Much news has been made recently about a seeming niche component of modern competitive game design known as tick rate. This is in light of the long-awaited release of Counter-Strike 2, the successor to Global Offensive, which has demonstrated an improved tick rate among its core upgrades to the previous game. The Counter-Strike franchise is home to some of the largest tournament events in the esports industry and, as such, is a popular choice for use with on comparison platforms furnishing the sector as one of the best-known and most spectated esports, advocates and critics who have been pushing for an improvement to this core element of the base-game for years are rejoicing at the news.
What Is Tick Rate?
Tick Rate refers to the frequency at which the online server of a game updates its state. This is typically measured in either hertz or ticks-per-second (TPS). Today we’re seeing the relevance of esports increase and with it, the issue of tick rate has become a common discussion point due to the potential impact it has on ensuring fair and accurate competition.
Why Is It Important?
The tick rate is significant because it determines how well-synchronized gameplay is across multiple distinct and remote devices. A low tick rate can often mean that events are being perceived differently between players, even if they’re on the same team.
In a game like Counter-Strike, in which skill is largely determined by accuracy and speed, this can have a huge impact on the way a match plays out. For example, what might have been perceived as an accurate headshot to one player, could, in the time it takes for the servers to update, actually result in a near-miss.
In light of this, newer games have been seeking to ensure their tick rate is up to standard, which by modern measurements is 128tps. Counter-Strike 2 and developers Valve have adopted a slightly different approach, preferring to incorporate a so-called “sub-tick rate” that will bring CS:GO’s definitively out-of-date 60tps more in line with the 128tps gold standard.
How Do You Identify the Tick Rate of a Game?
Fortunately, it’s relatively simple to figure out what the tick rate of a given game is by searching the question online or looking over the documentation provided by developers in reference to their official servers. While the likes of , other popular online games, such as Fortnite, have a markedly slower refresh rate somewhere in the range of 30tps.