Overwatch's high bandwidth update is live, here's a rundown of what it means

One of the most requested updates to Overwatch has been a boost to the game's tick rate. When the shooter launched (and during its beta period), the game had a tick rate of 21, which means player actions were communicated to the server that many times per second. That's not a lot compared to other shooters (Battlefield 4 and CS:GO come immediately to mind), and some competitive hopefuls believed it should have been higher.

They can hope no more, because Blizzard has been rolling out a 63hz tick rate since mid-August. Now the studio has explained what that means for players in a new video update, which you can watch above.

The video serves to demonstrate how the higher tick rate will affect gameplay, and how players with poorer internet connections will be accommodated for. It's safe to say that most players won't notice a difference, but it's worth watching the video just to see two grown men push around cartoon Pharahs while they explain advanced netcode in layman's terms.

While some regions were getting the 63hz update as far back as August, the high bandwidth tweak should be available everywhere as of now.

Shaun Prescott is the Australian editor of PC Gamer. With over ten years experience covering the games industry, his work has appeared on GamesRadar+, TechRadar, The Guardian, PLAY Magazine, the Sydney Morning Herald, and more. Specific interests include indie games, obscure Metroidvanias, speedrunning, experimental games and FPSs. He thinks Lulu by Metallica and Lou Reed is an all-time classic that will receive its due critical reappraisal one day.