Mark Rubin, a former Infinity Ward executive producer, has just spoken out about the ongoing skill-based matchmaking controversy surrounding Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4. Just like prior entries, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 has come under fire in the last few weeks regarding the game’s reliance on skill-based matchmaking, which is a system that a portion of fans want greatly restricted or removed entirely.
For those unaware, skill-based matchmaking essentially refers to a matchmaking system that aims to pair players with those of a similar skill level. In early Call of Duty entries, such as the original Modern Warfare, lobbies were often made up by players of varying skill levels, meaning that a brand-new player with no prior Call of Duty experience could go up against someone who plays at a professional level. For many years now, a vocal portion of the Call of Duty fan-base has asked for a return to these classic matchmaking conditions and the removal of skill-based matchmaking.
Mark Rubin Speaks Out About Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4’s Skill-Based Matchmaking
Recently, former Gears of War creator Cliff Bleszinski took to Twitter to share his opinion on fans complaining about the implementation of skill-based matchmaking in recent Call of Duty entries, stating that, to him, it seemed like “players that are good at that game just want to hop online and beat up newbies.” Former Infinity Ward executive producer and XDefiant producer Mark Rubin commented on Bleszinski’s Twitter post, offering an alternate viewpoint.
-
Image via Infinity Ward -
-
Image via Infinity Ward
In his reply, Rubin explained that skill-based matchmaking means that players are essentially playing the same game repeatedly against the same people, which leads to a “lack of diversity,” especially when players are encouraged to use Call of Duty‘s meta loadouts due to the “constant challenge” of facing players at the same skill level. Rubin also claims that there’s no room to feel like you’re getting better at the game as you’re consistently matched with others who are also getting better at the same time. Rubin does, however, state that skill-based matchmaking should be implemented in Ranked play.
In a further reply to the same post, Rubin said that he wanted to implement some kind of reward for players based on their skill, using the example of a lower skill player taking down a better player in a non-SBMM-based match. Rubin then expands on this concept via his own Twitter post, where he reminisces about early playtests for Call of Duty and XDefiant and says that fighting against better players and gradually getting better at the game over time was “the most fun” he’d had playing multiplayer.
When Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 launched last year, it arrived with Open Matchmaking playlists that claimed to greatly reduce the usual skill-based system that past entries had used. While these Black Ops 7 Open playlists were initially met with positive reviews from fans, the developers made some major changes to the matchmaking system this July, removing Open playlists from the Featured section of the multiplayer menu and replacing them with ‘Classic’ matchmaking playlists that didn’t function nearly as well. At the time of writing, there’s no form of Open matchmaking for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4.
- Released
-
October 23, 2026
- Multiplayer
-
Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op
