Apex Legends Is Finally Addressing Its Skill-Based Matchmaking Issues

At the beginning of the year, Apex Legends developer Respawn Entertainment shared insight on a project the team was working on revolving around matchmaking. At the core of the long list of Apex Legends complaints have been the game’s unforgiving skill-based matchmaking, and the team seems to have taken that feedback seriously, as changes are coming to Apex Legends soon.

In a hefty blog post, Technical Director Samy Duc defines the current state of Apex Legend’s matchmaking system. Duc says: 

“Apex Legends currently makes matches using your pre-madeparty’s best player’s skill rating, and our system does consider your pre-made squad’s size when matching you with opponents.”

Due to the nature of the current system and the strain it has caused its player base, Respawn is in the process of retiring the current system for one that looks to fairly balance teams. The method the team is using has been in the works for some time and has seen implementation in various regions across casual and ranked modes.

An interesting read, one of the many highlights, includes the current matchmaking focusing on distributing players into four “discrete” skill buckets. This method will be abandoned for an approach with many more buckets as the team looks to evenly balance matchmaking, with plenty of tuning to come in the future as Respawn, although it may come at the expense of longer queue times.

Longer queue times aside, fan feedback has been very positive, as Apex Legends may be changing for the better.