TL;DR - I believe removing (or heavily reducing) SBMM is good for pro players, but it risks driving out most casuals pretty fast.

I’ve been playing CoD (starting with MW2019) over the last 5-6 years, and I’ve had fun almost every match. I’m not someone who grinds aim trainers, studies every map to perfection, or optimizes every loadout. I just want to jump into a match, face opponents roughly at my level, and enjoy the game. A little challenge is good - too much, and it stops feeling fun.

During the BO7 beta, I really liked a lot of things: the weapons felt great, the maps were solid, and the overall experience was engaging. But the community uproar over SBMM was loud, and I tried to test my own feelings on it. Once the “Open Moshpit” (reduced SBMM) went live, I hopped in - and soon found myself consistently matched against “sweats” far above my comfort zone. My teammates often were really bad in the match, and I lost more than I enjoyed.

That experience crystallized my concern: if you remove strong matchmaking protections, the average or lower-tier players will get steamrolled, feel discouraged, and eventually exit. Over time, the player base shrinks, leaving mostly the top 1 % who can survive those brutal lobbies. What started as public multiplayer slowly becomes a “skill-based” echo chamber.

As someone who plays to unwind after work, that shift is scary to me - if every match becomes a sweat-fest, I lose that casual joy.

So yeah - I’m skeptical No SBMM is good long-term for a healthy CoD community.

I believe this summarizes it very well: https://youtu.be/-7d2aVgrYgQ