Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 Director Says There’s Probably No Such Thing As ‘Perfected’ Matchmaking

Updated: Oct 23, 2026 11:00am UTCThe Call of Duty matchmaking debate has raged on pretty much since the beginning of multiplayer. Should matches be comprised of evenly skilled players, if there’s an accurate enough way of ensuring that? Or should skill be stripped out of the equation, so you never know what to expect from the next match? Both sides of the argument have their valid reasons for their preference, but most recently, in 2025’s Black Ops 7, an option was presented that attempted to satisfy all. While the default matchmaking was set to skill-based, as has been the case since 2007’s game-changing Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, open matchmaking playlists were also available to those who want the opportunity to get teamed up with, and against, anybody. This year’s Modern Warfare 4, though, has launched without that option, once again placing the matchmaking debate into the spotlight within the COD community. Is there any way to keep everyone happy, then? IGN spoke with Infinity Ward's Multiplayer creative director, Joe Cecot, who explained that match quality is the priority. “I don't know if there's perfecting it,” Cecot said of matchmaking.

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More information about the now-canceled Mass Effect: Universe keeps trickling out following this week’s closure of BioWare and the end of years of development of the next game in the studio’s sci-fi series. After an internal trailer featuring a new protagonist and original trilogy party member Liara T’Soni leaked, more information came out about how the game would handle choices from the previous games, as well as how the galaxy gradually built itself back up after the cataclysmic events of Mass Effect 3. Now, some folks who were working on the game at BioWare have started talking about the game, and while they’re not exactly going full spoiler mode for the canceled game, they are teasing a bit of what they were working on. One such developer is franchise technical director Romain Toutain, who held a stream on Twitch where he watched and commentated over the trailer and gave a few new details about what BioWare was cooking. Toutain speaks in French, but Bluesky user @loustica-lucia posted a clip of some of his commentary with English subtitles. So earlier, my brother was watching Octobinz (Romain Toutain)'s livestream on Twitch.

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Oli Welsh has been covering the business and culture of video games for two decades. He started out writing for Edge and other publications (specializing in MMOs and Blizzard, as cover for his World of Warcraft playtime) before joining Eurogamer, where he worked for 14 years as reviews editor, deputy editor, and editor-in-chief; Eurogamer won many Games Media Awards during his tenure. At Polygon, he writes about film and TV as well as games, and provides news, analysis, and criticism on the entertainment we love and the industries that make it, all from his home in London. He loves role-playing, racing, puzzles, tactics, exploration, storytelling, Nintendo, mysteries, spies, fantasy, reality, cars, and classic cinema. He wanted to be a movie critic when he grew up, and now he’s definitely grown up, and occasionally is one. He considers this a win. Blasts from the past that deserve a comeback