It’s something we’ve seen happen so many times previously it’s now an expected part of gaming: the launch of a highly-anticipated multiplayer game and the immediate failure of that game’s servers to handle the massive influx of players on day one.
Survival MMO
Dune: Awakening
has a
weekend beta
Starting from tomorrow with a comprehensive rollout scheduled for June 10. Are you concerned about experiencing similar server problems encountered by numerous previous titles? To ease your worries ahead of time, developer Funcom aims to address these concerns proactively.
Funcom mentioned they have received multiple comments voicing worries regarding server load and queues,
post on Steam
We definitely anticipate significant traffic when we launch, which is why we are making the necessary preparations.
Acknowledging that entirely avoiding overloaded servers is unfeasible, the developer mentioned, “At launch, there will be thousands of servers clustered into hundreds of Worlds, distributed across North and South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia,” and noted they can “add more” servers as needed.
“Having been around for 25 years, launching multiple MMOs and survival games under our belt, we possess a comprehensive suite of tools and procedures, all overseen by a seasoned live ops team,” according to Funcom.
I appreciate the confidence, but numerous developers and publishers have claimed before that their systems can manage an unexpected surge of players. In my experience, however, even the most robust plans often fall short on launch day.
In fact, day one server woes seem to be getting more common instead of less over time. We even deemed 2024 ”
the year of server issues
Because this occurred repeatedly: the release of a major game was soon followed by players grinding their teeth due to connectivity issues. This happened with titles such as Helldivers 2, Last Epoch, Palworld, Nightingale, and Microsoft Flight Simulator; each struggled to handle the sudden surge in player numbers and scrambled to resolve these problems.
It might require some patience. A few weeks passed before Helldivers 2 stabilized. On its release day, Microsoft Flight Simulator proved unenjoyable for almost everybody. Despite being accessible in early access for many years, Last Epoch faced unexpected service issues upon reaching version 1.0.
Despite having a plan in place, Funcom has already alerted players about possible problems, notably one that all gamers fear: they might have to wait in a server queue upon login if the maximum number of concurrent players is hit, according to Funcom.
Funcom also suggests maybe that isn’t a bad thing? “Commonly, survival games don’t offer this, and you are left having to wait and hope you are able to click fast enough when a slot opens up,” Funcom said. “By adding a server queue functionality, you can simply click once and rest easy knowing that you will get in when a slot becomes available to you.”
We’ll see how the beta goes this weekend: Funcom has released “tens of thousands” of beta keys which sounds like a healthy amount for a real stress test. But even that probably won’t come close to the full launch in June, which could attract potentially hundreds of thousands of players. Even if it’s not your first rodeo, you can still get thrown off your horse.
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