Homefront developer, Kaos Studios, recently went on the record to accentuate the need for dedicated servers in multiplayer games. And more importantly, thinks that they are unplayable without them. The upcoming shooter will indeed feature dedicated servers on the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC. PC players will also have the option for local servers as well.
“For 32 players, you have to have dedicated servers, or else it would be unplayable. When you play Xbox Live where it’s 12 to maybe 16 players max, where it’s just one of the players hosting it, it can still get pretty darn laggy. So it’s a necessity in order to deliver the multiplayer experience we want. We’re committed to setting up server farms all around the world so that everyone has good ping, low latency and gets rid of that awful host advantage.”
As noted in an article we posted earlier today, there is a cost with running servers. To the gamer, there is a definite shelf life for your games. When the company feels it is no longer neccesary to provide the hosting, your multiplayer experience is over. And for the company these added costs dip into their profit margins, needing IT professionals to manage the network. But in the end, secure dedicated servers are the way to go.
Published: Jan 5, 2011 02:30 pm