Does XDefiant have SBMM?
UbisoftXDefiant is slated to release late summer, so we now know its before September 2.
Skill-based matchmaking (SBMM) has been a frequent complaint from Call of Duty players in recent years, and with the optimistically-acclaimed “COD Killer” XDefiant on the horizon, players have been curious as to whether Ubisoft’s upcoming FPS will also have SBMM.
XDefiant is due to come out in Summer 2023, though an exact date has yet to be confirmed after two rounds of beta testing.
At this point in the Modern Warfare 2 lifecycle, many players are attempting to find new games to play or mix things up with something different to grinding out multiplayer and Warzone 2 battle royale every day.
This rings especially true as the wait for the next COD title, reported to be Modern Warfare 3, is starting to pick up, and XDefiant looks set to fill that gap.
Is there SBMM in XDefiant?
In a studio blog post in October 2022, it was confirmed that XDefiant casual play will not have SBMM. Instead, matchmaking will be based on ping.
However, ranked play will feature SBMM, so as to correctly pair players of the same caliber with and against one another.
This is something that has been widely celebrated by Call of Duty players looking to try something different and start playing other games more, especially when paired with more traditional COD features such as map voting, an old-school minimap, and more.
Mark Rubin, an executive producer on the game, previously helped develop the original Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Modern Warfare 2 games, in 2007 and 2009. He has also long been anti-SBMM, posting a thread about it on Twitter in October 2022.
Evidently, SBMM is not in the works for XDefiant, and based on Rubin’s comments we should never expect it to be. So, if you’ve long hated the use of it in Call of Duty, XDefiant may grant you a reprieve.
