Respawn Entertainment’s Chad Grenier has explained why Apex Legends actively “needs” skill-based matchmaking, noting that is is “healthy” for the battle royale.
Plenty of popular multiplayer titles have implemented skill-based matchmaking of some kind. Though, it isn’t always popular with fans. SBMM, as it is more commonly known, can cause players to have incredibly waiting times for matches and then end up in the wrong skill lobby – leaving them dismayed.
Plenty of Apex Legends fans have criticized the battle royale’s development team for using SBMM in their title, with someone even experimenting with different accounts to figure out how it works. Yet, the developers have now noted that skill-based matchmaking is actually needed in Apex.
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Speaking to VG247, Chad Grenier, Game Director at Respawn, said that Apex has had skill-based matchmaking since it launched back in February of 2019 – noting that the devs have run tests with SBMM turned off.
Grenier added that the devs have “concrete evidence that skill-based matchmaking is good for the overall health of the game” and that is why they haven’t addressed it. “It’s clearly good for the game,” he also said, noting that it keeps new players engaged with Apex. “We need skill-based matchmaking.”
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The game director also said that Respawn feels like SBMM is “really healthy” for Apex Legends, despite what complaints and annoyances that players might have with the system.
The devs further noted that there are plenty of variables in their system for matchmaking, and even though it works well, it does have to push you into a game at times of the day where lobbies might not be completely full.
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Plenty of players, with their own different reasons, will always want to see the back of skill-based matchmaking but it doesn’t look like it’ll be going away anytime soon – if ever – in Apex.