The global gaming industry is not just entertainment anymore, it’s a high-pressure proving ground for internet infrastructure.

In a recent panel at ITW 2025, execs from Hurricane Electric and EdgeUno discussed how the intense demands of real-time gaming are forcing a rethink in how networks are built, secured and optimised.

Speakers
Saf Malik, deputy editor, Capacity Media (chairperson)
Reid Fishler, senior director, Hurricane Electric
Luciano Salata, COO, EdgeUno

According to Fischler, gaming networks rely heavily on existing internet infrastructure.

He said: “Gaming mostly rides on the general internet backbone. No one's really building dedicated gaming backbones- aside from maybe companies like Twitch and even they rely on Amazon’s backbone.”

He also explained performance is more about where “gaming platforms place their servers. It's not just about the backbone- it's about proximity to users.”

While the global internet is generally resilient, he noted, “the internet is generally forgiving, but gamers are not.”

“If providers offer “low-latency, high-throughput connections and the game's code is optimised, most current games perform well. If we move into 8K streaming or holographic gaming in the future, we may need new solutions.”

According to EdgeUno’s Luciano Salata publisher collaboration is vital

He said: “publisher size matters, just like in any industry. Larger publishers often use the major cloud platforms, but smaller or regional ones may rely on us directly.”

EdgeUno’s model allows game servers to be hosted closer to the end user. “We support them by hosting game servers locally- initially in tier-one and tier-two cities and eventually deeper into underserved areas.

He added: “This allows us to optimise both performance and cost-efficiency for them and their end users.”

Latency remains the number one priority for gamers- and for network operators trying to serve them. “Latency is critical,” Fischler said. “The depth and breadth of peering arrangements make a huge difference.”

According to the panel, routing matters most in smaller cities, as if a user in a smaller city has to traverse multiple upstream providers to reach a game server,” latency suffers".

However, if there’s a local IXP or direct peering opportunity, latency drops dramatically.

Additionally, Salata emphasised that there’s no universal model for infrastructure in emerging markets. “We strongly believe in a hybrid approach,” he said. “Major cloud providers aren’t going to deploy infrastructure in every third-tier city.”

EdgeUno’s strategy combines regional data centres, edge compute and IP transit.

“Combining IP transit, local data centres and edge compute—with optimization software- is the best way to deliver low-latency experiences in places like Rosario, Argentina or Cúcuta, Colombia,” he said. “Each market requires a localised, strategic deployment based on user density and infrastructure gaps.”

Gaming is also uniquely exposed to cyberattacks, especially distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) incidents.

“People don’t DDoS a bank because their friend is on it- but they will DDoS a game server for that reason,” Fischler said. “Gaming sees more random DDoS attacks than other sectors.”

Salata agreed that awareness is uneven. “Large publishers are generally well-prepared- they understand the risk of outages, revenue loss and reputational damage,” he said. “The challenge is with fast-growing or smaller publishers. They often lack the time or resources to implement robust security strategies.”

In Latin America, he added, “many providers claim to have DDoS protection and in practice, it’s often unavailable or ineffective- especially in more remote areas.”

Fischler said there needs to be more cooperation between network operators and gaming companies.

 "Open peering is essential- and still underused globally," he said. "We often don’t know when a major release is coming. We’ll see a traffic spike at 3 AM and realise it was a Fortnite update or a new game launch."

Salata agreed, saying better rules at internet exchanges would help.

"Some exchanges manipulate traffic in ways they shouldn’t, he concludes.