Mario Bautista
Internet service providers are pressing gaming companies to be more transparent about their product launches in order to manage pressure on the broadband network.
It comes as providers are bracing themselves for a big increase in demand on Tuesday as an update of Fortnite is due to clash with the streaming of Uefa Champions League games.
Companies that connect customers to the internet are warning of the dangers of “super peaks” of demand on their networks as one of the world’s most played games pushes out a seasonal revision. It will coincide with Arsenal playing Paris Saint-Germain in a match to be broadcast on Amazon Prime Video at 8pm.
Virgin Media 02 said the highest traffic spikes on its fixed network were all driven by matches broadcast on Amazon and/or gaming releases and updates.
It would like more information about file sizes from gaming companies in advance, a spokesman said.
A spokesman for BT told The Times that in future they would like to see “greater collaboration with a wider number” of gaming companies.
Internet service providers would like more advance notice about these kinds of updates in order to smooth out the release dates and ease congestion on the service, so that clashes with other sources of high demand do not occur.
This could include more information about the content delivery networks that are being used to send out the material.
Providers such as Sky, Virgin Media 02, Vodafone, TalkTalk and BT prepare for major sporting and gaming events so they can plan for the impact of “super peaks” well ahead of time.
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While football fixtures are easy to monitor as they are in the diary with plenty of notice, internet providers say that game developers tend to be more secretive, and that providers sometimes receive no notice of when launch events will take place.
In the next decade public service television is scheduled to move from being transmitted by traditional broadcast methods to delivering content over the internet.
The problem is further exacerbated as file sizes are growing as content becomes higher in quality. Gaming updates are also becoming more frequent.
Epic Games typically publishes Fortnite updates every one to two weeks. These updates can vary in size and content. Major updates happen about every ten to twelve weeks and can include new maps and features.
Epic Games is due to push out its third update for Chapter 5 Season 4 of Fortnite from 9am in Britain, with the servers coming back online at 2pm. Most people in the UK are likely to start playing it in the evening, around the time the Champions League match begins.
When peaks in traffic are expected, providers will hold off from any routine maintenance in order to ensure as much resiliency as possible.
A government-led organisation called the Electronic Communications Resilience & Response Group (EC-RRG), which represents communications services, can support the industry in the event of major events generating high traffic.
