AWS and Fortnite forge a relationship that’s been instrumental to the massive growth of this popular multiplayer game.
Speed and strategy are incredibly important with most any computer game, and mega-hit Fortnite is no different. And the size and speed of the infrastructure of where an online multiplayer game is hosted mean the difference between a smooth playing experience and one that’s constantly buffering – which is a make-or-break scenario for gamers.
Epic, the makers of Fortnite, has long partnered with AWS to create a fluid experience for their users, and recent announcements show that the company is doubling down on this relationship.
What is Fortnite?
For the fewer and fewer people not familiar with this massively-popular game, Fortnite is a multiplayer title that came onto the scene towards the end of 2017. It is essentially a survival game where you make tools and weapons and collect resources to defeat opponents and stay alive for as long as possible.
To get a sense of how big Fortnite really is, stats show that as of January 2018, around 45 million players were active across all gaming platforms.
While the basic Fortnite game is actually free, the company makes money by charging for in-game currency which can be used to purchase various items such as survival gear. Because of the sheer number of people who play it on a regular basis, it doesn’t take much for the company to be generating significant revenue each month. A recent recode article indicates that Fortnite is generating around $318 million each month, which is the most ever for any free game.
How does Fortnite benefit from AWS?
Years ago, a company would have been literally crippled by the success of a game like Fortnite. Thanks to the cloud, companies like Epic are able to utilize a robust infrastructure of cloud-based servers and storage that can easily scale, regardless of how many users are active at any one time. This has allowed Fortnite to rise in popularity without taxing Epic’s internal hardware infrastructure – plus it keeps gamers happy.
AWS is a fully-managed and scalable cloud computing infrastructure that’s able to instantly adapt to user demand, which allows Epic to effectively serve their user base, even as that base has now climbed to more than 45 million active users.
Epic aims to utilize additional AWS services to improve the user experience
While Epic has used AWS for its game servers and websites since the game was first launched, the company is now looking for additional AWS services that can help them improve the user experience even further.
Epic is especially interested in Amazon’s machine learning tools as well as its analytics services. These tools will allow the company to better predict how to scale growth – and also more easily track metrics that can help developers determine what new features to add and which to remove.
Other companies can learn from Epic and Fortnite
It’s hard to imagine that Fortnite would have been as successful as it is without its early partnership with AWS. And companies of all sizes can utilize the same networking and compute resources as a massively successful video game developer or multi-billion-dollar Fortune 500 organizations. Never in the history of modern business have organizations big and small had access to the same affordable infrastructure.
If you’re still relying on outdated resources, it may be time to work with CloudHesive to determine how to leverage the power of AWS and fuel the smooth growth of your company. For more information on our cloud computing offerings, feel free to reach out to our team at 800-860-2040 or through our online contact form.
