Is there skill based matchmaking in BO7?

Short answer, yes, there is skill based matchmaking in BO7, just not in the way Activision were trying to sell you a couple of weeks ago.

On paper, the headline sounds lovely. Most multiplayer playlists in Call of Duty Black Ops 7 will use what they call open matchmaking, which means your skill is only lightly considered. You get something much closer to the beta experience, where you could actually have a couple of relaxing stomps instead of feeling like you had accidentally signed up for the Call of Duty World Cup every time you pressed Quick Play.

Then you read the fine print, and that is where the blood pressure starts to climb.

Treyarch have now confirmed three important things

• The majority of playlists will use open matchmaking
• One rotating mosh pit will have strict skill based matchmaking at launch
• Ranked play will also use strict skill based matchmaking when it arrives in Season 2

So yes, there is skill based matchmaking in BO7 from day one, and the wording they are using leaves a very convenient door open for a lot more of it later in the year.

How we got here, the open matchmaking bait

After the BO7 beta, Activision and Treyarch started talking like they had seen the light. Open matchmaking, they said, was the future. Casual lobbies that felt casual again. Skill only lightly considered. Party up with your mates without the matchmaker punishing you for daring to play with someone who has a higher K/D than you.

They even said open matchmaking would be the default at launch. Lovely phrase that. At launch.

At no point did they actually say it would stay that way for the full year. At no point did they say, in plain language, that every standard multiplayer playlist in BO7 would remain open for the entire life of the game. That little gap in the wording has had people nervous for months, and now we know why.

The new statement quietly shifts the promise

• Before, the talk was that open matchmaking would be the default
• Now, we are told the majority of playlists will use open matchmaking

That is not the same thing. Majority can mean anything from just over half to nearly all, and it can change without any dramatic announcement. One morning you wake up, and surprise, your favourite mode has joined the skill based matchmaking mosh pit from hell.

Which brings us back to the question everyone keeps asking, is there skill based matchmaking in BO7, and more importantly, how much will there be in three or six months time

What Treyarch actually said, and what it really implies

On the official channel, Treyarch said that thanks to beta feedback, most BO7 playlists will use open matchmaking, similar to what we had in the beta. That sounds reassuring. Then they slid in the part about the one rotating mosh pit where skill is an important factor, and the detail about ranked play in Season 2.

On its own, one sweaty mosh pit does not sound like a big deal. You can just avoid it and live in the open playlists, right

The problem is the phrasing. They do not just talk about launch in that first line. They talk about BO7 in general. One skill based playlist at launch. The majority using open matchmaking. More modes coming later. The message is clear if you have been around this series long enough. The design is not locked. The knobs and sliders are already sitting there on the server side ready to be pushed.

In other words, yes, there is skill based matchmaking in BO7 on day one, and the structure is built so they can turn it up whenever the spreadsheets tell them to.

Why Activision will not let skill based matchmaking die

For years now, skill based matchmaking has been treated inside Call of Duty as sacred. It was first pushed hard in the modern era with Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2019, then carried into Black Ops Cold War, Vanguard, Modern Warfare 2, Modern Warfare 3, the lot. Every time people complained, Activision wheeled out blog posts, data, and diagrams claiming that player retention improved when they used strict skill based matchmaking.

The improvements were tiny, things like one percent bumps in players sticking around for that extra match, but for a company that lives on live service numbers, that is enough to justify almost anything.

That is why so many long term players rolled their eyes when skill based matchmaking was removed from the BO7 beta and open matchmaking took over. It felt too good to be true. Call of Duty suddenly played like the older titles again. You would get a sweaty match, then a chill one, then something in between. You could feel the variety. It felt human.

But the whole time, Activision never once said they had changed their mind. They never once said they no longer believed in skill based matchmaking. All they said was that open matchmaking would be the default at launch. That is not a philosophy shift. That is a marketing beat.

