The design director at Treyarch addressed the recent controversy surrounding Call of Duty: Black Ops 7's skill-based matchmaking, debunking claims of adjustments for the holiday season. The debut of the latest mega-popular shooter franchise was among the biggest new games of 2025, and in just one month it has already become one of the 10 best-selling releases of the year. However, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7The launch was not without controversy.
While Black Ops 7The opening weekend saw a lot of players trying out the game, the game has struggled with retention since its debut. Many reports cited Black Ops 7Sales are significantly lower than the franchise's previous entry, with opening week sales ending up 50% lower than Black Ops 6. Latest Call of Duty it also saw a poor reception from fans, with many criticizing the game's story and single-player components to the point where the review was even bombarded by gamers. Now, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7Online multiplayer is the latest target of fan ire Call of Dutyskill-based matchmaking systems.
The next double XP weekend in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is happening sooner than you think
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 continues to keep Double XP rolling as developer Treyarch Studios reveals another weekend event.
Black Ops 7 Dev Addresses Fan Concerns About SBMM
Call of Duty design director Matt Scronce responded to fan complaints about the game's skill-based matchmaking systems. The comment is from a fan complaining about SBMM in Call of Dutyhe theorized that the queues were changed for the holiday season. Scronce bluntly replied that the systems weren't tweaked at all, disproving the idea that Treyarch had changed the skill-based matchmaking systems to suit holiday players. Skill-based matchmaking, as the name would suggest, takes into account various factors from K/D ratio to objective play when pairing players, attempting to match players with others of a similar skill level.
Black Ops 7's matchmaking has already been a point of controversy for fans of both SBMM and Warzonenew open matchmaking. Skill-based matchmaking often drew backlash from fans who felt that the constant effort to match up against similarly skilled players made casual matches too competitive. Treyarch has officially added “open matchmaking” to it. Warzone December 4 with the intention of reducing complaints about constant skill-based matchmaking. However, Treyarch confirmed that not long after the debut of open matchmaking, many Call of Duty fans have already moved back to the Standard Moshpit queue, claiming that the system doesn't feel the same as the open beta version.
Black Ops 7 has struggled in its opening months
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7The company's rocky start was coupled with the massive success of one of the franchise's biggest rivals. EA and Dice officially presented the long-awaited Battlefield 6 in October when a huge number of players showed up during the release weekend. Battlefield 6 eclipsed 700,000 players on Steam and sold over 7 million copies within days of its launch, making it the biggest launch in franchise history. The shooter even topped the sales charts in its debut month of October, beating out another gaming mainstay Pokemon Legends: ZA.
Although Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 slipped a bit out of the gate, the game will look forward to another bounce in 2026. Black Ops 7The Ranked queue is expected to be officially added to the game after the launch of Season 2 in early February, with Treyarch yet to share any full details about the mode. Next month's Season 1 Reloaded update has also been confirmed, bringing an exciting new crossover to the game Fallout 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 on the way to the game.
- Released
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November 14, 2025
- ESRB
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Adults 17+ / Blood and gore, Intense violence, Strong language, Themes, Drug use