Launching a game like Super Mario Run was no simple task for Nintendo and the company DeNA (in charge of development). We are talking about one of the most beloved characters in the world of video games, and a true icon for Nintendo. If we add to this that the launch would take place globally in 150 countries simultaneously, we see that the real challenge lies in scalability: from day one they had to have a back-end ready to serve information to millions of new users.
Nintendo and DeNA had previously collaborated on another of their titles, Miitomo, so both knew how critical it is to have a robust back-end for a project like Super Mario Run. After evaluating different options, Kenta Sugahara, leader of DeNA's System Development team, recommended the use of Google App Engine.
Building Super Mario Run's Back-End in 6 Months#
One of the reasons DeNA and Nintendo used App Engine was the high availability of its services. They needed to scale quickly over very short periods of time, and in collaboration with Google they were able to anticipate the load they estimated for launch day so that everything would be ready. In their previous launch, Miitomo, they used their own datacenters. These worked well most of the time, but as the game grew they began to experience real difficulties scaling everything appropriately and in a controlled manner.
Another fundamental aspect was stress testing. As the launch day approached, these tests became increasingly important. Using Google Cloud Datastore, DeNA was able to complete a test of 3 million accesses per second (quite something!).
In the end, the difference between one provider or another (AWS, Google App Engine, Azure, etc.) depends almost more on the team's prior experience than on any truly compelling reason, in my opinion. I know that Google bills by time and is generally cheaper, although now AWS has also adopted this billing model and will also offer it. However, AWS offers a larger quantity of technologies to use on its instances, which could tip the scales in a decision of the magnitude of Super Mario Run.
I keep hearing good things about Google, and how gradually and with a different approach they are eating into some of AWS's market share. Clients like Nintendo put them in the spotlight for other similar projects. Will we see EA or Bethesda in the near future?
