The Customer
Crytek is an independent video game developer, publisher, and technology provider headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany. The company is best known for creating open world games such as Far Cry and Crysis, and for pushing the limits on PC specifications to achieve advanced graphics and gameplay.
Crytek delivers fun and innovative gaming experiences for PC, consoles, and VR, and continues to grow its reach in the Games-as-a-Service market. Every Crytek game is created using the company’s legendary game engine CRYENGINE, which can be used by anyone to create games.
The Challenge
After launching their first online games in 2014, Crytek discovered that in order to make these games a success, online gameplay needs to be faultless, and this demands high-quality across the game, backend, and infrastructure.
Crytek needed a hosting provider that could offer high-performance servers in the locations where their games are played and a strong network. The physical proximity of servers, as well as network speed and latency, determine the quality of online gaming experiences. Crytek was looking to provide their players with as minimal lag as possible - an important feature of quality online gameplay.
Another challenge Crytek faced was finding a flexible and scalable infrastructure. They needed a hosting provider that would allow them to ramp up their infrastructure quickly after a game launch or update. This could involve deploying hundreds of dedicated servers with their specifications in a matter of days.
The Solution
Crytek began working with Leaseweb in 2015, after a detailed evaluation of their current services. Leaseweb is providing Crytek with various hosting solutions which include: Dedicated Servers, Network, Private Cloud, and Security.
To power Crytek’s online gameplay, Leaseweb provides customized high-performance Dedicated Servers in Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, Hong Kong and Sydney. This allows Crytek to offer a high-quality service to their global customers. As a provider of Games-as-a-Service, Crytek is regularly releasing game updates which then require server customizations to be made, such as additional memory or storage. This is easily managed through the Leaseweb Customer Portal.
Global connectivity for Crytek is powered by the Leaseweb Network, which ensures low latency and high uptime around the world. Their infrastructure is connected internally through Leaseweb’s Private Networking feature, which offers a private network connection over a private isolated network.
Crytek uses Leaseweb’s Private Cloud for internal resources and functions such as database hosting, web services, and application testing.
Crytek requested the use of a specific Web Application Firewall, which was then sourced and provided by Leaseweb. Leaseweb strives to deliver customer-oriented services, so when preferred products are requested that don’t exist in our portfolio, these can be sourced and integrated.
Key requirements
- Global infrastructure – keeping in close proximity to Crytek customers
- Connection speed and latency – to reduce lag in gameplay
- Scalability – in response to unpredictable game usage
- Flexibility – accommodating unique requests and allowing for customizations
Our solution
- Leaseweb Dedicated Servers in Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, and Sydney
- Leaseweb Network – connectivity to multiple Tier 1 IP networks
- On-demand resources - reserved capacity with rapid deployment
- Customized servers and security solutions
The Support
Leaseweb made sure the relationship got off to a good start by enabling a rapid migration with minimal interruption to Crytek services. Crytek successfully configured and migrated to the Leaseweb Dedicated Servers within the first two weeks.
Gaming companies like Crytek have a demand for flexibility, so it’s essential Leaseweb accommodate this. The unpredictability of their game usage means that Crytek must be strategic when planning a game launch and have resources ready without being locked down to long-term commitments. Leaseweb is supporting Crytek strategically by planning together and having resources ready to support game launches and updates.
"You feel like the customer value at Leaseweb is very high. Small problems can have a big impact on our games, so we need a partner like Leaseweb."
Faruk Yerli, CEO, Crytek
The Outcome
Crytek is getting the speed, scalability, and flexibility they need through Leaseweb’s global infrastructure.
Leaseweb Dedicated Servers and Leaseweb Network allow Crytek to deliver quality gaming services without interruptions. When Crytek needs more servers or upgrades to newer servers, delivery, and deployment processes are rapid – allowing Crytek to scale on demand. For example, for their recent launch of Hunt: Showdown on Xbox, Crytek needed 400 additional Dedicated Servers in Europe and the US in a period of 2 weeks. Leaseweb successfully enabled Crytek to scale up quickly and deploy their code onto the new machines ready for launch.
Leaseweb has successfully molded to fit Crytek’s preferred way of working. This includes planning with Crytek to support their game activity, enabling customizations across servers and security, and even sourcing preferred hardware and software when requested.
Gaming companies like Crytek have a demand for flexibility, so it’s essential Leaseweb accommodate this. The unpredictability of their game usage means that Crytek must be strategic when planning a game launch and have resources ready without being locked down to long-term commitments. Leaseweb is supporting Crytek strategically by planning together and having resources ready to support game launches and updates.
"The flexibility from Leaseweb is essential for us and how we operate. The month to month agreement helps us plan and react to how the market receives our games – which would be very difficult otherwise."