Treyarch Addresses Black Ops 4 20hz Server Tick Rate Controversy

Nicholas Barth,

October 21, 2018 8:20 PM

With reports of the Black Ops 4 server tick rate only being 20hz compared to the 60hz that it was in the title's beta having the community concerned, Treyarch has now publicly addressed the issue.

While the first week of Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 having been released has been a very successful venture for Treyarch and Activision, controversy surrounding a reported downgrade of the server tick rate for Black Ops 4 from the 60hz that it was in the title's beta to 20hz has been a main point of discussion in the community recently. 

With many players reporting a high amount of trade killing, being shot while in cover and poor hit registration throughout the first week of Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 having been fully released to the public, concerns over the suspected downgrade from 20hz to 60hz have been rampant.

Hz is how many times per second information is sent from a title's server and the platform that you are playing on is measured. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 runs at 60 frames per second which means a 60hz server tick rate between the client end (the consoles or PCs in a lobby) and the server side (the dedicated server on the developer's end) would result in every frame on your screen being a truly accurate showing of the action in a match of Black Ops 4

However, a 20hz server tick rate in Black Ops 4, which is what has been reported to be the current setting, would mean that possibly up to two thirds of your frames could contain information that has not been updated from the other players in the match. This can lead to instances where players are shot and killed even though on their screen it shows them being behind cover. 

The 20hz server tick rate issue for Black Ops 4 was discovered by reddit user Smcro for Playstation 4 consoles. YouTuber Battle(non)sense also had performed tests on the server tick rate for Black Ops 4 and had found that the current setting was 20hz instead of the 60hz that it had been during the beta for Black Ops 4 on PC. 

Hearing the concern from the community regarding the reported downgrade of the server tick rate for Black Ops 4 from 60hz to 20hz, Treyarch addressed the issue in a reddit post on Sunday, October 21st.

"We've also noticed a lot of discussion around network performance over the past couple of days and wanted to take a moment to address this directly. We’re constantly working to optimize the game, and particularly network performance, to ensure the highest quality online experience for our players. For a game launch with as massive a population as ours hitting so many global servers at once, we configure our infrastructure to ensure game stability as the highest priority over all other factors," said Treyarch. 

Now that we’re past the initial launch of the game, we are focusing on fine-tuning network performance around the globe, using the real-world data that we have collected. Over the course of the next two weeks, we will roll out several updates to our network setup that will continue to improve upon the experience of our players since launch," Treyarch continued. "As we have always said, launch is just the beginning, and we’re committed to making Black Ops 4 the best-supported game we’ve ever delivered. This is a journey that will involve constant adjustments, improvements, and additions. We appreciate your continued support and patience – thank you!"

From the response of Treyarch regarding the alleged downgrade of the server tick rate for Black Ops 4 from 60hz to 20hz, it looks as though Treyarch has gone with a lower server tick rate in order to insure that no major server outages would occur with Black Ops 4 due to its massive player count through out the week following the game's launch. However, the developer will now be looking to update the server tick rate of the title, likely from 20hz to 60hz, in the next two weeks in order to improve online performance for players. 

(cover photo courtesy of Treyarch)



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