XDefiant’s SBMM abandonment is key to avoid a “stale experience”

XDefiant's lack of Skill Based Match Making is a hit decision with players, and Ubisoft's Mark Rubin explains the "morality" behind it.

[MIDGETonSTILTS17]

Why is SBMM so unpopular?

Do people enjoy getting stomped by players far superior to themselves?

[ChasterMies]

This exactly. The majority of players, a.k.a. buyers, are casuals. A game can’t succeed if it’s only fun for streamers and hardcore players.

[BlackOni]

The issue is that every game becomes a competitive mode match that can sometimes also sacrifice ping over ensuring even matches. When every game becomes a "Who has the meta build and who can exploit the lag and desnyc" the best, it ruins the fun for a lot of people. Don't get me wrong, streamers don't mind a challenge, same with proficient players, but when it's literally every match? That's more draining than anything.

W/ SBMM, if you ain't using the best loadouts and coordinated with a specific team, you will absolutely lose every time.

[MIDGETonSTILTS17]

I think you are describing a bad game when their is ANY meta to follow.

And I don’t see how removing SBMM makes the game less meta-prone. If anything, it just seems to me to create an opportunity for mismatches in skill-level that make the outcome… predictable.

[BlackOni]

@MIDGETonSTILTS17

There's ranked mode for those who want to be matched based on skill. A solution to that already exists. To your point of skill level mismatches, with SBMM removed it randomizes when and where that occurs. There are still many instances where one team absolutely crushes the other with SBMM turned on. That will happen regardless, it's just a matter of frequency.

[gigoran8]

Streamers that play games 15 hours a day will love it. They get to crush casual bots all day long. I don't see the casual players hanging around for long. Where are Ubisoft going to be getting their DLC sales from? Not from streamers. They expect to be given that as a service for playing your game.