Treyarch has confirmed a number of significant changes for Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 Multiplayer that will make it into the game for launch.
In a blog post, Treyarch said learnings from the Black Ops 7 beta had informed the changes, which are sure to go down well with Call of Duty’s hardcore community.
The headline here is an update on how matchmaking will work in Black Ops 7, with the surprise confirmation that at launch, Open Matchmaking with minimal skill consideration will be the default for Black Ops 7 Multiplayer.
“Simply put, imagine the matchmaking experience of Open Moshpit from the Beta, but as the standard in Black Ops 7 on day one,” Treyarch explained.
This is a huge change from what we’ve come to expect from Call of Duty Multiplayer, which currently leans on controversial Skill-Based Matchmaking (SBMM) by default.
For years, SBMM has been the hottest of topics within the Call of Duty community, with some proclaiming it ruins the experience, others saying it helps level the competitive multiplayer playing field. High-skilled Call of Duty players often bemoan SBMM for chucking them into what they call “sweaty” lobbies full of similarly high-skilled players. All the while, Activision has kept players’ skill rating hidden from them, forcing them to speculate about where they might sit compared to others and how it fluctuates from game to game.
Last year, Activision explained how Call of Duty’s SBMM works in somewhat vague terms. Skill is determined based on a player’s “overall performance,” Activision said. This includes kills, deaths, wins, losses, as well as mode selection, and recent matches as an overall metric across all Multiplayer experiences. “This is a fluid measurement that’s consistently updating and reacting to your gameplay,” Activision explained at the time. “Skill is not only a factor in matchmaking players against appropriate enemies, but also when finding teammates.”
Activision went on to say skill in matchmaking means all players (regardless of skill level) are more likely to experience wins and losses more proportionately. “We use player performance to ensure that the disparity between the most skilled player in the lobby and the least skilled player in the lobby isn’t so vast that players feel their match is a waste of time,” Activision said.
Black Ops 7, however, does away with all that at least in Multiplayer’s default setting, marking a significant victory for critics of SBMM.
“Our team feels strongly about providing players with a more varied experience, and the Beta proved to be a great opportunity to test this approach,” Treyarch said. “We’ll be sharing more details as we get closer to launch!”
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2019 introduced the higher, stricter SBMM.
We’ve had it in every Call of Duty game over the last 6 years.
And, in 2025, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 removes it.
Finally.
— CharlieIntel (@charlieINTEL) October 9, 2025
🚨 BREAKING SBMM NEWS 🚨
Call of Duty has officially confirmed that Open Matchmaking / Classic SBMM and Persistent Lobbies will be available at the launch of Black Ops 7.
It only took 5 years of complaining about it, but the COD community finally won. 🥹 pic.twitter.com/N7kMWrsx66
— ModernWarzone (@ModernWarzone) October 9, 2025
— I Am Fallout (@falloutplays) October 9, 2025
Elsewhere, Treyarch confirmed Black Ops 7 will launch with persistent lobbies — another decision that’s sure to go down well with fans. “We’ve heard the community discussion and dialogue around lobby disbanding, and as we mentioned earlier during the Beta, we’re focused on keeping players together from match to match more often,” Treyarch said. “Today, we’re excited to announce we’ll have persistent lobbies at launch for Black Ops 7. We’re committed to improving this experience for players, and will be sharing more details soon.”
Aim assist will be changed, Treyarch said, although it didn’t detail how. “We’ve also seen the discussions about rotational aim assist and community questions about how aim assist will be tuned across inputs in Black Ops 7,” the company said. “It’s a priority of ours to have a fair and competitive balance across all input devices at launch, and we’ll be sharing more about changes coming to aim assist on controller ahead of launch.”
The Black Ops 7 beta ends today, October 9, with a free trial of Black Ops 6 set to kick off during the launch week of Battlefield 6. Black Ops 7 has set its official release date for November 14. This week, Activision revealed that 97% of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 cheaters were caught within 30 minutes of signing into the beta, and “fewer than 1% of cheating attempts reached a match.” PC gamers cannot play unless they enable TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
