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Selecting the ideal game server hosting is essential for providing your customers with the best possible experience. The wrong server infrastructure can lead to a bad gaming experience, resulting in players leaving. To ensure that your game is always running optimally, finding the perfect game server hosting that meets your specific requirements is essential. Doing so guarantees your players an enjoyable experience that keeps them coming back for more.
Type of gaming
There are three main types of gaming: single-player, synchronous multi-player, and asynchronous multi-player. Single-player games are the least resource intensive on your server and can be incredibly immersive with rich graphics and expansive "worlds" (think Red Dead Redemption or Minecraft). These games don't require the same low latency connections as a multi-player game, though there may be occasional in-game purchases or leader board updates sent back to the server.
Asynchronous multi-player games require more input from the game server infrastructure; these are turn-based games like Words With Friends, where players engage with each other but not in real-time. Although actions aren't as time sensitive as quick-fire shooting games, a server must still receive an action from one player and relay it to another.
Synchronous multi-player games put your game hosting servers to work; when two or more players engage in real-time action (like Fortnite or CS:GO), powerful servers must be used to ensure low latency network connections for rapid play.
The type of game you're developing will determine which type of game server infrastructure is best for you; if it's suitable for peer-to-peer networking, then no dedicated hosting is necessary - players can connect directly without needing additional support from a hosting service. However, if you're running something like Minecraft or CS:GO, a dedicated game server will provide all the computing resources needed for efficient gameplay and an exceptional player experience.
Location of players
It is essential to understand where your players are located, in order to select the best game server hosting option. Speed is of the utmost importance when it comes to gaming, as game servers are latency-sensitive applications. Players have an optimal experience when latency is below 60-100ms while playing together. Latency refers to the time it takes for data to travel from the game hosting server setup to your players; if they complain about “lag,” this indicates that their connection has high latency due to the setup of the game hosting server, and their experience is being negatively impacted.
By placing game server infrastructure closer to your players, you can reduce latency; even with fiber optic cable transmitting data at light speed, every additional mile increases latency slightly. To ensure a good experience for everyone involved, players should be located as close as possible to the gaming server hosts that host their games. If you have a global player base, you may need a gaming server host with an international network of data centres.
Hardware specifications
What is the best game server infrastructure to ensure a smooth, efficient gaming experience for players? Cloud server providers usually offer high-density hardware powered by lower-speed multi-core CPUs. While these machines are suitable for general business computing tasks, they need to provide more clock speeds to meet the demands of high-performance gaming and thus may not be the ideal game server hosting solution.
To get maximum value from your game server hosting package and setup, consider how you can make use of the multi-core CPU. In theory, you should be able to run multiple instances of the game server application on one machine – but it's essential that you specify enough RAM for each core. This is where selecting a reliable gaming server host becomes even more important.
The right provider will help you set up different game hosting options so that you can test and find an optimal configuration for your game. If a provider isn't willing to assist with this crucial step in specification, they probably aren't the right partner for you.
Server Store
We help our customers overcome complex technology challenges by working with them to build bespoke server solutions. We offer a wide range of servers to be configured online and accessories to be easily purchased. Our technical support engineers are on hand to help you every step of the way.
The benefits:
- Customer-focused business
- Fast delivery to the UK and EU
- Pre and post-purchase support
