Matchmaking System is Broken

Respawn, a matchmaking systems job is to organize the queued players into as evenly matched games as possible.

It is not the matchmaker's job to decide whether a player should win or lose their next match before it even starts. This

just makes the game feel unfair and often either too hard or too easy. It takes control out of the player's hands so they

either feel like the deck is stacked against them or they're being handed a pity win. Neither outcome is fun for anyone.

There is a difference between healthy engagement and unhealthy engagement. Unhealthy engagement builds addicts

by creating a feeling of emptiness in the player by either giving them an empty win or making them feel powerless about

their losses. Healthy engagement happens when you have players consistently playing because the game is actually fun.

Apex has the potential to be fun, but the matchmaking actively fights it in favor of the unhealthy type of engagement.

The reason you're doing it is because unhealthy engagement shows higher player retention in the short term, but eventually

as the players get more and more frustrated, they will start leaving. The healthy type of engagement however retains players

for a much longer time.

The other thing you need to realize is that player retention is not only affected by matchmaking. Other things affect player retention

and if you're looking to maximize long-term player retention, you need to account for all aspects.

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Here is how you make a good matchmaking system:

Keep it simple! Your current matchmaking system is trying to do too much. The job of a matchmaking system is to create games where the players are as close in skill as possible.
this maximizes the potential fun and enjoyment of every game and, as a result, player retention.

Now that we have a goal, lets talk about implementation.

How do we match similarly skilled players?

First, we need a rating system to assess the skill of an individual player. For arenas and control this is fairly straightforward as you only have two sides and one wins and one loses.

Therefor these modes can essentially be considered Zero-sum. You can use a simple elo system for this.

BR unfortunately is a little more complicated. Since only one team in 20 (or 30 in the case of duos) can win any given game.

Instead the rating system should be based on a number of different "sub-wins". When you get a kill you gain rating based on a combination of how much damage YOU
actually did to that player and the difference between your current rating and the player's. You then lose rating in a similar manner when someone kills you. The rating

system should also reward things like reviving/respawning teammates, using abilities to the benefit of your team, etc.

Just this will be a great start and will drastically improve the matchmaking system but there are a few extra factors that should be taken into account to make it even better.

- Whether a person is solo queue or playing with friends

- In the case of playing with friends, averaging out each player's rating in the squad to come up with a system where, as a squad, they are well matched to the other squads in the lobby.

- When players leave the game in control leading to a numbers disadvantage (which is extremely detrimental in control)

- Accounting for a numbers disadvantage in other modes (while not as detrimental it is still a problem)

- Console vs PC (PC players should be allowed to opt out of crossplay as well and for crossplay games console aim assist should be 0.4 not 0.6 to balance the game)

Matchmaking has been a hot topic for quite a while in Apex and the community is getting exhausted of dealing with the problems/stress/grief it causes. Games are meant to be fun, not an emotional rollercoaster.

If you listen to this advice, the entire game will be much healthier, your player base will be happier, and you will see better long term player retention (barring other outside factors).

I want to see this game succeed and I ask that you please consider what I've suggested for the good of the entire Apex community.

Thank you.