Scalable Real-Time Gaming Platform on AWS
Executive Summary
A leading mobile gaming publisher with 20M+ monthly active users built a highly scalable, low-latency real-time multiplayer gaming platform on AWS. Through strategic use of Amazon GameLift, DynamoDB, ElastiCache, and global infrastructure spanning 8 AWS regions, DG Global Technology delivered a gaming infrastructure that supports 2M+ concurrent players with < 50ms latency, handles 1 billion+ daily game events, achieved 99.95% uptime during first year, and reduced infrastructure costs by 45% through serverless architecture and auto-scaling.
Customer Background
A premier mobile gaming publisher specializing in real-time multiplayer games including battle royale, MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena), and competitive racing titles. The company's flagship game "Battle Legends" consistently ranks in top 10 grossing mobile games across Asia-Pacific and North America markets.
Key Stats: 800+ employees, 20M+ monthly active users, $300M+ annual revenue, 12 mobile titles, 3 top-grossing multiplayer games
Business Challenge
Rapid growth from 2M to 20M MAU in 18 months overwhelmed their self-managed game server infrastructure. Players experienced frequent lag spikes during peak hours, matchmaking took 60-90 seconds, and the operations team struggled with server capacity planning and 24/7 incident management.
Key Challenges:
- Latency & Performance: Players in distant regions experienced 200-400ms latency, causing poor gameplay experience and negative reviews
- Scaling Complexity: Manual server provisioning took 3-5 days, preventing rapid response to viral game launches
- Concurrent Player Peaks: Daily peak traffic required 3x server capacity that sat idle during off-peak hours
- Matchmaking Delays: 60-90 second matchmaking times due to inefficient algorithms and regional server limitations
- Global Infrastructure Gaps: Only 3 data center locations, leaving poor coverage for Europe, South America, and Middle East
- DevOps Overhead: 15-person operations team spent 80% of time on manual server provisioning and incident management
- DDoS Attacks: Frequent DDoS attacks (50+ per month) causing game outages lasting 2-6 hours
AWS Solution
DG Global Technology architected a cloud-native gaming platform leveraging AWS managed services for game server hosting, player data management, real-time analytics, and global content delivery. The solution emphasizes low latency, auto-scaling, and operational automation.
AWS Services Utilized
Amazon GameLift
Managed game server hosting with automatic scaling, intelligent matchmaking (FlexMatch), and global fleet orchestration across 8 regions
Amazon DynamoDB
NoSQL database for player profiles, inventory, progression data with single-digit millisecond performance and global tables
Amazon ElastiCache (Redis)
In-memory caching for session data, real-time leaderboards, and matchmaking queue with sub-millisecond latency
Amazon Kinesis
Real-time ingestion of 1B+ daily game events for analytics and fraud detection
AWS Lambda
Serverless functions for game event processing, reward calculations, and player notifications
Amazon CloudFront
CDN for game assets, patches, and downloadable content with 220+ edge locations
Architecture Highlights
- Multi-Region Game Server Fleet: GameLift fleets deployed across 8 AWS regions with FlexMatch matchmaking considering player skill and latency
- Real-Time Player Data: DynamoDB global tables replicating player data across 3 primary regions, ElastiCache for leaderboards
- Event-Driven Analytics: Kinesis Data Streams ingesting 15,000+ events/second from game clients
- Content Delivery: CloudFront CDN with aggressive caching reducing origin load by 95%
- Security & DDoS Protection: AWS Shield Advanced with 24/7 DDoS response team, AWS WAF with rate limiting
Implementation Details
Timeline: 7 months
Team Size: 10 engineers (5 DG Global Technology, 3 customer backend engineers, 2 DevOps)
Migration Strategy: Phased migration starting with new game launches, followed by existing title migration
Key Implementation Phases
- Assessment & Architecture Design: Analyzed existing architecture, designed GameLift integration, created global architecture spanning 8 regions
- Development Environment Setup: Established multi-account structure, deployed GameLift development fleet, migrated player database to DynamoDB
- Pilot Launch - New Game Title: Launched "Racing Rivals" exclusively on AWS infrastructure as proof of concept
- Existing Title Migration: Migrated flagship "Battle Legends" (8M MAU) to GameLift with dual-run period
- Global Expansion: Deployed GameLift fleets in Europe and additional APAC regions, configured global tables
- Analytics & Optimization: Implemented real-time analytics pipeline, deployed fraud detection ML models
Results and Benefits
Quantifiable Results
- Latency Improvement: Reduced average player latency from 180ms to 35ms (80% improvement) through 8-region global infrastructure
- Matchmaking Speed: Reduced matchmaking time from 60-90 seconds to 8-12 seconds (85% improvement) using GameLift FlexMatch
- Concurrent Player Scaling: Successfully supported 2M+ concurrent players during World Championship (previous max: 600K)
- Infrastructure Cost Reduction: 45% reduction ($5.4M annual savings) through GameLift Spot Fleet and auto-scaling
- Uptime & Reliability: Achieved 99.95% uptime in first year with zero DDoS-related outages
- Operational Efficiency: Reduced DevOps team size from 15 to 5 engineers, reallocating resources to feature development
- Event Processing: Processing 1.2 billion game events daily for real-time analytics and player insights
Business Impact
- Player Growth: 35% increase in daily active users (DAU) from 4M to 5.4M due to improved gameplay experience
- Player Retention: Day-7 retention increased from 32% to 41% due to reduced latency and improved matchmaking
- Revenue Growth: 28% increase in in-app purchase revenue ($84M additional revenue) driven by improved player engagement
- App Store Ratings: Average rating improved from 3.8 to 4.6 stars due to better performance
- Global Expansion: Successfully launched in 5 new markets (Brazil, Mexico, Turkey, UAE, South Africa)
- Competitive Advantage: Hosted first-ever global esports tournament with $1M prize pool, attracting 500K live viewers
DG Global Technology transformed our gaming infrastructure from an operational bottleneck into a competitive advantage. The migration to AWS GameLift and managed services didn't just solve our immediate scaling challenges - it fundamentally changed how we operate. We went from 3-day server deployments to 15-minute automated releases, and our players immediately noticed the difference with 80% latency reduction. The 45% cost savings combined with ability to support 2 million concurrent players has enabled us to invest more in game development and less in infrastructure.
— Takashi Yamamoto, Chief Technology Officer
About DG Global Technology
DG Global Technology is an AWS Advanced Consulting Partner and Managed Service Partner specializing in enterprise cloud transformation across ASEAN markets. With 50+ AWS certifications and 5+ years of partnership experience, we deliver comprehensive managed services including 24/7 monitoring, proactive optimization, security management, and cost governance.