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Report: Splatoon 2's online multiplayer lags behind Splatoon 1 and competitors.
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Has it ever happened to you to get splatted in Splatoon 2 by someone who you clearly already splatted a second before? To get splatted while hiding behind a wall as if you were still out in the open? Well, you're not alone. According to an analysis of the game's network usage by competitive gamer and software developer Oliver Brammer, these are going to happen more often in Splatoon 2 than its predecessor.
Source: Twitter
What's the cause? Well, by analyzing incoming and outcoming data while playing, Brammer determined three elements where Splatoon 2's online disappointed: Higher ping, a lack of dedicated servers and a lower update/tick rate. Here is a summary of what these issues mean:
- Ping is the time it takes between sending a request and receiving a reply. The higher the ping is, the longer it takes for actions to be transferred, leading to inconsistency in gameplay between players. During testing, Brammer found that the average ping to be 113 milliseconds in Splatoon 1, versus 137 milliseconds in Splatoon 2.
- While Splatoon 1 also didn't have dedicated servers, relying on peer to peer networking leads to issues with both games. Peer to peer gameplay means your local data has to be transferred to every other player instead of a dedicated server. This means additional strain on your internet, which has to transfer more data, but also means that it's an easier system to cheat. Splatoon 1 notably had a lot of issues with invincible hackers, and using a similar system with Splatoon 2 means the risk is out there.
- The update rate is the frequency that the game's logic is updated, locally or on a server. The lower the tick rate, the more things happen "at once". This can lead, for example, to two players simultaneously killing each other or getting killed after you got into cover. Splatoon 1 had a tick rate of 25 Hz (25 updates per second), while Splatoon 2 has been calculated to have an update rate of just under 16 Hz. The following graph, created by Brammer, compares this to other online games.
If you're still curious and want more information, I highly suggest reading the source below for more nicely presented data... or taking software and networking classes! They're pretty cool, take my word for it. In any case, this is particularly unfortunate considering how well the first game sold, and how Nintendo Switch's online is going to be paid starting next year. Hopefully, the game is updated later on to improve the online experience.
Source: Oliver Brammer
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