Games CDN: Benefits of Games CDN in Small Business
Anyone who has worked on an online game knows the difficulties of delivering content and patches consistently to players around the world. Games, no matter how simple or complex they may be, require a lot in terms of maintenance and resources.
Technology like ultra HD and 4K gaming are creating exciting new innovations. However, the download size keeps increasing exponentially which is creating many new challenges for the backend. To address these issues, content delivery networks that are specialized in gaming have been created.
What is CDN for Gaming?
CDNs use a global network to speed up the delivery of downloaded files. They cache content closest to your visitor. This not only increases performance, but also lowers the risk of server crashes and failures by offloading bandwidth to the origin.
Certain CDNs also offer Push Zones, which enable developers to host their entire game directly on the CDNs storage cluster. This eliminates the need to have an origin server.
While hardcore gamers have adapted to long waits for their games to download, casual gamers can find it frustrating and even demoralizing to wait for the content to be available. Catering to a global gaming market increases the risk that a game will crash or become infected by malware. Gaming CDNs should be ready to deal with such issues.
Benefits of CDN for Games
1. Enhance your experience before you play
Many console games, which are mostly played offline, require pre- and post-installation downloading. “Day one patches” have become a common practice and are even expected. Polygon reported that Star Citizen’s client would be 100 GB in size by 2015. This is just one example of the many cases where games require large pre- and post-game files. Although downloading content is inevitable it can be frustrating for customers. However, developers can make the process less painful for players by leveraging CDNs (https://www.polygon.com/2015/3/12/8198615/star-citizens-client-will-be-a-100gb-download)
2. Consistent speed, performance
Online games are more demanding than other apps. A mere millisecond of lag could cause a complete loss of user experience. You can be sure that your players won’t get turned off by a CDN that is highly efficient.
Player satisfaction is not only about delivering large files quickly. Traffic spikes can cause delays for all players as games become more popular. Although developers have no control over the connection speeds of individual players, a CDN allows each player to get started as fast as their connection will permit.
While some areas are more susceptible to connectivity issues than others, a good gaming CDN can deliver content to all players. Load balancing is also possible by having servers spread across the globe. This ensures that your game’s performance does not suffer as it grows in popularity.
3. Scalability and flexible pricing
A good CDN for gaming should be able to handle large requests at all times. So be sure to choose a CDN that has a proven track record of being scalable and is transparent whenever maintenance must be performed.
It’s important that you choose a CDN with flexible pricing because games can quickly grow in size. Developers shouldn’t be tied to a monthly contract. Bandwidth and traffic usage can rise at any moment, so it is best to switch to the next higher monthly plan. Developers can pay as they go, which allows them to scale up their CDN requirements as the game grows.
Factors for Choosing a CDN to Games
Although it is more convenient to use a CDN than do it yourself, not all CDNs work the same. Do your research before you choose a CDN to support gaming.
While speed and reliability are the main factors in choosing a CDN to play games, it is also important to determine “where” a CDN is fastest. You should also know the location of most of your players. Many of the top CDNs in North America don’t offer services in other regions. While some CDNs are limited to certain regions, others offer global server hosting. You should always verify the exact location of any servers you plan to use before making such an investment.
