In the latest saga of Battlefield leaks, the community has voiced its frustration of leaked code suggesting that SBMM is in Battlefield 6.
The news first surfaced earlier this week, after internal code obtained by the Battlefield Labs playtests showed that Battlefield 6 will have matchmaking commands to match players of similar skill – AKA, Battlefield 6 will have Skillbased Matchmaking (SBMM).
Predictably, the community was up in arms about the leak, with most voicing their frustrations that they would much rather have a server browser as games such as Call of Duty, which notoriously has a harsh SBMM system, is no longer enjoyable.
Battlefield Developers Weigh in on SBMM
David Sirland, one of the Lead Producer’s on Battlefield 6 took to the closed Battlefield Labs Discord server to explain (uploaded by Reddit user Old_Doubt5886) the situation around Battlefield 6 and SBMM.
“PSA: 2042 has SBMM according to this definition – this is what I tried to detail above yesterday. It has a factor of skill, its used, 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 negligable 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”.
But that doesn’t make skill as a factor in matchmaking bad wholesale, on the contrary we need a skill value to make balanced teams – no matter the ranges of skills total on a server. It wouldn’t be fun if all high skill players ended up on the same team, would it?
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. 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.
All of this is also true (skill being important for team balancing) regardless of in which way you join the server For reference, did you feel like the BF labs playtests were heavy handed SBMM? No? then we good. It’s the same matchmaker and settings we’ll use (with tweaks if we find any issues of course).”
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So, at face value at least, the current theories on Battlefield 6 and SBMM are unwarranted, at least where Sirland is concerned. Of course, things are subject to change during development, but that’s why Battlefield Labs was set up an NDA’s have been enforced. On this, Battlefield Community Manager T0TALfps weighed in on the recent leaks.
Okay enough,
Battlefield Labs is about building and collaborating on the future of Battlefield, and we want to do that in the correct way. I want to remind everyone things that are taking place in Battlefield Labs may or may not make their way to the final finish line. This is the greatest thing about this program, it allows us the ability to get creative, see what works with those involved, gain educated and informed feedback from those that are participating and potentially spot bugs around the features too. We’ve long wanted to implement this program, responding to your requests for greater involvement and a return to this type of reactivity around all things Battlefield.
There is a specific time and place for the wider community to learn about new features and functionalities, and this is not it. We will address various topics and expand participation in Battlefield Labs when appropriate, but the constant reposting of things is not that time or place. Individuals are and will continue to be removed if they continue to violate the NDA that they agreed to.
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. 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. And quite honestly, if that is your intention, then I question where this aligns with the interests of our, THIS, community.
We all can agree that we wanted to have an environment that allowed for testing and collaborating once again. We want to be as transparent as we can be, you have seen us return to the values you once recognized in us. We all want to make Battlefield play like Battlefield, but we cannot do it if the trust continues to be tampered with. We must be allowed the ability to do it right – alongside you all and in the correct way.
And to all those of you who do wish to see things grow, we commit to you that we are reading your comments and feedback in and out of the program, we are seeing and exploring your experiences with Battlefield, and we are paying attention just like what we stated in our first Community Update
If you want to be a part of the moment and participate in Battlefield Labs you can sign up via http://go.ea.com/bflabs and rest assured that your moment will arrive.
One final reminder that when it comes to features, content, functionality, and more – it is only official when we share it and we are comfortable with the topic at hand.
To those who are here for community and wish to see a bright future for Battlefield, thank you – truly. I truly believe community has been closer to the development of Battlefield than ever before, and I have been around for quite some years now. What we’re doing is something different, I know that you feel that too. It is truly refreshing to see you experience pre-alpha content and share your thoughts but for us to then react and change in a short time frame – it’s something else.
Rules aren’t fun, but they exist to make it better for us all. Thank you to those that are abiding by them, but thank you for your trust and time too to make this great for you – our community.
Let’s keep doing this together, and do expect more Community Updates in the very near future!
As of writing, a lot of Battlefield 6 has already leaked online from the Battlefield Labs playtests, including confirmation that a new Battle Royale mode is in development for the franchise. A most recent leak has also revealed that class specialisations will once again return to Battlefield, too.
What do you think about the mass amount of Battlefield 6 leaks? Do you thing SBMM will be making it into Battlefield in a big way? Let us know down below, and join the discussion in the official GPlayr forums.
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