Skill-based matchmaking has been one of the loudest fights around Call of Duty for years, and Black Ops 7 is where Treyarch finally changes course — but not in the all-or-nothing way a lot of players expected.
There is SBMM in Black Ops 7, but it’s no longer baked into every playlist at full strength. Instead, the game splits multiplayer into two big buckets: Open matchmaking with “minimal” skill consideration and Standard playlists where skill is a major factor. On top of that, persistent lobbies are back in the mix.
Black Ops 7 SBMM overview
| Playlist type | SBMM behavior | Lobby behavior | What it’s meant to feel like |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open | Skill is “minimally considered” when forming lobbies | Persistent lobbies by default; players stay together between matches unless they leave | Looser, more “classic” CoD mix of easy, average, and tough matches |
| Standard | Skill is an “important consideration”; tighter SBMM | Traditional match flow; less focus on keeping lobbies together | More consistently even matches for players who want closer skill matching |
| Ranked (separate mode) | Dedicated rating system; strong SBMM | Competitive structure | For people who explicitly want sweatier, ladder-style matches |
The crucial detail: at launch, the majority of multiplayer playlists live under the Open tab, with only a single Moshpit-style playlist using Standard SBMM. So yes, Black Ops 7 still tracks and uses player skill, but for most modes, the algorithm is far less aggressive than in recent years.
How the Open vs Standard playlist split works
When you open Black Ops 7’s multiplayer, you’re presented with two tabs of playlists rather than one long list.
| Tab | What you see | SBMM level | Who it’s for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open | Most of the core 6v6 modes, a Quick Play entry point, and other casual playlists | Low — skill only lightly influences matchmaking | Players who want faster queues, varied lobbies, and less “every match is ranked” pressure |
| Standard | At launch, one curated Moshpit playlist | High — skill is a key factor when making matches | Players who prefer fights against similarly skilled opponents every game |
In Open playlists, the matchmaker prioritizes things like region and connection quality far more heavily, then uses skill only as a light tiebreaker. That’s what Treyarch means by “minimally considered”: SBMM is still present under the hood, but its ability to reshape lobbies is heavily dialed back.
Standard keeps the modern Call of Duty feel players are used to from the last several years, where your recent performance plays a major role in who you’re matched against.
Persistent lobbies return in Open playlists
On top of the new SBMM split, Open playlists bring back something Call of Duty quietly lost in the transition to always-on SBMM: persistent lobbies.
| Feature | Open playlists | Standard playlists | Impact on play |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lobby persistence | Lobbies carry over across matches by default | More traditional re-shuffling; less emphasis on persistence | Lets you build mini rivalries, learn other players’ habits, or stay in a “good” room for multiple games |
| Manual lobby change | “Find a new lobby” option if you want a reset | Standard requeue behavior | Gives you an escape valve if voice chat or team balance isn’t working |
This structure borrows part of what made older server-browser shooters feel social. You recognize names as you play multiple rounds with the same group rather than being dropped into a fresh stack of strangers every time the scoreboard fades out.
For players who felt recent CoDs were a string of disconnected, sweat-heavy matches, this is one of the biggest practical changes Black Ops 7 makes.
What “minimal SBMM” actually feels like in Black Ops 7
Turning down SBMM is not the same as turning it off, and that nuance shows up the second you start playing Open playlists.
- You will still face good players, but not only good players.
- Match quality swings more — some stomps, some close games, some lobbies where you’re the one doing the stomping.
- Over a long session, averages still trend toward your actual skill level, just with much more noise baked in.
Players coming from Black Ops 6 and Modern Warfare II/III describe Black Ops 7’s Open queues as closer to the 360/PS3 era: streaks feel attainable again, you occasionally run into “cracked” squads, and you’re allowed to have off-matches without the game instantly overcorrecting your next lobby.
Standard playlists, on the other hand, are built for people who liked the recent SBMM-heavy years. If you’re a time-strapped player who wants the safest path to consistent, even fights, the Standard tab is where that still lives.
Why Treyarch didn’t remove SBMM completely
On social feeds and Reddit, “no SBMM” became shorthand for what Treyarch is doing with Open playlists, but that’s never been literally accurate. The studio has been careful to state that:
- Skill is always in the mix in Open playlists, just with much lower weight.
- Standard playlists keep “important” skill consideration at the core of matchmaking.
- There is no blanket promise that Open matchmaking stays exactly as-is forever; all of this can be tuned post-launch.
Internally, Call of Duty’s own retention data has historically shown that strong SBMM helps lower- and mid-skill players stick with the game. Completely removing the concept would be a huge risk for a series that lives on long-term engagement. Instead, Black Ops 7 experiments with choice:
- One side of multiplayer caters to players who value variety and social lobbies.
- The other side caters to those who want protection from wild skill differences.
That compromise is why you still see the term “SBMM” attached to Black Ops 7, even as the default feel of multiplayer is very different from recent entries.
Community expectations vs Black Ops 7’s reality
The friction around “is there SBMM in Black Ops 7” comes from the gap between what some players heard and what Treyarch actually committed to.
| Player expectation | What Black Ops 7 actually does | Resulting reaction |
|---|---|---|
| “No SBMM” anywhere in pubs | SBMM is reduced in most playlists, not removed; one Standard playlist remains strongly skill-based | Some feel misled by the nuance of “minimal consideration” vs “none” |
| Open matchmaking is a permanent structural change | Messaging emphasizes “at launch,” with no long-term guarantees | Creators and veterans worry about a future “rug pull” patch that quietly tightens SBMM again |
| Persistent lobbies will fully replace disbanding | Persistent lobbies are tied specifically to Open playlists | Players welcome the feature, but some are wary of how it interacts with engagement-focused systems |
There is also a philosophical split that Black Ops 7 doesn’t resolve so much as expose:
- One camp argues SBMM is essential to protect casuals from getting farmed.
- The other argues that heavy SBMM and engagement-optimized systems make every match feel manipulated and joyless.
By putting both approaches side-by-side in the menu, Treyarch is effectively letting players vote with their time — and collecting data on which model keeps people playing.
What this means for you in practice
If you’re booting into Black Ops 7 and trying to figure out where to queue, here’s the simplest way to think about it:
| If you want… | Use this tab | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Chill matches, experimentation, and a more old-school CoD feel | Open | Looser SBMM, persistent lobbies, and more variety between games |
| Closer games against similarly skilled opponents without committing to Ranked | Standard | Skill is a key factor again, smoothing out extremes in lobby difficulty |
| Explicitly competitive, ladder-like play | Ranked mode (separate) | Dedicated ranking and strong SBMM built around competitive rulesets |
For most people, the answer to “is there SBMM in Black Ops 7?” is less important than “which tab did I just click?” Pick Open if you’re tired of every lobby feeling like a tournament, pick Standard if you’re terrified of running into ringers while you’re just trying to unwind, and expect Treyarch to keep tweaking both as the game’s first seasons roll out.
What Black Ops 7 delivers right now is not the death of SBMM, but something Call of Duty hasn’t really tried before: a visible, player-facing choice between two different philosophies of how multiplayer should feel.
