There’s a recent trend in competitive first-person shooters that players aren’t thrilled about. Skill-based matchmaking (SBMM) dictates precisely what type of lobby you’ll wind up in, depending on how you play. Developers believe the community wants this feature to feel like they’re doing adequately at a game. We want to improve, not be coddled. So, does The Finals have SBMM?
Does The Finals Feature Skill-Based Matchmaking?
Yes, The Finals does utilize a type of SBMM to place you in a match with appropriately skilled players, as determined by an algorithm.
“We’ve made some changes to our skill-based matchmaking to ensure better-quality games… You should find yourselves in slightly closer matches.” This is the precise wording used by developer Embark Studios in an update in December, so we know that the competitive FPS has SBMM.
Related: Check Out The Finals Season 3 Patch Notes
What Does SBMM Do in First-Person Shooters?
The entire point of skill-based matchmaking is placing players of varying skill levels together to ensure the game feels well-balanced. For example, if you’re a low-skill player with little time to practice the game’s mechanics and movement, you’ll find yourself in a lobby with similar players. If you’re a high-skill player who streams on Twitch daily, you’ll wind up with other high-skill players.
Furthermore, you’ll find SBMM in most modern first-person shooters, such as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. I’d bet we see a similar system, if not the same mechanic, in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, too.
If you’re a big fan of PvP in modern gaming, you might want to check out Once Human. It’s an open-world survival game with PvP elements on specific servers! For more from the gaming world, don’t forget to sign up for the Insider Gaming Newsletter!
