Fortnite developers are considering implementing skill-based matchmaking into their popular Battle Royale mode.
Yesterday, Fornite‘s Twitter page posted the following: “We heard you loud and clear concerning changes to matchmaking!
“We’ll be sorting through all of the feedback we’ve been given and take it into careful consideration before taking any steps.”
And this is absolutely a decision which has divided the community, with many feeling like it negatively affect the game.
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Some steamers and pro players such as TSM’s Fortnite captain, Myth, took to Twitter revealing that he thought the news was a great idea.
Skill based matchmaking is something that the Fortnite team is looking into… this makes me extremely happy to hear. <3
— Myth (@TSM_Myth) February 9, 2018
However, I and many others believe skill-based matchmaking is something which tears any community apart, with casual players feeling like they get overlooked for a smaller base of competitive players.
While ‘SBMM’ does make sense for team-based games otherwise you end up with a situation where your left carrying your team who refuse to play the objective.
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However, Fortnite – and battle royale games in general – are completely different.
It pits 100 players against each other and thanks to basically complete anonymity (until you’re killed), there is no way to know who you’re coming up against; a streamer, noob, god player or complete potato.
While SBMM does sound good in theory, in practice it doesn’t quite work out that way; sort of like the gaming equivalent of communism.
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In a multiplayer game, being pitted with players who are a similar level to you means you probably won’t be destroyed at every way.
However, in a BR game, it simply will not work. The only way you manage to get better at a game is by facing off against better players; simply playing the same level as you, leaves you stuck in video game purgatory.
And this is something that the Fortnite community agrees with, for the most part.
In fact, many took to Twitter to react to the possibility of the SBMM being brought in to the game:
Good to see the Fortnite community so vocally AGAINST a possible Skill Based Matchmaking system being added. Part of the fun with a giant 100 player FFA is that you don’t know if the next guy you run into will be a total noob or a God. I hope it isn’t implemented, personally. 👎
— Ali-A (@OMGitsAliA) February 10, 2018
Fortnite became one of the biggest games in the world with 3.4 million concurrent users for a reason. Don’t change the matchmaking drastically.
Keep solos, duos, squads, and special mode just like it is. Add in another playlist with competitive rule-set once established.
— Jack Dunlop (@CouRageJD) February 10, 2018
Think a huge portion of new players got hooked to Fortnite because of streamers humiliating noobs each and every game. Adding matchmaking would make the streamers look bad cause they would win 5% of their games and they’ll lose half of their viewers tbh.
— sprEEEzy (@sprEEEzyOW) February 10, 2018
Skilled matchmaking in Fortnite will literally come down to whoever has the most materials wins
— William 🕊 (@SpecificGP) February 10, 2018