Players believe that Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 has strengthened the skill-based matchmaking (SBMM) system for the Christmas holidays to protect newcomers — the so-called "Christmas noobs." These players receive the game as a Christmas gift and, naturally, are inferior in skill to veterans who have been playing since release.
However, according to Treyarch's design director Matt Scrons, all these statements are false. No one touched the system, no one protects newcomers.
"Christmas noob destruction" has long been a meme in the Call of Duty community, but with the introduction of strict SBMM in Modern Warfare 2019, such matches have become rare: newcomers are almost never matched with experienced players.