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How does the matchmaking system work in Call of Duty games?

  1. Is it completely random with no accounting for player rank?
  2. Is it based on player rank?
  3. Is it based on a skill ranking of some kind such as kills to deaths ratio or most recent individual ranking in previous matches?

It appears from playing that it is #1 and just random, but I find it a strange way to do it as surely there are enough players to perform a fairer ranking process. A player of any skill can get to level 70 eventually.

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Can you please specify which call of duty? (I think you speak about a specific one) –  Lerkes Jul 5 '12 at 11:58
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closed as too broad by Tharius, Frank, FEichinger, kalina, Fluttershy Dec 22 '13 at 1:14


2 Answers

up vote 1 down vote accepted

Without knowing the inner workings of their matchmaking algorithm, first and foremost I believe the matchmaking is by location-- or more specifically, connection speed, which usually means location as well. It searches for other consoles whose ping is under a certain threshold, and if it finds none, it increases the threshold until a good game is found. As to whether they use other criteria on top of that, I've never noticed any kind of pattern.

I'm speaking from experience based on MW2; it's possible that they've changed the algorithm since then, but I doubt it. Improvements? In the CoD franchise? Psh.

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"Improvements? In the CoD franchise? Psh." I think you're talking a bit too fast here. "In League Play, players will be placed in a division based on how well they do in several test matches. The divisions will be made up of a few hundred or maybe a thousand other players and as they compete, they will work their way up (or perhaps down) the ladder." –  rdurand Aug 27 '12 at 14:34
(coming up in Black Ops II) –  rdurand Aug 27 '12 at 14:34
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In MW3, I think they build the lobbies according to your geographical situation, due to the lack of dedicated servers. That way, if the people you are playing with are not too far from you, the game will suffer less lag. This is just theoretically, as I live in France and often end up with english-and-other-languages-speaking players...

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