Friends!
Ever since Warface became available worldwide, you have continued to share your feedback regarding network availability and connection quality in other regions. We are delighted that players from all over the world care about our game, and we understand how important a good ping is for many of you.
That is why, over the past six months, our team has been working to launch servers in regions beyond Russia and Kazakhstan. In this article, we would like to tell you about the work we have done so far, the challenges we are facing, and what still needs to be done to achieve this goal.
Important: Given the current circumstances, we can’t provide a specific server launch date yet. We will keep you updated on our Steam page and in Discord.
Stages of Deploying a Regional Game Server
Launching a regional game server is a multi-stage process involving a combination of technical, organizational, and product-related decisions. To give you a better understanding of how this works, below is the process our specialists typically follow when launching new servers.
1. Analysis and planning
We began designing a server architecture for international players as soon as the decision to launch Warface globally was made. First, we analyzed data on the game’s popularity around the world. Our research showed that Warface is played in 167 countries.
2. Selecting infrastructure and a data center location
Based on this data, our analytics team identified three regions with the most potential for us:
Europe
North and South America (especially Brazil)
We also took into account the distance from our servers in Russia and Kazakhstan, as we wanted to provide comfortable conditions for as many players outside the CIS as possible. For example, in Europe, we considered Amsterdam and Paris as potential locations. In Brazil, we chose São Paulo.
3. Network and connection setup
At this stage, the team configured the network architecture: traffic routing, load balancing, and protection against DDoS attacks, which is especially critical for game servers as they are frequent targets. We also worked on integrating the new infrastructure with existing systems, including central databases, authentication systems, and anti-cheat services.
4. Server software deployment
During this stage, our specialists installed and configured the game server software, including game logic, matchmaking, game state servers, and databases for the local region.
5. Testing
We carried out a series of tests:
load testing — simulating a large number of simultaneous connections;
latency testing — measuring actual latency from different locations across the region;
fault-tolerance testing — checking how the infrastructure responds when part of it goes down;
QA testing — verifying game logic under the new conditions.
6. Soft launch
At this stage, we planned to open the server to a limited group of players — for example, part of a region or a specific country. This allows us to collect real-world data on stability, player feedback, and server load, and quickly resolve issues before the full launch.
7. Monitoring and full launch
This stage involves setting up a monitoring system for latency, uptime, errors, and server load, with alerts for the operations team. Once stability is confirmed, the server proceeds to a full launch with marketing support.
8. Post-release support
After launch, ongoing work begins: optimizing the server for real-world load patterns, gathering player feedback, fine-tuning server parameters, and planning for scaling as the audience grows.
What Stage Are We At Now?
We are currently at the fifth stage. Testing of the infrastructure, which was already prepared for release, revealed a number of technical issues related to network traffic exchange between regions, as well as network restrictions. The test results made it clear that the connection quality for many players would not meet the technical requirements for a full-scale server launch.
Launching the server in its current state would mean that some players from other regions simply would not be able to connect to it. Instead of having fun and enjoying exciting battles, they would face constant crashes and be kicked from matches, while other players would be able to play without any issues.
This situation first affected the server in Amsterdam, followed by the server in Paris. Although the cause of this issue lies outside our network and beyond our direct control, we are nevertheless doing everything we can to improve the situation.
We are currently considering a launch in São Paulo. At the same time, we are not abandoning our plans to launch servers in Europe and are exploring possible ways to resolve these issues.
What Solutions Are We Considering?
Option A: Ensure uninterrupted cross-regional traffic exchange so that players can connect freely to any server, regardless of their actual location.
Our efforts are currently focused on this option, as we believe it would provide the best and most convenient experience for the vast majority of players. We are currently negotiating with the organizations involved to find a solution.
Option B: Create a separate, isolated server exclusively for the segment of the audience that does not lose access to it.
This is a fallback option that requires additional testing. It would prevent cross-regional connections with the other servers, which would affect matchmaking quality, but it could provide a stable connection.
If Option A proves unfeasible and Option B passes testing successfully, we will use Option B as the primary solution.
Conclusion
We understand how important it is for you to play the game with a comfortable ping in your region. This is exactly why we do not want to launch servers if they may be inaccessible or unstable for some players.
When we announced Warface’s global launch in June, we mentioned that we were working to launch a server for our international audience. Since then, we have remained committed to this goal, and your support plays an important role in our efforts. Thank you for continuing to share your feedback with us.