Matchmaking and Readiness

How you apply for a match, wait for the service to find one, and confirm you are ready to play.

Goal

Apply for a match under the regulation you want, get matched with suitable players, and confirm that everyone is ready before the match begins.

Requesting a match

Applying for a match is called joining the queue. You can do it on your own or as a group.

• Solo — you join the queue for one regulation. The format is set by where you join, so you do not pick it twice.
• Group — your whole team joins together, and every member confirms the request first, just like creating the group.

When you join, you make any declarations the regulation requires. A declaration is a choice you commit to for the match. For example, in the 1v4 quartet format, a player on the killer side declares which killer they will play; the survivor side does not. Which declarations a format needs is listed on its regulation page.

You are also matched within your region, so connections stay playable. A couple of regions can fall back to a neighbouring one if no nearby match is found.

One request at a time

You (or your group) can have only one active request at once, across all formats. To switch to a different format, cancel your current request first.

While you wait

After you join, your request is pending until a match is found. While it is pending you can check its status (which format you are queued for and that you are still waiting) or cancel it. You can cancel any time before a match is found.

When a match is found

Once the service finds enough suitable players, it sends everyone a match-found notice with a ready check. Depending on the format, the other players’ identities may stay hidden until everyone has confirmed — so you decide to play based on the match itself, not on who is in it.

Readying up

Each participant responds in one of two ways:

• Ready — you confirm you will play.
• Leave — you withdraw from this match.

If you do not respond before the time runs out, that counts as leaving. In a group, every member confirms individually. If anyone leaves or times out, the match is cancelled for everyone. Once everyone is ready, a shared space opens where the full line-up is revealed and you set up the custom game and play.

What happens after a cancellation — whether you simply requeue, or wait a short while — is set by community rules for the format. To try again, you submit a fresh request.

If no match is found

Sometimes there are not enough suitable players, and your request eventually times out without a match. You are told, and your request ends. To keep trying, just join the queue again.

Trouble?

See Queue and Readiness Troubleshooting for request, cancellation, timeout, and readiness problems.