Stunning graphics, immersive audio, and a compelling story. A "great game" is made up of what exists within the game. But a "perfect game" is made up of what lies beyond it. Examples include a distribution network that allows easy access to games and stable operations. When such infrastructure is functioning well, its existence is often forgotten. It's only when it fails to fulfill its purpose that we truly appreciate its importance.

The massive outage at Amazon Web Services (AWS) on Oct. 20 was a clear reminder of that fact.

A massive server failure in AWS infrastructure caused several hours of disruption to Amazon's own AI service, Alexa, as well as Slack, Perplexity, and Disney Plus. Major games like 'Fortnite', 'Roblox', and 'PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds' also became inaccessible. With AWS commanding roughly 30% of the global cloud market, its outage affected the daily routines of hundreds of millions of users around the world.

AWS isn’t alone in that reach. Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud — the second- and third-largest providers — have also experienced disruptions. Together, the “Big Three” control nearly 65% of the global market. Their stability directly translates into the stability of much of today’s digital life.

In fact, cloud services are considered key to solving long-standing server issues for apps and games that utilize online environments today. Servers can be instantly scaled up or down as user growth increases, and data centers around the world provide regionally optimized response times.

Security solutions have also been proven. These systems have been reliably built amidst competition from major companies, offering multi-traffic management, data encryption, and DDoS defense. Cloud services offer cost-effectiveness, convenience, and system benefits that cannot be achieved through in-house development, making them the most logical choice.

Ultimately, a temporary cloud service error led to a global outage. However, businesses will continue to use cloud services, and even a one-day outage will be forgotten by gamers as they enjoy the game the next day. Media outlets that attracted a moderate amount of attention for a day or so are now well-run and no longer need to cover topics that have lost interest.

However, it's clear that risks still exist. While large-scale cloud services are the most reliable and secure, they aren't foolproof. And there are growing concerns that these massive cloud hosting issues will only increase.

Industry experts point out that the growing emphasis on speed — deploying new features quickly to outpace rivals — sometimes comes at the expense of rigorous testing. Cloud systems aim for high availability and global distribution, but their core control functions remain centralized. That design can turn a minor problem into a worldwide outage.

Some companies have begun adopting multi-cloud or hybrid models, spreading workloads across multiple platforms or keeping sensitive data on private servers. But that approach drives up costs and complexity. Many firms stick with a single provider, betting that “nothing major will go wrong.”

This time, the damage was minor. But what if the outage had lasted longer — or worse, led to the loss of critical data?

If you don't place such a high value on it, it's ultimately the consumer who suffers. For some, it might have been a few hours of unused gaming time. But for a young student, it might have been an hour of their daily mobile game play allowance, or it might have been a pre-planned party time with friends. Furthermore, as more and more games are not available without online connection, even those already sold, the server deterioration can lead to situations where you can't enjoy the games you actually paid for.

This is why minimal safeguards are necessary. At least for a certain scale, cloud services should be distributed to protect critical information, and discussions should also begin on mandating offline access for single-player content. Compensation for outages should not be hidden behind the phrase 'force majeure' leaving it within the realm of avoidable consequences.
‘The things often forgotten when they are doing well’. It's time to talk about building the right infrastructure so gamers don't have to worry about server security.

This article was translated from the original that appeared on INVEN.