The gaming industry is growing remarkably. As such, more people are getting involved by the day. From what started as a form of entertainment and a way to relax, gaming is now becoming a profession with decent pay compared to many other mainstream careers.
There are numerous gaming tournaments both online and onsite where professional gamers compete for rewards. Due to this tremendous growth, game developers are also improving their marketing and user experience to attract more people into the sector. The gaming industry is indeed a booming multibillion-dollar industry. However, as these games improve, data usage may also increase. So, how do these games fair in regards to data usage and what factors determine data usage?
Factors to Consider
Various internal factors, such as the number of players in a multiplayer game, determine data usage. Some games allow quite a number while others may be limited to two or three players.
For example, the famous Battlefield can support up to 64 players. Ideally, a high number of players will use large amounts of data due to increased information interchange between the players and the server.
Moreover, games using dedicated servers will generally use less data compared to those that use peer to peer connections. In peer to peer gaming, a player who acts as the host will usually use more data in comparison to the connecting players. Generally, the data consumed, which can be visualized by platforms like ActiveWizards, will depend on the server load, gaming style, and connection speed.
Also, the size of the game, graphics quality, and the gaming platform do play a significant role in the amount of data used. Therefore data usage depends on what technologies you are using, the games you are playing and the number of other players.
Data Consumption Figures
The famous World of Warcraft uses an average of 10 Mbps, and that’s if you are playing alone. This figure rises to over 40 Mbps when playing in multiplayer mode. Next, developers of the online shooter game Destiny claim that its online usage can be over 1 Gbps for live gameplay. This is significantly higher than other games.
The main take away from these examples is that gaming can be a costly affair, especially for people with low or no income. Knowing how much data a game uses is crucial as it will help gamers make the right decision as to which games they should play. Particularly for those gamers that do not have access to unlimited internet connections.
However, with the introduction of undersea fiber optic cables, access to unlimited internet is becoming affordable and easy to get. In a few years to come, minding how much data a game consumes might be irrelevant.
Data Hogs
Most of the data is used when downloading the game itself, updating the game or any other downloadable content (DLC). For instance, Shadows of the Tomb Raider requires at least 35GB for the core game, while Star Wars Battlefront needs a minimum of 27 GB. For a person with no access to affordable internet, downloading such games can be quite expensive.
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