So when you ask if there is skill based matchmaking in BO7, you are really asking, has Activision actually changed, or are they just changing the packaging for a while

The Battlefield problem, and why this is all happening now

There is another elephant in the room here, and it has a big blue logo. Battlefield 6 has finally dragged itself together and is now actually doing numbers. It has a free to play battle royale on Xbox and PlayStation, it is pulling very healthy player counts on current gen, and it has climbed into the top tier of live service shooters again.

The only reason Call of Duty is still ahead on raw player count is access. COD is still on last gen consoles. Battlefield 6 is not. Sony themselves have admitted that a massive chunk of their user base is still on PS4. Microsoft will be in a similar boat on Xbox. If Battlefield was also on last gen, that gap would get very uncomfortable, very quickly.

So what does that have to do with skill based matchmaking in BO7

Everything.

Open matchmaking in the beta gave BO7 a wave of good will. Suddenly, people who had not touched COD in years were coming back, making content, talking about how fun it felt again. Activision got the pre orders they wanted, and they made Battlefield 6 look a little less shiny by comparison.

But once launch is out of the way and the sales graphs have done their job, the temptation to turn the skill based matchmaking dials back up will be enormous. Activision still believes skill based matchmaking is best for business. They still believe it keeps average players more engaged. And they now have a neat little structure to slowly reintroduce it across BO7 without having to make a dramatic announcement each time.

That is why the answer to the question, is there skill based matchmaking in BO7, is not just about launch day. It is about the whole year.

What BO7 matchmaking looks like now that the game is live

Now that BO7 has properly launched and the dust has settled, we can see how the matchmaking setup actually plays out in real matches.

Here is what you will run into when you jump into multiplayer

• Most standard playlists use open matchmaking, at least in theory
• One rotating mosh pit is built around strict skill based matchmaking
• Lobbies stick together far more often, so you are not getting dumped back into menus after every match

On paper, this should make BO7 feel lighter than the last few COD titles. You should get a spread of match difficulty, a couple of cruisy games, a couple of nail biters, and the odd match where you get flattened by a squad that practically live on the hardpoint. That is the variety the older games were known for.

The strictly filtered mosh pit is basically a containment zone. It gives the devs a place to gather data, test how players handle tougher matches, and keep competitive minded players in a space where the stakes feel higher. Ranked will eventually join that group when Season 2 drops.

If you avoid that sweaty mosh pit and stick to normal modes, the aim was for the game to feel close to the beta. The worrying bit is what comes next. The system is built so the dials can be turned at any time, and nobody knows yet if open matchmaking will stay truly open as the year goes on.

What this means for casual players

For the average player who just wants to come home, grab a snack, and play a few matches without sweating through their controller, the good news is that BO7 should feel much better than the worst days of Modern Warfare 2 and 3, at least to begin with.

Open matchmaking at launch should

• Give you a healthier mix of match difficulty
• Let you party with mates of different skill without instantly entering a sweat fest
• Make session play feel more natural and less like a ranked grind you never signed up for

However, the presence of that dedicated skill based playlist, plus ranked in Season 2, plus the careful wording, means you will want to keep an eye on how things feel as the months pass.

If you notice your matches suddenly getting much tighter, if every lobby mysteriously looks like a tournament, if stat tracking content creators start publishing graphs that show suspicious patterns, you will know the knobs are moving again.

The biggest problem is trust. Activision had finally started to win some of it back by trying open matchmaking in the BO7 beta. Now, by refusing to firmly commit to it for the full year and by admitting that strict modes will expand after launch, they have set off every alarm siren in the community at once.

What this means for hardcore and ranked players

If you love the grind, live in ranked, and want every match to feel like a scrim, you actually sit on the other side of this.

For you, the dedicated skill based matchmaking mosh pit and ranked playlist are fine. They give you focused spaces where you can sweat to your heart’s content and know the opposition will take it just as seriously. In that context, skill based matchmaking in BO7 is not really a villain. It is the whole point.

The issue is when that same strict model quietly spreads into the so called casual part of the game. That is where the resentment comes from. People are happy for competitive spaces to have hard skill filters. They just do not want that model forced on every single mode.

