Playing solo
You are matched on your own skill
- Your percentile is the center of the search.
- Ping and wait time still come first.
Lobbies sit close to your recent level, then loosen if the search takes long.
MatchmakingMW4 and Black Ops 7
How SBMM Works in Call of DutyWhat Activision's Own Matchmaking Research Shows
Skill based matchmaking is real, but it isn’t the strongest force in your lobby. Activision published how its system works, with test results. This guide walks through it in plain words: what gets measured, how a lobby is built, and why your streaks happen even when every match is fair.
By Herberth "ARES" Andrade9 min read
- Factors
- 8
- Heaviest factor
- Connection
- Search cycle
- Every 5 s
- Source
- Activision 2024
TL
TL;DR
SBMM in One Screen
What it is
One of eight matchmaking factors
Connection weighs the most and time to match comes second. Skill sits next to platform, input, voice chat and playlist.
What it measures
Recent match performance
Your level and your hours played aren’t part of it. Self kills don’t lower it.
When loosened
90% of players came back less
Activision's 2024 test in Modern Warfare III. Only the top 10% returned more often.
Your streaks
About 3% get five in a row
Even with perfectly equal matches, roughly 3% of players lose five straight and 3% win five straight.
The basics
What SBMM Actually Is in Call of Duty
SBMM stands for skill based matchmaking. In Call of Duty it’s one input in a matchmaker that weighs eight things at once, and Activision ranks two of them above skill.
Activision's own wording is "Ping is King". Connection is the most heavily weighted factor, time to match is the second, and skill is one of six factors that come after them. That ranking explains most of what players blame on SBMM. If you just want lighter opposition for a camo or a level grind, that’s a separate route: Call of Duty bot lobbies put you in sessions built for it. The rest of this guide is about the normal matchmaker.
Connection
The most critical and most heavily weighted factor. Your ping to the data center comes first.
Time to match
The second most critical factor. The system trades precision for a faster start.
Skill and performance
Lets players of every level matter in their matches.
Recent maps and modes
Maps you just played and the mode preferences you set in Quick Play.
Playlist diversity
How many playlists are open, which splits or concentrates the player pool.
Input device
Controller or mouse and keyboard.
Platform
The device you play on, PC or console.
Voice chat
Voice chat on or off.
Your skill number
How Your Skill Number Is Calculated
Skill is a single value for how well you’re expected to perform in a mode, based on how you have played.
After every match
- 1
A performance metric is computed for every player
The metric is set per mode. It only ever uses match performance.
- 2
Everyone is compared to everyone
All players in the match are compared to one another, regardless of team.
- 3
Your value moves by how surprising your result was
The adjustment is inversely proportional to how likely your outcome was against that lobby. A big game against strong players moves you more.
- 4
Raw skill becomes a percentile
Raw skill lives between -1.0 and 1.0. For grouping, it’s converted to a percentile of the whole population.
Why Activision doesn’t just use K/D
| Simple metric | The problem Activision found |
|---|---|
| Total kills | Too many players tie, and it ignores survival. 10 kills and 1 death beats 10 kills and 20 deaths. |
| Kill/death ratio | Self kills would let a player drop their own skill on purpose. |
| Kills per enemy death | Blocks self kills, but treats a full match and the last minute the same. |
What isn’t in your skill
Your player level, your prestige and the hours you have played aren’t factored in. Only how you perform in matches counts.
Inside the matchmaker
How a Lobby Gets Built
The matchmaker runs in short cycles and relaxes its rules the longer you wait.
Every five seconds the system tries to match everyone searching. Each search gets a position made of three things: where you are (a stand-in for your ping), your skill percentile and your control scheme. Candidates are sorted by that distance, and skill is only slightly weighted. When two candidates are about as close geographically, the one with the closer skill goes first.
The rules that shape your lobby
- Skill similarity: parties in a lobby should have a similar average skill.
- Skill disparity: parties with a big gap between their best and worst player are grouped together where possible.
- Backoffs: every rule loosens as your search ages, and skill loosens faster than ping.
- Team balance: lobbies up to 12v12 are checked against every possible split, and the one with the smallest skill gap wins.
- Party size: new lobbies always start with even team sizes.
- Backfill: a player joining mid match can never make the team imbalance worse.
Playing in a party
You are matched in the middle
- Activision's example: a 50th percentile player with a 99th percentile friend.
- Matching on either player's skill would leave one of them outclassed.
The party is placed between both levels, so the weaker player still meets some even opponents.
