Bungie admits over half of Destiny 2's Control PvP matches are decided 'before a single shot is fired'

pcgamer.com:

Yesterday, Bungie announced the return of skill-based matchmaking—or SBMM—to Destiny 2's main PvP mode. In a This Week at Bungie blog post, the studio detailed upcoming changes to matchmaking, with the addition of «loose SBMM» to the Control playlist that will arrive at the launch of Season 18 on August 23. This is described as «the first iteration» of a larger matchmaking overhaul, due to continue through Season 19.

Presumably anticipating the inevitable backlash from PvP tryhards, the lengthy post goes into granular detail about why this change is needed. In it, Bungie highlights just how big the gulf is between the best and worst players under the current, connection-based matchmaking system. Here's the eye-opening stat: «In Control, the skill disparities on a team can be stark—over 50% of matches have a skill disparity of 900 or more between best and worst player, which is so significant that the outcome is already known before a single shot is fired.»

The skill number being referred to here is an internal stat that Bungie tracks, which seemingly takes account of everything from kills, deaths and round wins, to loadouts (right down to the mods you might have equipped) and reaction times. It's a 2,000-point scale, and Bungie says that «once you get to a difference of 600 there is basically zero chance for the lower-skilled player to ever win a 1v1 conflict».

Previously, Control and other Destiny 2 PvP modes did have SBMM enabled. It proved controversial at the time—in part because Destiny 2 uses peer-to-peer connections over dedicated servers. Favouring skill over connection quality led to plenty of instances of lag, teleporting players, and missed shots. It also impacted players at the highest (and lowest) end of the