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Scaling multiplayer game servers efficiently with i3D.net

Scaling multiplayer game servers efficiently with i3D.net

Efficiently scaling multiplayer game servers with i3D.net
14 March 2023

Choosing the right compute solution for a multiplayer game can be a tricky task as there are many options available and claims made by various providers can be contradictory or not relevant to your use case. As we have explained in earlier blogs, having infrastructure that can scale based on variable numbers of concurrent users (CCU) can ensure that your next multiplayer title is geared for success.

Table of Contents

Avoiding the costs and building for success

Over-committing resources without flexibility can lead to excessive costs for unused servers during off-peak hours when there are few players online. Conversely, under-committing resources will lead to players being stuck in the lobby, which would give a bad rep to your game and reduce the long-term player base as a result. Neither of those options is worth taking a risk over when there are products in the market that are designed for flexibility and ease of use.

The hybrid model

If you have been reading our other blogs in this series, you also understand that while there are obvious benefits in choosing either bare metal infrastructure or cloud services to run your game, the best and more practical solution would be to opt for a hybrid model, where you can truly get the best of both worlds.

Bare metal offers better performance and lower latency but may not be as scalable, and cloud offers scalability but with potentially higher latency and less predictable performance. The best choice for you will depend on your needs and constraints, such as the type of game, the scale of the game, budget, and ability in infrastructure. Additionally, it is important to consider the network of the provider as it could affect the latency and performance for the players.

In a perfect world, you should be able to combine the performance of bare metal with the flexibility and instant scalability of cloud services, and that is exactly what i3D.net offers with its orchestrator.

Experts in gaming

i3D.net can be categorized as an infrastructure provider that offers compute and connectivity resources to support multiplayer games. The company started as a game hosting company and therefore its entire infrastructure stack is perfected for multiplayer games to ensure low ping times and high frame rates. Due to our focus on the video gaming industry, and seeing the difficulties described in this (and other) article, we’ve started developing software that would make the management of multiplayer titles easier. One of those products is an Orchestrator that manages your game server capacity based on CCU. Effectively managing your game servers as efficiently as possible, minimizing overhead and therefore costs.

Scaling efficiently with the orchestrator

Our orchestrator spins up game sessions and instances automatically based on the demand, and does so both on i3D.net compute resources, which we control fully to ensure the quality of the network and compute, and major cloud providers. Our own resources are built to reach areas where other networks cannot, as we understand that a video game’s customer base can often extend beyond borders and traditional network routes.

Multi-cloud scaling

We offer the flexibility for our customers to choose the cloud provider of their choice from options including GCP, Azure and AWS (Amazon Web Services) to ensure that when your game blows up, it can launch game instances in multiple regions, across multiple providers to keep your game resilient and your community online 24/7, regardless of the CCU.

Fully customizable

The orchestrator lets you create and customize your fleets, define deployment regions, and select preferred cloud providers. It enables you to define your own usage parameters and decide your scaling strategy in whatever way suits you best.

Expert handling

As mentioned in earlier articles, the overheads incurred to run a 24/7 infrastructure team are no longer necessary to run a multiplayer title. Entrust your game to people who do that full time with experience and talent.

Agnostic, secure and self-healing

The orchestrator is completed by the integration of CDN for game build distributions, a patch system to patch game builds without impact for your player as well as an Anti-DDoS solution that adds no latency for your user to keep your game servers safe and your community online.

Reach out to one of our experts today to learn how the orchestrator can help you with your next project.

Main Take-Aways

i3D.net started as a game hosting company and therefore its entire infrastructure stack is perfected for multiplayer games to ensure low ping times and high frame rates. Due to our focus on the video gaming industry, and seeing the difficulties described in this (and other) articles, we’ve started developing software that would make the management of multiplayer titles easier. One of those products is an Orchestrator that manages your game server capacity based on CCU.

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