A new leak regarding Battlefield 7 forced developers from EA’s DICE studio to speak out to reassure players and discourage them from discussing matchmaking „out of context”.
Contents:
- Not only skill
- «Enough of this» — dev comments on discussions about SBMM «without context»
The developers of the new Battlefield had to reassure players who were upset about the inclusion of an unpopular matchmaking solution in the upcoming release.
For some, the matchmaking system is the hidden villain of online action games. This is all about its variant known as SBMM, which is matchmaking based on player abilities (Skill Based Matchmaking).
Some fans of multiplayer mode believe that this solution ruins their fun. Mainly because (ironically) it requires constant play with evenly matched opponents, killing the chance to dominate the server. The episode from the history of the now-abandoned XDefiant might suggest that for some players, the issue wasn’t matchmaking, yet criticism of SBMM remains widespread for various other reasons.
That’s why it’s not surprising that the discovery of mentions of such a form of matchmaking in the test version code of the new Battlefield didn’t delight many fans of the series (via Reddit / X). Even people who argue that this is not just a «chase for trends,» but a justified move by EA DICE, don’t hide their disappointment with the developers’ decision.
Not only skill
The players’ reaction is telling, as not one, but two developers of the upcoming BF (via Reddit) responded to the dataminers’ discovery. David Sirland, the creator, confirmed that there are elements of SBMM in Battlefield 7, but he emphasized that the game’s matchmaking will focus on quickly matching players, and that the «skill-based sorting» will have a «minimal» impact.
The dev pointed out that when gamers criticize SBMM, they’re actually referring to its extreme version, which prioritizes matching players based on their in-game performance. Nonetheless, skill, according to Sirland, must be a factor in matchmaking. In the end, as he explains, scenarios where all the «talented» players are on the same team in every match wouldn’t be fun for anyone in the long run.
«Enough of this» — dev comments on discussions about SBMM «without context»
In the same thread, Kevin «T0TALFPS» Johnson, the community manager at EA DICE, also spoke out. He seemed a bit irritated by the discussion about something that has not even been officially confirmed. He highlighted that there is an appropriate time and place for unveiling and discussing game elements, but currently, players are speaking «out of context,» harming the discourse and breaching the non-disclosure agreement (NDA).
There is a specific time and place for the wider community to learn about new features and functionalities, and this is not it. We will address various topics and expand participation in Battlefield Labs when appropriate, but the constant reposting of things is not that time or place. Individuals are and will continue to be removed [from participating in tests] if they continue to violate the NDA that they agreed to.
Information and content that gets shared is out of context and often with a narrative wrapped around it that is doing damage to the trust and transparency we want to establish [in our interactions with fans]. Things simply are not the same when it comes to hearing about something out of context versus actually experiencing it — or reading about it in detail with the correct descriptions around it.
While the allure of brief internet fame might be tempting, it undermines our efforts to remain open and communicative. And quite honestly, if that is your intention, then I question where this aligns with the interests of our community.
Some fans understand Johnson’s frustration (and creators in general) with leaks from Battlefield Labs, but they also point out that players have reasons to keep an eye on the devs. The last Battlefield was a big disappointment for fans of the series, who had already lost patience with EA DICE. The studio doesn’t have any credibility, even after the cautiously enthusiastic reactions of players to the Battlefield Labs leaks so far. Well, for most of them…
