Apex Legends’ netcode shows severe problems compared to Fortnite, PUBG, and Blackout
Respawn EntertainmentYouTuber Battle(non)sense made a complete analysis of Apex Legends’ netcode and compared them to the other popular battle royales with some surprising results.
Apex Legends has attracted over 50 million players since its February 4 launch. While many are loving the game, numerous issues with the network has frustrated players because of its effect on a given match.
Battle(non)sense did a side-by-side comparison of all the netcodes from the most popular battle royales and their features, making it simple to see why and where Apex Legends falters.
Apex Legends could add a few more features relating to their netcode for players to use.It looks like Apex Legends suffers the most from network delay between two players on the same server and ping. Respawn’s battle royale showed the highest interval of lag with damage, gunfire, and movement.
Even though Apex Legends has provided one of the most exciting takes on a battle royale, Battle(non)sense was disappointed with it’s lack of netcode related features.
(Timestamp at 1:10 for mobile viewers)
Network Warning Icons, Network Stats Overlays and even an FPS limiter are all missing from Apex Legends. While major battle royales like Fortnite and PUBG at least have them in an albeit limited capacity.
Apex Legends also utilizes packet splitting due to the size of information that’s being sent for every update in the game. This leaves the game more prone to packet loss which can cause the game to skip actions, leading to a worse playing experience.
The send rate for information that occurs throughout a match of Apex Legends.Though the packet loss does improve as the game goes on, Battle(non)sense says its largely due to less people in the server, so there’s less information that needs to be updated.
Even though the YouTuber praised Apex Legends for its fresh take on battle royales, they called on Respawn Entertainment to fix the problems with its network before players flock to another title.