Apex Legends developer comments on skill-based matchmaking’s future

One of the biggest debates in the Apex Legends community deals with skill-based matchmaking (SBMM). Since the early seasons of the battle royale, fans have pleaded with Respawn Entertainment to remove the feature. However, when Season 5 rolled around, players were disappointed to see SBMM was as present as ever.

Still, this hasn’t deterred fans from asking Respawn developers to at least adjust the system. While a full removal seems unlikely, a developer has confirmed that the company is trying to improve the system in Apex Legends.

Skill-based matchmaking getting a rework in Apex Legends?

For months, we’ve heard Respawn say they’re aware of the community’s disdain for skill-based matchmaking. Though the feature is proven to help out lower-ranked players, it leaves the higher-ranked users in a state of flux. Essentially, Respawn has prioritized the less-skilled portions of the playerbase since this helps with retention in Apex Legends. If less-skilled players have it a bit easier, they have a better chance of coming back to keep playing.

Of course, this doesn’t help the many players that log on every day and have already become somewhat skilled at the game. However, it does appear that Respawn is actively looking to improve the SBMM system in Apex Legends. Developer @m_ray recently responded to a Twitter account asking about the current system.

hey sbmm guy, i appreciate the feedback (really!)

The intention of a matchmaker is to give you *better* (fairer) match, and it turns out that's not easy in a BR.

So for what it's worth, we're trying to INCREASE justice – precisely the opposite of the message you sent me 🌝

— emre the world's first and only gamer (@m_ray) July 10, 2020

According to m_ray, Respawn is still trying to figure out the best way to handle skill-based matchmaking. In his tweet, he talks about increasing justice, which simply means that the developers are looking at different ways of matching up higher-skilled players. Although it’s not the answer some fans want to hear, at least the dev team is working on a solution.

What do you think of skill-based matchmaking? Let us know, and keep up with Daily Esports for all Apex Legends news.