed to get a screenshot of it as it discussed the above-mentioned matchmaking system. The post has detailed how this system works in “Warzone,” and one would think that the person exposing it was not merely making a claim.

Per the post, it highlighted that Activision has a “fully functional matchmaking algorithm for ‘Call of Duty.’” Further, it explained that the alleged SBMM in “Warzone” matches players against each other based on a combination of skill, purchased microtransactions, and preferred weapon used in-game.

The OP meant that if a player in “Warzone” bought a $20 skin for a sniper rifle, the matchmaking system would then pit them against a lesser skilled player who also prefers the same sniper rifle.

With that in mind, its purpose is to push that less-skilled player to purchase that sniper rifle skin since he/she has already been given a false impression that the person who beat him performed better in the game because of the weapon skin. Now that’s pretty a stealthy marketing strategy, to say the least.

Proven effective

The leaker – who goes by the moniker DifferentWalk – stated that this system had been tested in the final release of a game, adding that such a method saw a surge in microtransaction sales while being tested. However, he’s no longer sure if the system is still active since he’s no longer with Activision.

'Call of Duty' players deemed it as 'horrifying'

If such a system exists, this one’s without a doubt “horrifying,” as one of the commenters described it. Albeit the fact that the level of detail to this would make most “Warzone” players believe. It should still be chewed on with some pinches of salt. At the time of writing, Activision has yet to comment on this allegation.

It can be recalled that the public relations for Activision admitted that there was indeed a system but clarified that this was not used in-game. Nonetheless, the above-mentioned information popped up on the web, and the “Call of Duty” community, especially “Warzone” players, couldn’t help but muse about it. They’ve been raising their concerns about both SBMM and microtransactions in the game for quite a while now, as some of them are given the impression that Activision is not doing anything to alleviate it.