Mr Rutherford

The MW4 Open Beta gave me an opportunity to retest and compare two matchmaking systems head to head, following my study at the launch BO7 Season 5. In Beta, Quick Play uses the newer Classic system, the same one introduced to Black Ops 7 in Season 5, while Open Moshpit uses Open Matchmaking, which is described as placing minimal weight on player skill. An Open Beta is also the cleanest testing window that will ever exist for this. Population is at its peak and spread across fewer playlists than the final game. That said, one glaring asymmetry is worth stating up front: Open Matchmaking only had a single playlist available, while the new system had upwards of eight active during the Open Beta. We will discuss the problem with this later. I hand-logged 50 matches, 25 under each system: 25 in Quick Play with TDM, Domination, Hardpoint and Kill Confirmed selected, and 25 in Open Moshpit, which includes those same four modes. I alternated between the two playlists throughout, so that server conditions and time of day were spread evenly across both. About Me: I played solo only, on one account. I tested on BattleNet (PC) using controller, between August 31 and September 1, one hour away from a data center and major US city (Phoenix, AZ), on a 1GB fiber optic Ethernet connection. In recent years I have become extremely objective-focused in Multiplayer and enjoy chasing wins. I am a slightly-above-average player, with a 1.31 Elim/Death ratio in Black Ops 7 and a 1.41 kill/death ratio across my 50-match testing sample. There are obvious restrictions: one player, one platform, one region, testing in one skill bracket. I can only provide a narrow glimpse into a system serving millions of unique players and matches, and everything below should be read with that in mind. Developers: I hope this provides a meaningful perspective of how both matchmaking approaches are working in a live environment. The screenshots of each match Scoreboard also provide the Match ID string in the bottom-left, so you can reference more detailed data internally if desired. Let's dive in! MW4 Beta Data Spreadsheet (Methods, data, and results): docs.google.com/spreadsheets… Screenshots Folder (Match Lobby/Scoreboard data): drive.google.com/drive/folde… Tags: @CallofDutyCM @TreyarchCM @InfinityWard @Mxtive @YouGotSnowd @gawdgriggs @TheXclusiveAce @The_One_Boom [Note: I use "Classic" when referring to the new matchmaking system in this thread, simply to remain consistent with the language used in my BO7 matchmaking study thread.]