If Activision were smart, they would use BO7 as a proper experiment

• Keep casual playlists truly open
• Let strict skill based matchmaking live in ranked and a couple of labelled competitive modes
• Watch what happens to player retention in each pool over the full year

The problem is that doing that honestly might produce numbers they do not like, which is where the fear comes in.

The long game, how this could play out over the year

If you want a realistic prediction for how skill based matchmaking in BO7 will develop, it probably looks something like this

• Launch window
  Everyone is happy, or at least cautiously optimistic. Open matchmaking feels good. Content creators talk it up. Battlefield 6 looks less like a threat. Activision celebrate a strong launch.
• First couple of seasons
  One or two more playlists quietly join the strict pool. Maybe an objective mosh pit here, a party mode there. The wording about majority still holds true, so nothing sounds too dramatic.
• Mid year
  As player numbers settle, small hidden tweaks to how open matchmaking works start to creep in. The strict mosh pits keep growing. People begin to swear that open is not as loose as it used to be. A few data nerds produce charts that back the feeling up.
• Late year
  If the numbers go the way Activision expect, a lot more of the game will feel tightly controlled again. On paper, they will still be able to say the majority of playlists use open matchmaking. In practice, those open lobbies may not feel particularly open any more.

I would love to be wrong. Everybody would love to be wrong. But if you judge by history, that is the path of least resistance for a publisher that still believes strict skill based matchmaking is what keeps their live service graphs heading in the right direction.

So, should you care?

If you are the sort of player who hated recent COD titles because of sweaty lobbies, reverse boosting, and the feeling that every match was a life or death ranked trial, you should absolutely care, because this is the mechanic that created that feeling.

Right now, at launch, BO7 is shaping up to be the best multiplayer experience the series has had in years. The return of open matchmaking, the promise that lobbies will not constantly break apart, and the general beta feel are all huge positives.

The problem is faith. When the same company that defended strict skill based matchmaking for half a decade tells you they have changed, then refuses to commit to that change for more than a launch window, you are right to keep your guard up.

So to finally answer it plainly

• Yes, there is skill based matchmaking in BO7
• Yes, there will be more of it in ranked and specific playlists
• And yes, the structure is there for it to creep further into the game as time goes on

If you are fine with that, crack on and enjoy the game. If you are not, keep your expectations realistic, keep your eyes on how the matchmaking feels over the next few seasons, and do not be afraid to call it out when things start to shift.

Because if there is one lesson this series has taught everyone, it is that once skill based matchmaking in BO7 quietly tightens its grip, getting that genie back in the bottle is about as likely as a Call of Duty publisher suddenly deciding they care more about good will than graphs.

My personal experience

I have to be honest, I am not enjoying this game right now. On paper, open matchmaking should be perfect for someone like me. I finished BO6 with a 3 KD and hit Crimson in ranked, and I normally thrive when the focus is on objective play. That is my comfort zone. I push, I rotate early, I anchor spawns, I play the mode the way it is meant to be played.

But in BO7, something feels completely off. I do not know if the knobs behind the scenes are already shifting or if the open matchmaking system simply is not doing what Treyarch claim it should, but every single match feels rough. I am getting melted in gunfights I would usually win. I am losing trades that make no sense. I am breaking hills and instantly getting sent back to spawn like I have suddenly forgotten how to aim.

The worst part is that it makes you question yourself. You start wondering if your settings are wrong, if your positioning is bad, if your reactions somehow got slower overnight. But deep down, you can feel that it is not you. The pacing is weird, the lobbies are sweaty, and nothing about it resembles the flow we had in the BO7 beta.

If this is what they call open matchmaking, it is not the open matchmaking I signed up for.

Zachary Skinner

Zachary Skinner is the editor of TechDrivePlay.com, where tech, cars and adventure share the fast lane.
A former snowboarding pro and programmer, he brings both creative flair and technical know-how to his reviews. From high-performance cars to clever gadgets, he explores how innovation shapes the way we move, connect and live.