PUBG - Dev Letter: Matchmaking System Update

Posted: 15 Jul 2019 07:12 PM PDT

Hello everyone,

This is Daegon Kim from the PUBG Matchmaking System Development Team.

One of our core missions at PUBG is to maximize the Battle Royale experience of our players. Providing fair play conditions within this competitive environment allows players to focus on the intense and thrilling experiences where survival and battle coexist. Matchmaking is crucial to this goal, and it is a high priority of ours to ensure our players the best game experience we can.

We know that our existing matchmaking systems have not always reflected the above, and some regions especially are experiencing excessive wait times to get into PUBG matches. With the above beliefs in mind, we've been working on improvements to our matchmaking system to better serve these regions. Today, we are ready to share and test those new plans with you all.

The Direction of Matchmaking System Update

1. Map Select (Specific Regions)
- AS-IS: Any map can be selected.
- TO-BE: FEATURED MAP and OTHER MAPS, or RANDOM MAP
2. Mode Select
- AS-IS: Players must wait for the queue or leave the queue.
- TO-BE: Players will be offered to play Squad mode if a solo or duo match isn't found in a set time.
3. Region Select
- AS-IS: Players will be moved to other regions if matchmaking is not ideal.
- TO-BE: Players will be offered the chance to change regions if a match isn't found in a set time.
4. Improved matchmaking system based on Network Latency
- We'll also be putting more ping restrictions in place to make sure that people with similar pings are playing together and not inadvertently disrupting other players' experience.

Adaptive Matchmaking Feature

As seen in the above image, we've added a feature which will provide you different options to play when selecting mode and region. If queues go over a certain time when waiting for a Solo or Duo game, a message will pop up and recommend that you play Squad mode instead. For instance, in OC/SA region, if matching takes too long even after changing to Squad mode, the game will recommend another region to play on. If the issue continues after moving to a secondary region, the game will recommended that you play Squad mode in that secondary region. The goal is to keep as many choices as possible, while getting you into games as fast as possible.

Applying Matchmaking System by Regions
PUBG has fans all around the world and different regions enjoy the game in different ways. To ensure we're providing PUBG's core values in every region we analyzed the matching pool and play characteristics for each region and divided them into three levels of concern- normal, moderate, and heavy. We then modified the matchmaking system of each level accordingly, as outlined below.

1. Regions that are experiencing normal matchmaking times- AS, KR/JP, SEA, and EU

If wait times go over a certain time after matchmaking on Solo or Duo mode, a message will be displayed recommending that you play Squad mode instead.

2. Regions that are experiencing moderate matchmaking issues - NA

We're changing queuing for a specific map to RANDOM, which will give players an equal chance to play each map. But, we believe that having a choice on selecting which map to play on is important as well as getting into a match fast. When we see the matching pool of NA region, we believe it's right to give our players a choice of one map as an option, separated from the other group. Therefore, we'll be adding FEATURED MAP(Limited time) and PRESET MATCH options for a limited time as described below.

FEATURED MAP

FEATURED MAP (Limited time) allows you to play on whatever the current featured map is, if there is one. We expect this to usually be either new maps or maps that have received a significant overhaul, such as the upcoming Erangel Visual Update. In cases where a featured map is available, the RANDOM option will give an equal chance of the remaining maps, excluding the featured one.This decision was based on results from internal data and simulations, we will continue to make improvements based on feedback and data gathered once the system goes live.

PRESET MATCH

The PRESET MATCH option gives players a way to play their prefered map and mode outside of the regular matchmaking options. More details about PRESET MATCH are as follows:

A PRESET MATCH consists of different sessions which will feature both perspective choices in Squad Mode for all maps.
- TPP/Squad/4 maps (4 sessions)
- FPP/Squad/4 maps (4 sessions)
Random Squad is only available in Preset Match, so you can't enter the room as a team.
PRESET MATCHES will not have a waiting room, and will start on the ingame lobby as soon as 80 people have joined.
Once in the in-game lobby, the game will wait 2 minutes for additional players to fill before the plane departs.
Once the match officially begins, a new session will replace it in the
PRESET MATCH screen
PRESET MATCH games will count as public matches, so BP rewards, SP, Pass XP, Weapon XP will be earned the same way

Console matchmaking will also follow this method in the future. The available options will be RANDOM MATCH and PRESET MATCH.

3. Regions that are experiencing heavy matchmaking issues - OC/SA

We understand that these regions have been hit hard with long matchmaking times and we're continuing to work on better solutions for our fans in OC and SA. For now, we're narrowing matchmaking pools down to only allow RANDOM map selection, which will choose equally from all available maps.

Closing Thoughts
The matchmaking experience is crucial to the long-term fun of PUBG. We know there isn't a perfect solution out there, but believe these steps will enable the majority of players to get into games. Our next step is to deploy these systems to live servers so that we can collect appropriate data while you experience them and give us your feedback. Of course, we will continue to work on new ideas to continually improve these systems, so please always feel free to offer your opinions and ideas. We thank you all for your patience while we've been getting these solutions ready. This solution will be coming with the next update, so please give us your valuable feedback once it gets updated.

Thanks,
Daegon Kim