Gears 2 matchmaking fix "top priority"

By Robert Purchese Published 19 November, 2008

Epic hopes to have a solution soon.

Epic has made fixing Gears of War 2's skill-based matchmaking its top priority, and hopes to have a solution soon.

"We're aware that some folks are experiencing longer-than-ideal wait times while using the skill-based public matchmaking in Gears 2 multiplayer," said senior producer Rod Fergusson on the official forums.

"We're working on some solutions but it's a complicated issue as there isn't any one problem; it's a combination of factors. Clearly, scale is one of them as we've had millions of successful matches played online so far, [but] a small percentage of players are having issues, which is unacceptable.

"We're working closely with Microsoft to address the matchmaking issues, I promise you that it is our number one priority, and we hope to have an update soon," he said.

Until then, he suggested a few workarounds. Trying different playlists can reduce delays, as can having at least two people in the party before matchmaking; a full team of five, incidentally, is the fastest way.

Re-inviting the nine other people in the game immediately after one finishes is also a top tip from Fergusson, although this will turn the match into a private affair. There's benefits to this, such as being able to pick maps and modes, although the outcome will not be recorded or ranked.

He suggests double-checking the NAT settings with your router, too.

Still, little of this seems to have put people off playing Gears of War 2, which continues to attract the most unique users on Xbox Live according to Major Nelson's charts.

Fergusson added that there have been 3 million ranked multiplayer matches played and over 1 million screenshots uploaded to the official website.

And from those stats he has worked out that Horde is the most popular multiplayer mode, River is the map of choice, and the Gnasher weapon has notched-up the most kills.

Roadie Run over to our Gears of War 2 review to find out more.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (31) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Fleisch #1 3 years ago

    halo2 had some pretty long wait times and that did ok....

  • Benno #2 3 years ago

    when halo 2 came out it had long load times, but they hotfixed it to make it quicker

  • Widge #3 3 years ago

    To be fair, just about every online thing I've seen in the last year seems to have some sort of gripe in its first month or so. It always get sorted.

  • the_dudefather #4 3 years ago

    'We have top men working on it right now.'

    'Who?'

    'Top...men.'

  • Aretak #5 3 years ago

    "To be fair, just about every online thing I've seen in the last year seems to have some sort of gripe in its first month or so. It always get sorted."

    Unless it's Konami and PES.

  • stepneg #6 3 years ago

    Hurry up and release it then I can trade in COD5 for Left 4 Dead

  • chrisjm #7 3 years ago

    give us a world/UK/europe filter too, not experienced any lag but some of the US kids dont half whine.
    Edited by 1 at 19/11/08 @ 12:14

  • shotgun44 #8 3 years ago

    This is pissing me off at the mo, i'm waiting like 30 mins to be matched :/ NAT is fine too.

  • philreeduk #9 3 years ago

    great all i need a fix to now is to be able to play the damn single player!!!!!!

    40 quid for a game i cant even play :

  • ruttyboy #10 3 years ago

    People would actually wait 30 minutes to play online?!

  • Dizzy #11 3 years ago

    "great all i need a fix to now is to be able to play the damn single player!!!!!!

    40 quid for a game i cant even play : "

    It doesn't work on a PS3 ;)

  • Skooch #12 3 years ago

    Well, let's hope they also fix the ridiculously underpowered shotgun, the overpowered lancer, the stupid concussion/smoke grenades and the lack of ability to choose gametype, map and number of rounds. The long wait for games online is one problem, but EPIC ruining one of the finest online MP experiences is a much bigger issue.

  • Benno #13 3 years ago

    gears 1 online was rubbish compared to other games at the time

  • Fleisch #14 3 years ago

    @stepneg You shouldn't need any hotifx to make that trade, everyone knows that Einstien clearly proved Left4Dead>CoD5(sq).

    all about the zombies!

  • muscleblade #15 3 years ago

    "great all i need a fix to now is to be able to play the damn single player!!!!!! "

    You need a 360 to play the game idiot.

  • muscleblade #16 3 years ago

    Btw: COD5 hasnt been released yet. COD:WAW isnt COD5. Infinity ward has made that pretty clear.

  • yerawldda #17 3 years ago

    didnt they learn from the first one?!

    COD5 has no problems online. you get a match even quicker than COD4. i.e. instantly

  • themorganator #18 3 years ago

    I wish they would get this sorted. Several of my friends are about to trade it!

  • robg #19 3 years ago

    Clearly, scale is one of them as we've had millions of successful matches played online so far, [but] a small percentage of players are having issues, which is unacceptable.

    While scale may well be an issue, that certainly isn't evidence for it.

  • bef #20 3 years ago

    I haven't been able to join an online game and I have tried plenty of times on different times... Really annoying.

  • Kyledanutmeg #21 3 years ago

    how bout get rid of match making if fucking sucks such a let down

  • adamamosa #22 3 years ago

    I have found wingman seems to be the most reliable.

  • penhalion #23 3 years ago

    L4D had us waiting an hour last night! Had a bloomin' full on debate about everything from what would cause a real life L4D outbreak, to mini black holes!

  • zuljin #24 3 years ago

    @adamamosa
    I'm still havin issues... :(

    Easiest for me is going for horde mode with 5 people... They kinda have to fix it soon cuz I might switch onto COD5/Left 4 Dead/ Resistance if it takes too long...
    Edited by 1 at 19/11/08 @ 14:49

  • Mooks #25 3 years ago

    Ive been waiting for a match ever since game was released ;-)

  • Bilbo_bobbins #26 3 years ago

    who cares, Gears is boring anyway

  • ArchiRag #27 3 years ago

    they really could have done with a beta for the multiplayer.... or an extra month of production to iron out the bugs- im a gears whore and even i can see that this clearly didnt get the time and attention that the single player did. Kinda reminds me what EA did with Command and conquer. lets hope the third is better on release

  • bad09 #28 3 years ago

    Glad they are working on it, but seriously the age of patches and updates is killing online gaming if you ask me. I am finding it very difficult to find any enthusiasm to log on to play gears2 online, seeing as online is the main reason I got it (sorry guys I find it quite boring in SP) it's a major bummer not to be able to play it - although in all honesty the longest I personally have had to wait is maybe 10-15 mins.

  • shotgun44 #29 3 years ago

    Does matchmaking even work!? I did reasonably well once in a game of COD4 just out of luck and from then on i've had my ass handed to me cos i've been 'matched' with people who have played lke 4 months in total!?
    Edited by 1 at 19/11/08 @ 21:18

  • espibara #30 3 years ago

    Considering GOW mutliplayer lobby and set up was pretty good how have they managed to fuck it up so badly this time? Spent 25 min last night just trying to get a game of Horde.

  • half #31 3 years ago

    I waited over an hour last night and got nowhere on multiplayer, one minute it states players found then the next it's searching again. So I haven't even been able to get into a match over live. Complete waste of my time. My connection is fine, NAT is open and I've assigned a port just for Xbox live. It's a shame.