Game Downloads Are Being Throttled To Manage Internet Congestion

Flattening the curve is what we are trying to achieve currently by staying at home. But with our entertainment limited to what’s ready at home, they don’t really vary. Aside from hobbies that can be done indoor, most of you have probably been either binge-watching on Netflix or playing new games.

Yeah, recently Steam updated that they had hit record-breaking online users of more than 20m at one time. But with so many people online, the internet as a whole has been bogged down with so many downloads, streaming and uploading happening at the same time. Game is the biggest burden on the Internet compared to video streaming.

Content delivery network Akamai wrote in its blog that it “working with leading distributors of software, particularly for the gaming industry, including Microsoft and Sony, to help manage congestion during peak usage periods. This is very important for gaming software downloads, which account for large amounts of internet traffic when an update is released.”

This is to be expected with high-profile games, such as the latest ‘Call of Duty: Warzone’, a battle royale mode of the game, released with a total download size of 80gb, This is equal to dozens of movies on Netflix and not to mention the gaming traffic increased 4 times than usual.

Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan wrote in a brief blog post reminding that “players may experience somewhat slower or delayed game downloads” in the near future. But playing games run on lower bandwidth, so players shouldn’t be experiencing any delay during it.

For huge game downloads, users are advised to download them at night when there is less activity running around your area.