Why Apex Legends’ 20Hz servers won’t upgrade – Technical breakdown and player impact
The Server Tickrate Debate
The Apex Legends community has consistently voiced requests for server upgrades, particularly regarding the game’s 20Hz tickrate. While competitors often operate at 30-60Hz, Respawn Entertainment has provided detailed technical reasoning for maintaining their current infrastructure.
Despite persistent player requests, Respawn’s engineering team has clarified why transitioning to higher tickrate servers wouldn’t deliver the expected improvements many anticipate.
Community frustration often peaks during periods of noticeable hit registration issues, leading to renewed calls for server enhancements. However, the development team’s comprehensive ‘What Makes Apex Tick’ technical breakdown reveals why this solution isn’t as straightforward as players assume.
Understanding Tickrate Mechanics
“Server tickrate fundamentally represents how frequently the game world updates,” Respawn’s explanation begins. Each tick involves a complete simulation cycle where the server processes all player inputs, calculates outcomes, and distributes the updated game state to all participants.
Unlike many competitive shooters that prioritize simplicity, Apex Legends’ complex systems including character abilities, interactive environments, and detailed physics require more comprehensive processing per tick. This means each 20Hz cycle in Apex handles significantly more calculations than comparable titles running at higher frequencies.
Performance vs. Cost Analysis
Respawn’s data reveals that upgrading to 60Hz servers would only reduce latency by approximately two frames (from five to three frames delay) while tripling both bandwidth consumption and server CPU requirements. This disproportionate resource expenditure for marginal gains makes the upgrade economically and technically impractical.
For players experiencing connectivity issues, focusing on local network optimization often yields more noticeable improvements than server upgrades would provide. Simple steps like using wired connections, closing bandwidth-heavy applications, and selecting optimal server regions can significantly enhance gameplay responsiveness.
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Alternative Optimization Approaches
Rather than pursuing tickrate increases, Respawn is prioritizing targeted optimizations that address specific pain points. These include improving server selection algorithms, refining hit registration systems, and eliminating problematic server instances that consistently underperform.
Advanced players can mitigate some tickrate limitations through predictive playstyles and input buffering techniques. Understanding the game’s 20Hz rhythm allows for better timing of shots and movements to align with server updates.
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