Call of Duty YouTuber Starts Petition to Axe SBMM After Destiny's Protest Victory

Call of Duty YouTuber Tdawgsmitty has launched a petition to eliminate skill-based matchmaking (SBMM) in the FPS series, inspired by the successful fan protests that brought back Destiny.

Tdawgsmitty has long been a vocal critic of Call of Duty's SBMM and has tried various tactics to draw attention to the issue. Last week, he began tweeting at Xbox CEO Asha Sharma daily, hoping to get her notice. Now, he's taking a different approach. After witnessing Destiny fans successfully rally to convince Bungie to resurrect the sci-fi MMO, Tdawgsmitty decided to unite Call of Duty fans in hopes of achieving a similar result.

The YouTuber's petition has already amassed over 500 signatures in about an hour. The goal is to remove SBMM entirely from Call of Duty's unranked lobbies, citing frustration with the current system and how Activision uses data analysts to develop its matchmaking. Instead, he wants SBMM to be used only in ranked play, where players intentionally seek a more competitive experience.

"Former Call of Duty developer Brian Bright recently shared that his team's work on [the canceled Call of Duty game NX1] focused on ping and region," the petition description reads. "He also stated that Activision eventually began hiring data scientists who worked with its marketing department to push for more skill-based matchmaking. His statement raises serious questions about how matchmaking priorities evolved.

"For players like us, today's public matches too often feel like the same competitive experience on repeat. Experimenting with a different weapon, relaxing after work, or playing with friends of different skill levels can become frustrating. When every lobby feels like another test, the fun starts to disappear."

The YouTuber also called for clearer communication about matchmaking and for the community to have the opportunity to test changes themselves. The petition comes roughly a month before the release of Modern Warfare 4, which will use a divisive SBMM system introduced earlier this summer in Black Ops 7. Many feel that Call of Duty's SBMM is too punishing and leads to matches that feel consistently unfair, fueling years of frustration with the franchise's multiplayer.

Whether a petition can change Activision's mind remains to be seen, but it's not entirely impossible. Bungie chose to return to Destiny 2 after killing it earlier this year. The initial decision sparked extreme backlash, and players made their voices heard through online protests, including refusing to support Bungie's latest game, Marathon. The developer announced it would restore vaulted content and continue supporting the Destiny franchise, delighting fans. Tdawgsmitty cited this as proof that change is possible.

"This Destiny news is huge for gaming," he said on Twitter. "It shows we can use our voice and effect change. It's time for the COD community to step up and get some much needed changes to the direction its been headed."

If Call of Duty fans can unite by signing petitions, making their voices heard online, and voting with their wallets, it could lead to changes. However, Call of Duty is a massive franchise, so making a similar impact may be difficult. IGN spoke with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4's lead multiplayer developers in August and asked how the studio is approaching SBMM.

"I think it's a conversation that we'll continue to have," said Jacky Reynolds, Multiplayer Design Lead at Infinity Ward. "I don't think it's ever going to be a solved system. There's always going to be new iterations that can be made. I think at the end of the day, yeah, we want players to be able to play and have fun. I think that we want to also make sure that they have variety in their matches. I think it's a conversation that we should continue to have. It's also worth mentioning that Joe and I aren’t directly in charge of matchmaking. We are focused on building cool stuff, but I think we're looking forward to seeing how it all shakes out."