Does Battlefield 6 have SBMM?

Following its release on October 10, 2025, Battlefield 6 will feature skill-based matchmaking (SBMM); however, it might not be as bad as players have come to expect. In several multiplayer titles, SBMM is utilized heavily to create lobbies based solely on a player's skill level. While the underlying intention behind this system sounds fair on paper, the matches this system creates result in a "sweaty" atmosphere, dissuading many from playing consistently.

As we near the release of Battlefield 6, similar concerns regarding SBMM have been growing in its community. This article will explore how EA intends to utilize skill-based matchmaking in BF6, based on a press briefing and a PSA made by a Lead Producer at DICE.

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Battlefield 6 and its approach towards SBMM

Factors involved in Matchmaking

Earlier in August 2025, Battlefield 6 had quite a successful open beta stage, where players were given access to two playtest sessions distributed over two weekends. In a BF6 press briefing covered by CharlieIntel on X, EA mentioned their intended approach towards matchmaking in Battlefield 6, and how it will rely on a few important factors, which are:

• Player ping
• Player's physical location
• Server availability
• SBMM

Skill-based matchmaking will have a low impact when compared to player ping and physical location.

Also read: Road to BF6 week 6 event: All missions explained

Battlefield 6 campaign mission key art (Image via EA)

DICE Lead Producer's PSA on SBMM controversy

One of the Lead Producers on Battlefield 6, David Sirland, made a public service announcement regarding Battlefield 6 SBMM in a closed Battlefield Labs Discord server. He stated:

"2042 has SBMM according to this definition – this is what I tried to detail above yesterday. It has a factor of skill, its used, but ping and time to game is the TOP priority, and in a 64 player game our want is to spawn a server that starts as soon as possible – thus the skill factor is negligable in terms of sorting into servers."

As noted from his response, ping and physical location will have a greater impact on your matches than skill-based matchmaking. This does not mean that SBMM will be completely absent, as skill differences are always taken into account to create fair lobbies and servers in a game like Battlefield, where 64 players can take the field.

Also read: Battlefield 6 campaign trailer: Here's what you might've missed

To further address the negative air that surrounds SBMM, David Sirland also stated the following:

"Just for clarity – saying SBMM is bad is not really useful. What you really want to say is “Heavy SBMM where skill separation is a priority is bad”. But that doesn’t make skill as a factor in matchmaking bad wholesale, on the contrary we need a skill value to make balanced teams – no matter the ranges of skills total on a server. It wouldn’t be fun if all high skill players ended up on the same team, would it?"

He went on to explain why skill-based matchmaking is a necessary aspect of creating fair lobbies. Even though it is not the sole factor taken into consideration when queuing you into a server in BF6, its presence is crucial for a fair overall gameplay experience.

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Edited by Adarsh J Kumar