Overwatch Open Beta PC Performance Review

Testing Methodology

When testing multiplayer only games there are a lot of different aspects to consider, first is that we need a repeatable and reliable benchmarking location and secondly we need to somehow simulate a large multiplayer battle without needing to arrange 12 or so people in total to repeatedly and methodically replay the same demanding scene over and over again. 

Thankfully in Overwatch you can create a custom game where you can play against bots, which at the lower difficulties can react in an almost identical way time after time.

To benchmark the game we play a custom game with 6 characters per team on the Dorado map, whereupon starting the level we run towards the center with our comrades towards the enemy spawn point. 30 seconds before the match officially starts we start the benchmark and continue moving towards the enemy base, where after a further 30 seconds the enemy can leave their starting location and the game officially begins.   

The first 30 seconds we simulate the journey around the map towards the objective and when the match officially starts all 12 characters are in the same location around the defense point, resulting in a large-scale battle between all players/bots. All players are actively fighting so this accurately simulates a heavy battle scene in the game.    

So in the 60-second long benchmark, we will be simulating 30 seconds of travel time and 30 seconds of intense battle time. This gives us benchmarking data that is very similar to playing the actual game, while offering a lot more reliability and repeatability.