Overwatch’s multiplayer netcode is now better than Counter-Strike’s

Over the last couple of days, Blizzard has been quietly working on its multiplayer network code for Overwatch, yielding impressive improvements.

At launch, the shooter-focused mechanic of Overwatch’s netcode was well-received, allowing players with relatively high ping to still enjoy the game.

However, the game initially only supported a tick rate of 21, meaning that the server only sent updates to the client 21 times a second, despite the client proving the server with 63 updates a second.

That has now been changed for PC players, with game clients now able to receive 63 updates per second, yielding a massive network performance improvement.

In fact, the network lag between two players in Overwatch is currently less than that of other latency-dependent titles such as Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Battlefield 4.

Check out the network lag comparison below (click image to enlarge):

For South African players, this means that we will receive a slight latency reduction, but we are mainly limited by the lack of South African servers, which would allow us to take full advantage of the improved netcode.

YouTuber “Battle(non)sense” has meticulously outlined the main changes that Blizzard has made to the netcode, mainly improving server update times and tick rate.

Check out the highly-detailed analysis of Overwatch’s improved netcode below: