Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 'conspiracy theory' officially addressed by developer

Fan theories and conspiracies are nothing new in the world of gaming and there's a recent Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 one which has been completely shut down by a developer.

Pretty well ever since it was announced open lobbies would be returning in Black Ops 7, there has been all kinds of speculation about how much skill is actually taken into account.

Open lobbies mean that SBMM (skill-based matchmaking) is minimally considered (but not entirely ignored) when deciding who players will be up against.

Although it was welcomed with open arms during the Beta in October, and continues to be a very popular choice among Black Ops 7 players, there have been constant claims Activision has been tweaking it.

The latest came on 26 December, when one X / Twitter user posted: "They have cranked the ever living f*** out of SBMM for the Christmas noobs lmaoooo. I've been finding nothing but master prestige players in every lobby."

"Christmas noobs" refers to new Black Ops 7 players that have got the game for Christmas.

And in response, Treyarch design director Matt Scronce himself shut down the claims. He simply replied: "No they haven't."

Conspiracy debunked.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is out now on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One and PC.

Elsewhere from indy100:

• Battlefield 6 v Black Ops 7 was the 2025 shooting game of the year showdown - but neither won
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 review - the good, the bad and the ugly

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