With the world being home to over 3 billion gamers, there is no doubt the world loves video games. While some are okay playing single-player games offline, many love to put their skills up to the test against others online. For the best performance possible, it is often recommended to use a VPN (a virtual private network).

Whether you are using the best gaming VPN for Android or trying to decide whether a VPN is right for you, this article is going to go over some ways that using a VPN can improve your gaming experience.

Reduce Lag

One of the best reasons for some people to use a VPN to improve their gaming experience is that it can reduce lag. Lag occurs when the data you send to the server takes longer and/or is interrupted along the way. Lag slows down gameplay and can easily lead to you losing the upper hand in an online game, and can be frustrating.

A VPN will not only streamline your connection but also stop ISPs from throttling your bandwidth to control traffic. While using a VPN won’t always reduce lag, especially if you are very close to a server, it can dramatically help those who don’t have a server anywhere nearby, which can often make some games almost unplayable

Speed Up Downloads

As games get better graphics and more content, they become much larger. While many games used to only be a few GB at most, many games today can be well over 100 GB on consoles. In order to play these games, all of this data and information can be downloaded. With poor internet or a bad connection, this can take many hours or days or downloads before you can actually play.

While slow internet could be the culprit, it is often those pesky bandwidth restrictions in place to control traffic that slows down your internet. If you use a VPN, you don’t need to worry about your ISP slowing you down, which should keep your speed at its best. Also, be sure to use a download time calculator to learn just how long a certain download should take so you know how long you will have to wait.

Gain Access to Geo-Blocked Content or Games

Because a VPN can essentially transport your computer and internet connection to a different place around the world, it is great for gaining access to geo-blocked content or games. Some countries may ban certain games, or have certain levels or extras that aren’t available where you live if you just used your standard internet connection.

Another common usage of VPNs in gaming is to gain access to games hours before theft release. Most games come out in Australia first due to the time difference, so having a VPN there can allow you to play games before you’d normally be able to.

In conclusion, there are many ways that a VPN can improve your gaming experience, no matter what you play.