A design director at Treyarch has addressed the recent controversy surrounding Call of Duty: Black Ops 7s skill-based matchmaking, refutes claims of adjustments for the holiday season. The debut of the mega-popular shooter franchise's latest entry has been among the biggest new games of 2025, already becoming one of the top 10 best-selling releases of the year in just one month. However, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7the launch has not been without a lot of controversy.
While Black Ops 7During the launch weekend many players tested the game, the game has struggled to maintain it since its debut. Many reports have cited Black Ops 7s sales are significantly lower than the franchise's previous entry, with opening week sales finishing 50% lower than Black Ops 6. The newest Call of Duty has also seen poor reception from fans, with many criticizing the game's story and single-player components to the point where it was even review-bombed by gamers. Now, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7s online multiplayer is the newest target of fan ire, rail against Call of Dutys skill-based matchmaking system.
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Black Ops 7 Dev Addresses Fans' Concerns About SBMM
Call of Duty design director Matt Scronce has responded to fan complaints about the game's skill-based matchmaking system. The comment came from a fan who complained about SBMM in Call of Dutywith a theory that the queues had changed for the holiday season. Scronce bluntly replied that the systems hadn't been tweaked at all, dispelling the idea that Treyarch had changed the skill-based matchmaking systems to account for holiday players. Skill-based matchmaking, as the name suggests, takes into account a variety of factors ranging from K/D ratio to objective play when pairing players, trying to match players with others of similar skill levels.
Black Ops 7s matchmaking has already been a controversial point for fans, both for SBMM and War zones new open matchmaking. Skill-based matchmaking has often received backlash from fans, with some feeling that the constant effort to match equally skilled players makes casual matches too competitive. Treyarch officially added “open matchmaking”. War zone on December 4th, with the intention of reducing complaints about constant skill-based matchmaking. However, Treyarch confirmed that many will open matchmaking not long after its debut Call of Duty fans were already moving back to the Standard Moshpit queue, claiming that the system didn't feel the same as the version in the open beta.
Black Ops 7 has struggled in its opening months
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7s rocky launch has been linked to the massive success of one of the franchise's biggest rivals. EA and Dice officially rolled out the long-awaited Battlefield 6 in October, sees huge players count for its release weekend. Battlefield 6 eclipsed 700,000 players on Steam and sold more than 7 million copies within just days of launch, making it the biggest launch in franchise history. The shooter even topped the sales charts for its debut month of October, knocking out another gaming pillar in the Pokemon Legends: ZA.
Fixed Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 has slipped a bit out of the gate, the game will look to rebound with more on the way in 2026. Black Ops 7s ranked queue is expected to be officially added to the game after the launch of Season 2 in early February, with Treyarch not sharing any full details about the mode yet. The Season 1 Reloaded update next month was also confirmed to bring an exciting new crossover to the game, with Fall-out cosmetics that will be introduced to the game in January. Black Ops 7 will look to right the ship in 2026 with some exciting new content coming for the game.
- Released
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November 14, 2025
- ESRB
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Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language, Suggestive Themes, Use of Drugs
