Apex Legends Dev Says SBMM System 'Will Change' in Coming Months

The skill-based matchmaking (SBMM) system used in Apex Legends will be receiving major changes in the coming months, Respawn Entertainment technical director Samy Duc teased Monday.

Continuing to be one of the most hotly debated topics in all of multiplayer gaming is the implementation of SBMM in unranked modes. Although many titles feature ranked modes for players to climb as far as they are able, unranked game modes are typically viewed as settings where players should be able to relax and have fun. Of course, this remains to be one of the most complained about issues in Apex, as players have found that the game's underlying SBMM system makes the experience feel just as sweaty even though there aren't any progression points at stake.

According to Duc, however, it appears Respawn just might finally have a solution in the works.

On Nov. 21, FaZe Clan Apex pro Eric "Snip3down" Wrona took to Twitter to voice his displeasure in playing the game recently, including one instance in which he tried to play pubs with his wife but was repeatedly matched up against Apex Predator players.

"Even Yasmin who has the best vibes possible couldn’t get me out of my annoyance," Snip3down said. "Can’t even play with her due to the insane MMR they have implemented in their game."

Before long, Duc replied to Snip3down, revealing that Respawn is indeed looking to address its SBMM system.

"SBMM will change," Duc said. "For the moment it is based on the highest player in the group and it will most likely mutate to something else (surprise surprise) mid december / new year. We will communicate more in the new year about this, but I hope it will allow to work for you and wife."

In a follow-up tweet, Duc elaborated on the fact that the current system doesn't just base a team's underlying skill rating on an average taken of the group.

"Average does not work well enough," Duc said. "People contribution depends on the skill distribution. Easiest solution is just to take max because you can assume, highest skill player has the most impact. We acknowledge those issues and are working on it."

Ultimately, it will be interesting to see just how Respawn changes its SBMM system in the coming months.

In the meantime, another idea that's long been floated by members of the Apex community to alleviate the issue is that the game should simply also have permanent LTM playlists.

"The bigger problem (for apex) is that we have zero ways to have fun because we can only play the main game, which is inherently sweaty," Team Liquid pro Brandon "oh Nocturnal" Singer said. "The most enjoyable LTM's are for some reason not becoming permanent when they're so fucking fun to have on the regular."