So, why does geolocation matter? Because your gaming data moves through multiple “hops” as it travels between you and the server. Games with co-op and competitive multiplayer modes use regional servers because geolocation does matter, even if a server is just a few states away. Latency is also referred to as ping rate. Your game renders the response, but because your latency is high, your movement appears delayed compared to the other players. The server acknowledges the movement and sends a response showing your movements along with all the other player movements. Not cool.įor example, you move a mouse and your game reports that movement to a remote server. A high duration causes delays in your gameplay. To answer this question, the ping utility throws a ball of data at a specific destination and records how long the data takes to bounce back.

So, what is latency exactly? Picture a racquetball bouncing off a wall-how long does that ball take to come back to you? But if you’re new to the game, here’s why latency can be bad news. Chances are, you already know exactly what latency does to your elite skills. Latency can make the greatest gamer on the planet feel like a sloth at the controls. Here are the minimum speed requirements across most gaming platforms: Even a poor connection can usually meet your gaming needs, which is why upload speed often takes a backseat to more important factors. Games are interactive, so you need some upload speed to keep you in the game. These games can have more real on-screen players than the typical online gaming scenario, causing frame rate drops and “teleporting” players.Īs the list implies, communications between you and the remote server travel along a two-way street. Out of the items on the list, player location can introduce slowdowns, especially in massively multiplayer online (MMO) games. Server notifications (like in-game announcements).Player location (you and everyone else).Here’s what both sides exchange during the session: In fact, very little information passes between games like Halo Infinite and Fortnite and their remote servers. Generally, games and game systems often don’t give specific recommendations since the actual speed requirements are so low.

What is a good internet download speed