Every activity in Destiny 2 is hosted on a Bungie server. So are there dedicated servers?
Today the first “This Week at Bungie” was released after the gameplay reveal a week ago. Community Manager DeeJ did not miss the opportunity to thank all Guardians once again.
The initial reactions were tremendous, the Guardians would honor them with their enthusiasm. They are grateful that the Guardians are the wind in their wings.
Then it is about a topic that was mentioned during the gameplay premiere but not explained in detail: The technology behind all the new activities in Destiny 2: The servers.
A mix of client-server and peer-to-peer technology
According to Matt Segur, the engineering lead of Destiny 2, Destiny 2 uses a unique network model. At this moment, many tests are taking place all over the world and they are working to ensure a smooth experience at launch.
He explains: Every activity in Destiny 2 is hosted by one of their servers. This means there will never again be a host migration during a raid or a trials match. This is a big difference from Destiny 1, where the hosting responsibilities were on the player consoles and only script and mission logic were processed in the data center.
In short: In Destiny 2, both mission host and physics host will run in Bungie’s data centers.
However, they still do not speak of dedicated servers, as these are understood as pure client-server networking models. But Destiny 2 uses a hybrid form of client-server and peer-to-peer technology: The server dictates how the game progresses, and each player dictates their own movements and abilities. This is meant to provide a sense of immediacy in movement and shooting – regardless of where they live or who they play with.
Measures against cheating
They have made significant investments in the server infrastructure for Destiny 2, including cloud servers for gameplay. Segur believes that they have chosen the best server model for the various cooperative and competitive experiences in Destiny 2. The technology for Destiny 2 is unique.
He adds that the security ninjas have developed a plan over the years to tackle the cheating problem in peer-to-peer networks, especially on PC. They have developed top-secret strategies so that the life of cheaters in Destiny 2 becomes uncomfortable, brutal, and short. Any change to characters is immediately reported to the security data center.
A beta is coming in the summer. They do not have a specific date yet, but this test phase is intended to thoroughly check the network. They have invested an enormous amount of time in matchmaking, latency, and responsiveness, so they are approaching the beta with confidence.
In conclusion, DeeJ reveals that we will hear a lot about Destiny 2 in the summer. Next up is E3.
What do you think of the server model of Destiny 2?
You can find the previous information about the beta for Destiny 2 here.
