Activision-Blizzard announced some time ago that the company is now collaborating with Google. For “Call of Duty” players, this is initially good news, as the switch to Google Cloud could significantly improve the servers.
What’s going on with CoD? The publisher behind the “Call of Duty” series, Activision-Blizzard, announced on January 24 that they are starting a close collaboration with Google.
For Google, this is mainly about the relocation of e-sports events from Overwatch or also Call of Duty from the streaming platform Twitch to YouTube. Here, Google aims to grow further and become successful not just with videos but also with streams.
But we players could also benefit from this collaboration. With the transition of the multiplayer servers to Google Cloud, the quality of the netcode and the servers could become significantly better.
Better servers through Google Cloud, but why?
What could be improved with the servers? Currently, Activision-Blizzard relies on multiple providers for the infrastructure of the multiplayer servers. This may drive costs up, as the publisher currently prefers to organize private matches through a player host.
With the transition, this could change, even if the current CoD: Modern Warfare likely won’t benefit from it anymore. But that wouldn’t be the only advantage. Possible improvements include:
- AI-driven servers
- Less packet loss
- Regional options
- Private dedicated servers
AI predicts actions on the servers
What do AI-driven servers bring? With Google AI, the games will be smoother, as the system can anticipate certain behavioral patterns and thereby improve the overall calculation.
Google has immense computing capacities. These capacities help the AI analyze certain gameplay styles and then understand the patterns behind them. This can greatly improve server quality.
For example, if you start a match and sprint immediately, the AI can predict this action and already calculate it on the server. If the system notices that you are actually performing the pre-calculated action, the data can be transmitted to the server faster, as the calculation is already complete. If you do something different, the action will be recalculated and sent to the server at normal speed.
How do fewer packet losses improve the game? If fewer data packets are lost on the way from the player to the server and back, lags or missed inputs happen less frequently.
Even with a good internet connection, it can happen that data packets get lost, meaning important information does not reach the server. This is when you sometimes see players who are not running smoothly but are “lagging” or an order to fire is not recognized by the game and you wonder why no shots from you are visible in the kill cam.
This point goes hand in hand with point one, as the AI tries to predict these data packets. Through the system, certain packets can be replaced by the AI. According to Google, with the transition, packet losses would be reduced and the server latency would decrease.
Quality of regional and private servers could be improved
What do regional options do? With this option, you can choose the best server available in your region.
In many online games, this is considered standard, but not in Call of Duty. You are automatically assigned to a server and have no option to change it. The new options are particularly interesting for us Europeans, as there are usually multiple servers in relatively close proximity, including at Google.
Why private dedicated servers? The current speeds are far too low for professional players. Most private games are currently organized through a player host, and the netcode processes the information between players at a speed of 12 Hertz.
For e-sports, clan wars, or private events, that is way too slow, and Modern Warfare is not ready for e-sports. The RAM-7, for example, has a fire rate of 882 bullets per minute and theoretically fires at a frequency of 14.7 Hertz. Thus, it can happen that you fire 2 bullets within a single update window, which then arrive at the opponent as super bullets.
The servers of the regular multiplayer operate at just under 60 Hertz, or 60 updates per second; Ground War rather at 20 – 30 Hertz. If these rates were also available for private matches, it would be a significant upgrade for this feature.
The data lands at Google
Even if all this sounds great, for some players there is a catch – the diligent data collectors at Google.
What is the problem? Depending on which server functions are handed off to Google, the AI could influence many areas of the game. This starts with matchmaking and then progresses towards personalized offers to increase revenue from in-game items.
However, it remains to be seen what the new server infrastructure will look like on Google servers. Server AI is a very interesting but also somewhat controversial technology.
Activision-Blizzard should pay close attention to player reactions and inform well; otherwise, another shit storm could be just around the corner.
What do you think about the transition? Will we players benefit from it?
