A former multiplayer lead developer at Bungie has shared his thoughts on the failure of modern skill-based matchmaking.
Max Hoberman, former multiplayer lead at Bungie, took to Twitter/X to share his frustration with opinions that claim the Halo 2 and 3 skill-based matchmaking can’t work today. According to him, the failure of modern skill-based matchmaking is that it’s designed to maximize perfect match scenarios and minimize the others. When it’s working, a majority of games become evenly matched and stressful. He said that this is not fun for most players, as there’s no variability.
Hoberman explained that what he implemented in Halo 2 and 3 divided the space into Ranked and Unranked matchmaking playlists. Ranked filtered opponents based on level. This was for when players wanted a competitive match, but even then, he intentionally allowed variability in the range of levels the game matched players with. He shared that this variability was a topic of hot debate internally, during development, 20 years ago.
According to Hoberman, no one wants to get “stomped” continuously. On the flip side, he said that it gets dull for most people to continuously “stomp” others. However, it is fun having the upper hand some of the time, he said. By intentionally allowing a range of skills to match together, Halo 2 and 3’s skill-based matchmaking system provided 3 experiences in ranked matchmaking: an easier one where you outmatch the other side, a harder one where you’re likely outmatched, and an evenly matched one. His belief was that a good mix of these three was ideal. His reasoning for not always evenly matching players was that these are actually the most stressful matches of the set.
The system that Hoberman designed for Ranked playlists ensured a healthy mix, as per him. He admitted that it doesn’t feel good watching your favorite team get outmatched, but it comes full circle when the other team is the one to get outmatched by a better one. Throw in tight, evenly matched games every so often, and that’s a ton of fun, he said.
