A CDN utilizes a global network of servers to streamline the delivery of downloads, by caching content nearest to your visitor. Doing so helps not only improve performance but also reduces the risk of failures and server crashes by offloading bandwidth from the origin.
3. Introduction
Anyone who has ever worked on an online game knows how challenging it is
to consistently deliver content and patches to players across the globe.
Whether it’s a simple puzzle app or an MMORPG, games tend to require a lot
of resources and maintenance.
Consequently, content delivery networks that specialize in gaming have arisen
to address these obstacles to customer satisfaction.
4. What does CDN for Gaming Do?
A CDN utilizes a global network of servers to streamline the delivery of
downloads, by caching content nearest to your visitor.
Doing so helps not only improve performance but also reduces the risk of
failures and server crashes by offloading bandwidth from the origin.
In addition to improving performance, certain CDNs offer what’s called Push
Zones which allow developers to host their entire game on the CDNs storage
cluster thus ridding the need for an origin server entirely.
5. Benefits of CDN in Games
The benefits of CDN in games are;
Improving the experience before playing
Consistent speed and performance
Scalability and Flexible Pricing
Improve the game experience
Many console games that are primarily played offline require pre-game and
post-installation downloads.
6. Continue...
“Day one patches” are becoming commonplace and even expected.
Consistent speed and performance
Compared to other apps, online games require a lot of player input, and a mere millisecond
of lag can completely ruin the user experience.
Delivering massive files as fast as possible is just the first step to ensuring player satisfaction.
Scalability and Flexible Pricing
Speaking of which, a good CDN for gaming must be ready to handle large request surges at
all times.
7. Conclusion
Using any CDN is better than doing it yourself, but not all CDNs are created
equally.
When choosing a CDN for gaming, do plenty of research to make sure that you
find the company that can meet the needs of your players for the best price.
Speed and reliability are obviously the most important factors when choosing a
CDN for gaming, but figuring out “where” a CDN is fast is extremely important.