Deliver a low latency experience is extremely important for virtual, extended or augmented/mixed reality content.

There are two types of latency – “in headset” related to the rendering of the game within the hardware itself, and network latency, which is the inherent latency introduced during online gameplay of multiplayer VR games and XR projects.

According to studies (1), a significant delay threshold of about 20 milliseconds has been established for virtual and mixed reality.  Absolute delays are usually undetectable when they are less than 20 milliseconds, although humans can perceive very short relative delays in some areas of the visual field.  Lowering this threshold, especially when paired with high resolution, enables significantly deeper immersion and removes a major contributor to cybersickness.

Latency in Hardware

In terms of hardware, several factors in VR, AR, XR and MR contribute to simulator sickness, including high latency, low refresh rates, improper interpupillary distance (IPD), laggy hand tracking, and low resolution (2). Issues like delayed head tracking or misaligned optics can lead to discomfort and nausea. Studies show that 40% of cyber sickness cases are due to incorrect IPD settings (2).

Advanced VR headsets minimize these problems through features like automatic IPD adjustment, high refresh rates (90Hz), ultra-high resolution (over 70 pixels per degree), and low-latency video passthrough. These improvements enable professional-grade VR experiences that can be used for extended periods without discomfort.

In terms of software, beyond hoping users to have an exceptionally high resolution: games should be designed to ensure headsets can exhibit virtual scenery with lifelike fidelity and enable users to sense objects at actual visible distances through a resolution of more than 70 pixels per degree, which are more than what the human eye with 20/20 vision can discern.

Additionally, optimize your VR/XR project to ensure the highest definition video passthrough with low latency as to create a realistic reality in which virtual and video representations are equal and indistinguishable. Video pass-through, which is made possible by stereo 12-megapixel cameras that continuously digitize the environment. This latency, which is less than 20 milliseconds, is indiscernible in typical interaction scenarios and is generally accepted to be sufficient to prevent the development of misleading feelings and simulator sickness.

Latency in Online Multiplayer Experience

No product or service can eliminate the latency caused by WiFi-using devices, or cellular networks (pre-6G). Given most consumer-grade VR and XR devices cannot use a hardwired network connection by design, it means it applies to almost all VR and XR headsets.

Only in games can it be explained.

What game developers can, though, is to minimize the other sources of latency – namely, the network itself.

Network latency occurs because data has to travel long distances. When a player's actions are sent over the internet, the signals must pass through various routers and servers before reaching other players, which introduces delays. Data packets can also be delayed by network congestion. Each step along the route adds extra time, resulting in a noticeable lag between player inputs and on-screen responses.

Edgegap’s game server hosting and orchestration platform is patented to deploy game server to the world’s largest, and only, regionless edge network. This allows Edgegap to deploy game server closest to players. As distance introduces latency, this deployment method is proven to reduce latency by 58% on average vs public cloud, and 28% increase in fairness.

How?

In short summary, Edgegap containerizes your game server, and then automatically caches it to our regionless network - the world's largest that we specifically built for multiplayer games. The platform then deploys, on-demand, your game server worldwide to 615+ locations across 17+ providers.

This allows Edgegap to deploy, on-demand & just-in-time, to the ideal game server location most often closest to players as to reduce latency by up to 58% and delivers up to 78% “real-time” latency (sub-50 ms) vs. traditional public cloud.

Thus, while it cannot entirely negate the loss of networking speed due to VR/XR’s use of WiFi, Edgegap is the only game server hosting & orchestration that is proven to reduce latency at the network-level to at least mitigate this inherent challenge to real time online multiplayer for XR and VR devices.

This is why Edgegap’s clients include a host of leading VR and XR studios and developers, such as Halfbrick Studios (famous for the Joypack Jetride series) Thrill of the Fight 2, DigiGods which is an immensely popular VR sandbox, and the number one extraction shooter in VR – Ghost of Tabor by Combat Waffle Studios.

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(1) Wagner, D. Motion to Photon Latency in Mobile AR and VR. 2018. https://medium.com/@DAQRI/motion-to-photon-latency-in-mobile-ar-and-vr-99f82c480926

(2) Seppo Aaltonen, Chief Commercial Officer, Varjo | Training and Simulation. 2022. https://varjo.com/vr-lab/training-in-vr-and-xr-simulator-sickness-explained-and-eliminated/