Black Ops 7 launched with more matchmaking noise than anyone expected, and most of it has zero plans of slowing down.
With players facing tougher lobbies, odd match flow, and queues that don’t mirror the beta, the internet has spun it into another SBMM conspiracy chase.
That pressure made Charlie Olson, the creator behind much of CoD’s modern SBMM tech, break his silence and explain the system himself.
What Is Charlie Olson Addressing About SBMM in Black Ops 7?
Black Ops 7 hasn’t escaped the SBMM noise since release, as players believe the game clamps down on strong performances behind the scenes despite Treyarch saying the system is wide open.
The noise grew loud enough that Charlie Olson, one of the original architects behind Call of Duty’s modern matchmaking systems, stepped in to break everything down.
In his long-form video, Olson revisited the foundations of SBMM and MMR that he helped build during his decade at Raven Software, explaining how the system is meant to behave and why the community’s assumptions often miss the mark.
He said the biggest misunderstanding comes from Treyarch’s announcement that Black Ops 7 would include open matchmaking, which many players took as a promise that SBMM was being completely removed.
In reality, open matchmaking simply relaxes the skill filters (it doesn’t erase them) and the experience still depends entirely on who actually joins those playlists.
Right now, the players flooding into open lobbies aren’t casuals at all but highly engaged veterans who follow patches, chase camos, and play for hours.
That is why open playlists feel “sweaty,” not because Treyarch secretly kept strict SBMM running.
Olson adds that most casual players stick to one or two modes they’re familiar with, so they aren’t populating the open pool in the first place, and anyone trying to farm weaker opponents would have better luck in open Team Deathmatch where casual traffic is more common.
Why Are Players Mistaking Trade-Offs for “Proof” of Hidden SBMM?
He also broke down the three so-called proofs people keep repeating—sweaty matches, longer queue times, and shakier connections—and clarified why none of them point to any hidden skill bias.
According to him, these are natural side effects of reintroducing persistent lobbies, which keep match groups together across games instead of constantly reshuffling them.
When you try to maintain that structure, matchmaking takes slightly longer, empty slots are harder to refill instantly, and network connections vary more as players hop in and out.
Olson even went further with predictions, saying Black Ops 7 could get even more competitive over time as casual players drift away and the remaining population becomes increasingly hardcore, similar to what happened with XDefiant.
What Does Olson Predict for Call of Duty Moving Forward?
He also hinted that the yearly Call of Duty release cycle may no longer be sustainable and suggested Activision might eventually shift to a two-year model.
All of this comes while Black Ops 7 is dealing with its own issues.
International sales are reportedly down, Game Pass traction hasn’t been addressed, and Battlefield 6 is stepping in as one of the strongest challengers Call of Duty has seen in twenty years.
Endgame upgrades and the BlackCell DLC on the way haven’t done much to calm players down.
Olson’s explanation makes it obvious that Treyarch didn’t hide anything about SBMM; what people are actually seeing is open queues filled with high-skill players, and the lobby system’s normal behavior is being mistaken for something covert.
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