When Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 reached its first holiday season, longtime players quickly revived claims that skill-based matchmaking was being subtly adjusted for incoming Christmas newcomers.
Across social media, players began claiming that lobbies suddenly felt more punishing, with tougher opponents, repeated matchups against the same names, and an overall sense that the matchmaking system had been “cranked up” behind the scenes.
Some argued the experience remained the same, while others reported differences they couldn’t ignore.
How Did Treyarch Respond to Claims of Holiday SBMM Changes?
Those claims drew a direct response from Treyarch, with design director Matt Scronce publicly addressing and denying the rumors.
When confronted with the theory that matchmaking queues were altered for the holidays, Scronce stated that no such changes had been made, explicitly denying that SBMM was adjusted to account for Christmas players or seasonal population spikes.
According to Treyarch, the matchmaking systems running during the holidays were the same ones the game launched with, and no hidden tuning was applied.
Why Was Matchmaking Already a Sensitive Topic Before the Holidays?
The backlash wasn’t unexpected, given that Black Ops 7 debuted as one of 2025’s largest releases and then ran into a rocky post-launch stretch.
While it quickly climbed into the year’s top sellers, player retention has reportedly lagged behind earlier entries, with opening-week sales significantly lower than Black Ops 6.
At the same time, criticism aimed at the campaign and story led to negative reviews and frustration spilling over into multiplayer discussions, where SBMM has long been one of the franchise’s most sensitive pressure points.
Even before the holiday controversy, Black Ops 7’s matchmaking was under examination, with Treyarch experimenting with alternatives like Warzone’s “open matchmaking” to reduce strict skill filtering.
Reactions were divided, with a large number of players going back to standard playlists after finding little practical difference in open queues.
That history made it easier for players to believe something else might have changed during the holidays, even in the absence of official confirmation.
Could Player Population Shifts Explain the Matchmaking Complaints?
Player perception can also be skewed by holiday population changes, where casual players step away and the remaining matches naturally feel tougher.
Smaller active pools, repeated opponents, and mode-specific clustering can all make matchmaking feel harsher, especially for players already frustrated with the game’s direction.
Those conditions likely sparked the accusations, even as Treyarch maintained the system had not been altered.
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