“10anniversary” (CC BY-SA 2.0) by Ryzom
Online gaming has become a multibillion-dollar industry over the last two decades. According to Newzoo’s Global Games Market Report, software revenue across the spectrum topped $116 billion in 2017. That figure was 10.7% up on the previous year, with experts predicting similar levels of growth as we move towards 2020 and beyond. With the market booming and millions of players gaming online every day, the major brands are now having to think about customer service, efficiency and reliability more than ever. Indeed, when you consider that a mobile game such as Pokémon Go has 65 million monthly users and five million active daily players, even the smallest glitch can have catastrophic effects.
Online Games Aren’t Immune from Outages
“Server Too Busy Because Of The…” (CC BY-SA 2.0) by schoschie
In fact, these problems are made worse when a person or group deliberately try to disrupt a service. Niantic found this out the hard way in 2016 when a group of hackers going by the name PoodleCorp took aim at the company’s servers. The DDoS attack was, according to the group, a “lil test” in preparation of something much larger. Although the claims were never fully verified, the Pokémon Go servers were down in both the US and UK for an extended period of time. Of course, it’s not just Pokémon Go that’s been hit with outages. Following a dispute among gamers back in 2013, a team of hackers took down Dota 2, League of Legends and Quake Live as part of a punishment attack.
What’s obvious here is that those with the technical know-how can cause carnage if they really want to. However, what are the major gaming companies doing to mitigate the risks of unexpected outages? Security is clearly the first line of defense against cybercriminals. Building a complex cloud architecture complete with subnets should be the starting point for any MMO. On top of this, web application firewalls (WAFs) have also proved an effective way to protect online apps from hackers. When the first lines of defense fail, the major gaming companies are now using server load balancing to mitigate downtime.
Finding the Right Balance is Crucial
“power & space” (CC BY 2.0) by tvol
For smaller businesses, HAProxy software offers an open source solution for load balancing. Because the software taps into application and network layers, it allows businesses to balance server loads and improve reliability and website speed. As a small business solution, HAProxy is desirable because it’s cost effective. However, for companies running global networks like Fortnite, on-edge load balancing is a more robust option. Using an on-edge load balancing system, gaming companies not only have the power to combat outages but filter traffic, mitigate large-scale DDoS attacks and offer a disaster recovery solution. Although this software is far from perfect, it’s one of the main reasons online games have become more reliable in recent years.
Naturally, with billions of dollars flowing through the industry, people will always want to upset the applecart. However, the technology is out there to help prevent any unwanted disruptions. As tough as it is, gaming brands like Niantic and Activision Blizzard Inc. are certainly doing all they can to provide a 24/7 service. Is it perfect? Obviously not, but things are getting better and this, in turn, is why the industry is growing at an unprecedented rate.