Customer Stories / Gaming / Singapore
gumi Asia Levels Up Its Gaming Experience and Unlocks AI Skills with AWS Training and Certification
Utilizing AWS Training and Certification, gumi Asia empowered developers to improve the gaming experience, lower operating costs, and drive innovation through technologies like AI for cheating detection and analytics.
29%
reduction in API response times for better player experience
5–10%
lower costs for managing cloud infrastructure
Greater innovation
Employs AI to catch mobile game cheaters
Motivation
Increased morale and strengthened bonds with remote workforce
Overview
gumi Asia is a leading mobile game developer and publisher for iOS, Android, and Amazon platforms. To help its software engineers remain motivated, efficient, and innovative, the company engaged AWS Training and Certification. Nearly 50 percent of its engineers have been trained in subjects ranging from architecting and development to security and DevOps. As a result, the company has reduced AWS costs, improved the experience for its players, and spurred the adoption of artificial intelligence in games.
Opportunity | Building Cloud Expertise as Market Value Reaches $214 Billion
gumi Asia, a subsidiary of Japan-based gumi Inc., was established in April 2012 as a mobile game developer and publisher based in Singapore. Notably, the company is the creator of The Alchemist Code, a mobile strategy role-playing game for iOS and Android devices. It is also known for co-developing two Final Fantasy Brave Exvius titles (FFBE and War of the Visions) with Square Enix, a renowned video game production enterprise and entertainment conglomerate.
Since its launch, gumi Asia has relied on Amazon Web Services (AWS) to provide essential infrastructure to reach mobile gamers around the world. For example, the company has used Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) and Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS) to provide high performance, scalability, and simplified management, all while optimizing costs.
With the global mobile gaming market expected to be worth over $214 billion by 2028, gumi Asia has several new game projects on the horizon, and it wanted to focus on staying competitive by building in-house AWS skills. To this end, the company set out to equip its development teams with training on AWS best practices to optimize their use of AWS services while staying current with the pace of AWS services launched. Simon Nishi McCorkindale, general manager at gumi Asia, says, "Even senior engineers with years of AWS experience may still have opportunities for enhancing effectiveness and efficiency in their work."
Moreover, gumi Asia identified training as a motivation booster, especially with the global demand for developers rising by 50 percent in recent years. McCorkindale observed that in addition to improving skills, training could also serve as a bonding tool for remote employees. McCorkindale comments, "With many employees working remotely, we saw training as a means to strengthen their connection with the company and support our retention strategy."
Working with AWS Training and Certification resulted in a 200-millisecond improvement in API response time, reducing lag for some parts of the game such as loading screens and enhancing the gaming experience for our players.”
Simon Nishi McCorkindale
General Manager, gumi Asia
Solution | Reducing Costs While Increasing Speed for a Better Gaming Experience
To begin its training journey, the company collaborated with its local AWS Training and Certification team to conduct an AWS Learning Needs Analysis. This helped align suitable courses with business objectives and the interests of gumi Asia's engineers. McCorkindale recalls, "We sought feedback from engineers, which turned out to be a fruitful endeavor for everyone. Armed with this insightful data, we worked with AWS to develop a comprehensive training plan comprising five distinct courses."
gumi Asia started the training with the AWS Technical Essentials instructor-led course, which helps engineers choose AWS services based on their needs. The team of developers then completed a series of in-depth AWS Classroom Training courses, including Security Engineering on AWS, DevOps Engineering on AWS, Advanced Architecting on AWS, and Advanced Developing on AWS. These courses were each delivered virtually alongside a one-day AWS Jam, which is an immersive experiential learning session that incorporates simulated real-world use-cases. The sessions offered hands-on challenges curated to align with the classroom topics and the AWS services covered. McCorkindale shares, "The AWS Jam session embedded in the courses were instrumental in knowledge retention and presented our developers with real-life scenarios to apply their newfound skills." gumi Asia's developers completed the whole set of courses, most of which were held remotely over three days, within three months. Thomas Schobben, technical manager at gumi Asia, comments, "As someone with a frontend background, the Advanced Architecting on AWS course has been a game-changer, expanding my skillset and helping me to work more effectively with our backend team."
Outcome | Empowering Development with Cost Optimization, Improved Response Time, and AI Adoption
By keeping engineers updated with the latest AWS best practices, gumi Asia improved the configuration of its existing AWS services, such as Amazon EC2 and Elastic Load Balancing. As a result, it successfully reduced operational costs by 5−10 percent and boosted the speed of various API endpoints by 29 percent. "Working with AWS Training and Certification resulted in a 200-millisecond improvement in API response time, reducing lag for some parts of the game such as loading screens and enhancing the gaming experience for our players," McCorkindale recounts. Additionally, developers gained a deeper understanding of integrating AWS services. Says McCorkindale, "The training on architecting and networking proved very beneficial. It demonstrated how different AWS services can be combined to manage more complex processes."
To strengthen its development capabilities and continue improving gameplay, gumi Asia is working with AWS to train its engineers in utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) on AWS. McCorkindale explains, "AI plays a crucial role in gaming, particularly in areas such as identifying cheating players. Through AI-related training, particularly around Amazon SageMaker, and with the support of AWS, we’ve developed a prototype that uses AI to address this issue. Our goal is to build on this experience through training, especially as we venture into eSports, where the challenge becomes even more prominent."
In addition to AI, gumi Asia plans to pursue comprehensive training in AWS services for data analytics. The company possesses a wealth of data that is currently locked away in silos, which can be harnessed for product development and marketing campaigns. gumi Asia looks forward to utilizing AWS to unlock the full potential of this data, driving valuable insights and fostering innovation. McCorkindale adds, "Extracting meaningful information from our data will directly translate into more cost-effective and profit-generating business decisions."
gumi Asia views AWS Training and Certification as an integral part of its strategy to retain skilled employees. "Our engineers derive great satisfaction and motivation from problem-solving and optimizing our infrastructure," he explains. "Training holds a special importance in our industry, especially with the growing trend of remote work, where it becomes an opportunity for them to learn together, experiment as a team, and build strong bonds. "
With nearly 50 percent of its developers having completed AWS Training and Certification programs, gumi Asia already has plans to expand this initiative. Additionally, many of its trained developers are eager to further enhance their skills through additional AWS Certification in the coming months.
About gumi Asia
gumi Asia specializes in making mobile games for iOS and Android platforms. As a subsidiary of gumi Inc., headquartered in Japan, the company aspires to establish itself as a leading force in the IT industry and to become the world's foremost entertainment company.
AWS Services Used
AWS Training and Certification
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AWS Learning Needs Analysis
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AWS Classroom Training
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AWS Jam
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