Apex Legends

For a fully translated version of the update, see here.

As part of our ongoing commitment to transparency, we’ve been more direct in sharing our approach to developing Apex Legends, a critical part of this approach is listening to you all in the community, understanding their needs, and working to address them. As such, we wanted to highlight the work being done on matchmaking to provide an even better experience for our players.

Below, we’ll be discussing the frustrations we’re consistently working to alleviate, the various changes we’ve made and tests we’ve run, what outcomes we’re targeting, as well as what we’ve learned and how we’re using it to improve matchmaking moving forward.

Read on to learn all about:

Five major matchmaking pain points

Parameters and results of recent matchmaking tests:

Increased maximum queue search times

Bots in mid-tier unranked lobbies

Diamond+ solo-queue only

4.5 Hour Ranked map rotations

1-tier locked Ranked premades

The challenges of testing

DEFINING MATCHMAKING PAIN POINTS

You have made it clear, and we understand: Long queues and endlessly sweaty matches are the opposite of fun.

We are always listening and talking with players, we hear the feedback and frustration. It’s important that we balance your feedback and match data, so while we’re seeing that the majority of matches are fast and fair, we also see a smaller outlier of unacceptable matches that we’re committed to addressing to improve the overall game experience. Over the past few seasons, we've been focused on what our players are saying and exploring match data to identify a list of five main pain points which we use to guide our work on Matchmaking systems.

Here’s what we've been hearing:

Queue Times: No one wants to wait forever to get into a match. There is an inherent trade-off between faster queue times and a fairer match, but we also know that no one should have to spend more time in queue than actually playing. We see this frustration amplified in Ranked as it's the mode in which players will wait longer for matches with tighter matchmaking.

Lobby Skill Disparity: The skill gaps in your matches can be too wide. Veterans and casuals shouldn't be competing in the same lobby. Both Ranked and Unranked matches see the problem of Lobby Skill Disparity, and we approach both modes with different proposed solutions based on differing player needs.

Solos vs Premade Imbalance: Solo players are at a disadvantage against coordinated three-stacks, especially in Ranked. Communication and coordination are part of the core game loop and bring real advantages, but they shouldn't be that decisive.

Teammate Quality: You're paired with teammates who don't match your playstyle or skill level. Inconsistent experiences impact match quality.

Sweaty Lobbies: No one has fun when every single match feels like it’s your pain and someone else's gain. There is a time and a place for hyper-competitive matches, and you should know when you’re opting into the experience.

Every bullet here touches the core functions of the matchmaker. Pull one lever and everything else shifts along. It’s a tough balancing act. That's why over the past year, we've been methodical about testing solutions and tracking how each adjustment ripples through matchmaking.

RECENT TESTS

Matchmaking tests and experiments are run on specific regional servers to ensure that we can get clear data when we compare against other regions playing during the same period.

Over the past year, we have increased the number of tests, and are planning to continue with a regular cadence moving forward. Here's what we've learned.

TEST: INCREASED MAXIMUM QUEUE SEARCH TIMES

Which pain point are we addressing? Queue Times, Lobby Skill Disparity, Teammate Quality

What was the test? The matchmaker searches, initially, for an opponent of closely-aligned skill level, and incrementally expands the search, loosening the skill restriction over time. For this test, we increased the search window from 30 seconds to 60 seconds before expanding the matchmaking criteria. This gives the matchmaker more time to find fairly-matched players instead of immediately widening the skill range in favour of more quickly filling a lobby.

What were the results? We saw a positive impact on match quality and much fewer skill mismatches, especially at the high end of competition (visualized below), in both Ranked and Unranked without significantly increasing queue times.