Dragon Ball FighterZ players have been clamoring for rollback netcode implementation for years, and it was finally announced last night. But this change comes at a cost.
Rollback netcode has been a hot topic in the fighting game community. The most popular fighting games in the world are all implementing it, and Dragon Ball FighterZ is no different.
Rollback netcode is a huge improvement — on paper
For those unfamiliar, rollback netcode smooths out latency issues and drastically improves the experience of playing against players online.
A message to the DBFZ community from Hiroki-San at #Evo2022! pic.twitter.com/R79RemTHQ9
— Bandai Namco Esports (@BNEesports) August 7, 2022
Rollback netcode was a surprise announcement during the Dragon Ball FighterZ main stage event at EVO 2022.
Dragon Ball FighterZ has been out for over 4 years, making this update to its netcode a feature that comes long after its initial release date.
Fans were elated by this announcement, but the addition of rollback netcode will come at a steep cost for some players.
A community divided
According to a follow-up on the official Bandai Namco Esports twitter account, the rollback changes are coming to PC, PS5, and Xbox Series S/X, with PC having an option to play on the old netcode.
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[#DBFZ]The release of the PlayStation🄬5 and Xbox Series X｜S versions of “DRAGON BALL FighterZ" with the rollback netcode system implemented has been decided.*More information will be released at a later date. Please await for further details. pic.twitter.com/EuYwbbIKwD
— Bandai Namco Esports (@BNEesports) August 7, 2022
PS4 and Xbox One players who already own the game on those consoles have the ability to play on the PS5/Xbox Series consoles at no additional cost, but that doesn’t mean much if they don’t own a next-gen console yet.
Not only are newer consoles expensive, but they can also be hard to find. The Xbox Series X/S aren’t too hard to find now that the consoles have been out for a while, but the PS5 is still regularly sold out with major retailers.
This means PS4 players would have to purchase a new copy of the game and all its DLC if they made the swap to playing on the Xbox Series X/S or a PC if they wanted to experience the game with rollback.
While rollback netcode will drastically improve the online experience, it will also divide the online playerbase into who can afford a new console or PC setup and who can’t.
Fortunately, rollback netcode doesn’t affect the experience of local play. As long as the versions of DBFZ on the Switch, PS4, and Xbox One stay updated, the gameplay experience between older and newer consoles should remain virtually unchanged.
Bandai Namco have yet to give a date for the release of rollback netcode in Dragon Ball FighterZ.