What the data shows
What Happened When Activision Loosened Skill
In early 2024, Activision ran a Deprioritize Skill Test in Modern Warfare III across half of North America. Skill was reduced in the matchmaker, not removed.
| What was measured | Result with skill loosened |
|---|---|
| Players returning within 14 days | Down for 90% of players. Up only for the top 10%. |
| Quit rate during matches | Up for 80% of players. Down meaningfully only for the top 10%. |
| Team Deathmatch blowouts | Up for every skill group. A blowout is a win by more than 30. |
| Kills per minute | Down for the bottom 20 to 30%. Flat for the next 60%. Up for the top 10%. |
Older tests point the same way. In Modern Warfare (2019), looser matching lowered player counts and raised quit rates, and protecting only the bottom 25% while loosening everyone else also hurt within two weeks. Activision also tried tighter matching in Modern Warfare III: quit rate fell for 90% of players, but high skill players had a worse time, so it was not kept.
What this means for you
SBMM isn’t going away. If you sit in the top tenth, your lobbies are tuned to cost you some easy games. Everyone else is the reason it exists.
Lighter lobbies
Rather Skip the Sweaty Matches?
Play on your own profile against easier opponents while a top player sets up the session for you.
Win and loss streaks
Why You Still Get Streaks in Fair Matches
A run of bad games feels like the system punishing you. The math says streaks happen on their own.
In five perfectly even matches, about 3% of players lose all five and about 3% win all five. Across millions of players, that’s a lot of people.
Small gaps decide matches. In a 12 player lobby of average players, swapping one of them for an 80th percentile player gives that team a 70% plus chance to win.
Your skill updates after every match, so a great game is followed by a tougher lobby. A system that reacts slowly would leave you in mismatched games longer.
Ranked Play
SBMM Compared With Ranked Play
Ranked Play works differently. Activision says skill isn’t isolated as a factor in Ranked matchmaking, because players have to qualify for those modes and the mode is built to be competitive. Unranked playlists use the system above so that new and casual players can still matter in their matches. If your goal is the grind itself, camos, prestige and levels, our Call of Duty boosting page covers how we handle it.
Practical moves
What You Can Actually Control
You can’t switch SBMM off, but several of the inputs are yours.
Inputs you decide
- Your connection: a wired connection and a stable route to the nearest data center help the heaviest factor.
- Who you queue with: a party is matched between its players, so a mixed group changes your lobbies.
- Your input device: controller and mouse and keyboard are part of the search.
- Your playlists: more playlists selected means a bigger pool and a faster match.
- Recent maps and mode preferences, editable in Quick Play.
- Voice chat on or off.
What doesn’t work
Killing yourself to drop your skill doesn’t count, because Activision's metric ignores self kills. A distant VPN server adds ping, and ping is the factor that weighs the most.
FAQ
Questions Players Ask
What does SBMM stand for in Call of Duty?+
SBMM means skill based matchmaking. In Call of Duty it’s one of eight matchmaking factors. Connection and time to match weigh more, according to Activision.
Does SBMM use my K/D ratio?+
No single K/D is used. Activision computes a mode-specific performance metric after every match and compares you with everyone in the lobby, regardless of team. Plain K/D was rejected because self kills could lower it on purpose.
Does my level or play time affect SBMM?+
No. Activision states that player progression and total time spent playing aren’t factored into skill. Only match performance counts.
Why do I get a hard lobby right after a good game?+
Your skill value updates after every match, and the change is bigger when your result was unlikely. A strong game against good players moves you up quickly, so the next search aims higher.
Does playing with a friend change my matches?+
Yes. A party is matched between its players. Activision uses the example of a 50th percentile player with a 99th percentile friend: the party lands in the middle so neither extreme decides the lobby.
Can you turn SBMM off in Call of Duty?+
No. Activision tested loosening it in Modern Warfare III in 2024 and in earlier titles. Fewer players came back and more players quit matches, so skill stays in the matchmaker.
Does SBMM make my ping worse?+
Connection is the heaviest factor, and the matchmaker relaxes skill faster than ping while it searches. Activision measured absolute ping as consistent across skill levels, slightly lower for the best players.
Does a VPN help with SBMM?+
Your location is part of how searches are matched, and connection quality is the factor that weighs the most. A distant VPN server raises your ping, so it works against the thing the matchmaker values most.
Is SBMM used in Ranked Play?+
Ranked Play has its own design. Activision says skill isn’t isolated as a factor there, since players must qualify and the mode is built to be competitive.
About the Author
Herberth "ARES" Andrade
Founder of EloAscend
Herberth runs EloAscend, where high level Call of Duty players handle camo, prestige and level orders every day. This guide is built on the matchmaking research Activision published, read in full.
Next step
Put the Grind on Easy Mode
Lighter lobbies on your own profile, or a top player who handles camos and levels for you.
Sources
Editorial note: the author works at EloAscend, and this article links to EloAscend services. Every figure comes from the matchmaking research Activision published in 2024, read on October 16, 2026. Activision can change its matchmaking at any time; we update this page when it publishes new data.