1 May 2025

Load Testing in Gaming: Scaling for Millions Without Breaking a Sweat

Load Testing Video Games

Why Load Testing Can Make or Break a Game Launch

In today’s gaming landscape, success can be a double-edged sword. When a title goes viral or spikes in popularity, servers get hammered, systems creak, and crashes aren’t just possible – they’re inevitable without preparation.

Players expect a flawless experience from minute one. They won’t tolerate lag, downtime, or broken matchmaking. That’s where load testing steps in – not as a last-minute fix, but as a foundational part of game development.

At Cyrex, we’ve helped some of the biggest titles in the industry prepare for scale. With our proprietary Swarm load testing solution, we simulate millions of users to uncover critical performance limits before they become player complaints.

What Is Load Testing – and Why Basic Isn’t Enough

Load testing simulates user traffic to evaluate how a system performs under pressure. But in the gaming world, “load” doesn’t just mean logins – it means gameplay logic, matchmaking, ability casting, store purchases, and everything in between.

We focus on the full picture:

  • Stress Testing – Push the system to its absolute limits
  • Spike Testing – Evaluate how the game handles sudden surges
  • Soak Testing – Sustain high loads over time to reveal memory leaks or degradation
  • Concurrency Simulations – Model real-world user behavior across global servers

And we do all of this using headless, high-performance bots that replicate real user actions – not just empty API calls.

Swarm by Cyrex: Load Testing Without Limits

Meet Cyrex Swarm, our proprietary load testing engine built for game studios who need more than just average testing.

  • No hardware bottlenecks – Simulate hundreds of thousands of virtual users
  • Fully headless – Bots behave like real players, without rendering engines
  • Engine-agnostic – Works with Unity, Unreal, and custom backends
  • Custom scenario scripting – We simulate real in-game logic, not just dummy traffic

Whether you’re testing login flows or complex PvP mechanics, Cyrex Swarm adapts to your infrastructure and helps you pinpoint bottlenecks before your players do.

Case Study Highlights: How We Helped Big Titles Stay Big

🌬️ Gods Unchained (Immutable)

An Ethereum L2 trading card game where ownership is everything. Cyrex partnered with Immutable to deliver both white box penetration testing and load testing across:

  • Back-end APIs & live services
  • Secure multiplayer gameplay (Mirror Messages)
  • Web platform, Electron launcher, Unity game client
  • Complex flows like item minting, dungeon runs, hero merging, and squad editing

✅ Outcome: A rock-solid foundation for a blockchain-integrated multiplayer game.

⚙️ Warhammer 40K: Speed Freeks (Caged Element + PLAION)

A high-octane combat racing game that demanded serious performance at scale. Our engineers executed a 100,000 CCU simulation across:

  • Authentication via Steam & Xbox
  • Vehicle physics, loadouts, ability systems
  • Real-time combat and matchmaking
  • In-game chat and multiplayer lobbies

“Working with Cyrex on security and load testing for Warhammer 40K: Speed Freeks was a game-changer.” – Caged Element

🎣 Call of the Wild: The Angler (Avalanche Studios Group)

An open-world fishing sim with online co-op for up to 12 players. With a vast environment and seamless multiplayer, stability was key. We tested:

  • Online matchmaking
  • Registration & authentication
  • UDP-based gameplay mechanics

Using Cyrex Swarm, we identified and resolved performance issues that could have impacted launch-day stability.

🤼 Rumbleverse (Iron Galaxy Studios + Epic Games Publishing)

A brawler battle royale that launched with intense concurrent action. Cyrex simulated over 10,000 virtual players, focusing on:

  • Account registration
  • Game matchmaking
  • In-game store functionality

We worked directly with the dev team to resolve scalability bottlenecks, ensuring a smooth player experience from day one.

Ready to Scale with Confidence?

From indie launches to AAA releases, Cyrex has helped studios large and small fortify their infrastructure and crush performance goals.

Whether you're preparing for launch, planning a live ops update, or running a blockchain-integrated game, we’re here to help.

🎯 Let’s talk.

Secure your game, scale for millions, and deliver the experience your players expect - Get in touch with our team today.