Battlefield 6 Developer Comments on Divisive SBMM

First-person shooter fans are excited for Battlefield 6. They are so excited, leaks from recent Battlefield Labs playtests have been surfacing since they began last month. Several bits of information regarding the upcoming game and its features are out there, giving eager players an idea of what to expect from these test periods. Some of this includes solid looks of the environmental destruction shown in the first trailer, to its gunplay. However, the newest leak is perhaps the most controversial feature as it suggests skill-based matchmaking (SBMM) will be in EA’s newest entry in the long-running series.

The implementation of SBMM surfaced earlier this week after internal code from the Battlefield Labs playtests included matchmaking commands indicative of the controversial multiplayer feature. This sparked frustration in the community as they began voicing their concerns about the feature and preferring a server browser instead. The leak caused such a stir, Battlefield Lead Producer David Sirland commented on the divisive feature (posted by Reddit user Old_Doubt5886) explaining the reasoning behind implementing SBMM.

“2042 has SBMM according to this definition – this is what I tried to detail above yesterday,” says Sirland. It has a factor of skill, but ping and time to game is the top priority, and in a 64-player game, our want is to spawn a server that starts as soon as possible – thus the skill factor is negligible in terms of sorting into servers. Also with a party, that is more or less ignored. Just for clarity – saying SBMM is bad is not really useful. What you really want to say is ‘Heavy SBMM where skill separation is a priority is bad.’”

“Just to calm this thing down a tad – the fact a skill value is in the matchmaker (it’s been there since we started being able to matchmake BTW) – doesn’t mean we are going with a heavy handed SBMM solution,” continues Sirland. Quite the opposite, Battlefield is at its best when you play the all out war modes with friends and different types of players – we do not want to limit that.”

Additionally, Battlefield Community Manager TOTALfps also prepared a statement regarding the recent leaks about SBMM implementation in Battlefield 6, and Battlefield Labs as a whole.

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“Information and content that gets shared is out of context and often with a narrative wrapped around it that is doing damage to the trust and transparency we want to establish,” says TOTALfps. “Things simply are not the same when it comes to hearing about something out of context versus actually experiencing it – or reading about it in detail with the correct descriptions around it.”

“While the allure of brief internet fame might be tempting, it undermines our efforts to remain open and communicative,” TOTALfps continues. “And quite honestly, if that is your intention, then I question where this aligns with the interests of our, this, community.”

Although an NDA is required to participate in the Battlefield Labs playtests, it seems many have disregarded the agreement, which has led to the many leaks that have surfaced. It should also be noted that these early tests may not be indicative of the final Battlefield 6 product, and features, like SBMM, could change by the time it is eventually released to the wider public.

(Source: Insider Gaming)