Hey there, everyone!
We hope you enjoyed our recent MultiVersus Developer Update video, because we couldn't wait to share it with you. Leading up to launch, we'll be releasing several blogs that take a closer look at the new features and changes that'll be heading to MultiVersus when we launch on May 28. We couldn't be more thankful for all of the invaluable feedback we received from the community during our Open Beta period and we can't wait to show you all what we've been working on. In short, when MVS returns it will incorporate a smoother, more reliable online experience. Let's dive right in, shall we?
REBUILT FROM THE GROUND UP
During Open Beta, MultiVersus utilized a client server model netcode, meaning that, for many players, hitting your opponent felt slightly off at times. Put another way, after you pressed a button, the logic for what you saw was calculated on one of various servers and if you weren't in close proximity to one of these servers, the latency made for a poor, imprecise experience, not only for you, but also for your teammates and opponents. This meant that people in different regions of the world had issues playing with their friends, and that needed to be fixed. Quite simply, our old netcode didn't meet expectations, and the only way to truly remedy the situation was to rebuild it entirely from the ground up.
So, without going into too much technical terminology, our team built a deterministic netcode that is tailor made for MultiVersus, regardless of mode or number of players. Our goal was and is to deliver world class online play that is fair, dependable, and gives us the flexibility to build for the present and future of MultiVersus. By vastly improving our networking foundations, we're able to optimize the experience for a variety of modes, including 1v1, 2v2, 4-player free-for-all, and more. Properly architected rollback networking is incredibly cool in that it essentially predicts what each player is going to do next and then uses those predictions to keep the moment-to-moment gameplay buttery smooth and consistent. Basically, our new netcode allows for a much more dependable and predictable competitive and cooperative experience that will benefit all players.
These videos demonstrate MultiVersus' rollback netcode in action. First we showcase a lower ping environment. The blue line indicates the path that the client predicted and the red line indicates the state after rollback has happened.
Next we show a higher ping environment. You can see that even with higher ping, the game still manages to maintain a smooth look and feel.
IMPROVED MATCHMAKING
With improved netcode, comes improved matchmaking. During Open Beta, matchmaking was often determined by latency, meaning that people were often matching with opponents in nearby regions, since being in closer proximity would yield higher quality matches with lower ping and better connections. Our new netplay will allow for people to play more seamlessly with friends and opponents who are farther away, rather than being largely dictated by geographic location, matchmaking will focus on grouping players by their actual skill level, creating a worthwhile experience for everyone. How do all these changes play out? We've been actively testing with very positive results so far, resulting in better connections for players with noticeable improvement to the overall experience.
It truly is our goal to have the MultiVersus online experience feel as though you're sitting next to your friends on the sofa playing locally, only with less sharing of the snacks.
THANK YOU
We can't thank you enough for being a part of the MultiVersus community. Be sure to warp into our Social Channels and join us on Discord to discuss our netcode improvements.
Twitter: https://go.wbgames.com/MVSTwitter
TikTok: https://go.wbgames.com/MVSTikTok
Instagram: https://go.wbgames.com/MVSInstagram
Facebook: https://go.wbgames.com/MVSFacebook
Reddit: https://go.wbgames.com/MVSReddit
Discord: https://go.wbgames.com/MVSDiscord
We'll be sharing more game information with more blogs posts to follow leading up to the game's launch on May 28. See you next time!