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Canadian gaming company Uken counts on New Relic performance analytics to help build global gaming business
Technology Category
- Analytics & Modeling - Real Time Analytics
- Application Infrastructure & Middleware - API Integration & Management
Applicable Industries
- Software
Applicable Functions
- Discrete Manufacturing
- Quality Assurance
Use Cases
- Predictive Maintenance
- Real-Time Location System (RTLS)
Services
- Software Design & Engineering Services
- System Integration
The Challenge
Uken, a cross-platform game developer, has eight games in production that have been downloaded more than 20 million times. The games are browser-based applications that push the limits of browser capabilities. The company processes about 800 Million requests each month. All common processes needed to run its games and business, such as user authentication, notifications, payments, analytics, and an ad platform, are pulled out and made into one of the twelve internally shared services. With self-imposed performance goals, Uken used basic tools and a few small Rails plugins to monitor and manage performance before they installed New Relic. This approach meant the team was spending valuable time performing manual work to determine what was going on and why some users were experiencing slow response times. The company quickly recognized that it needed some additional help.
About The Customer
Founded in 2009 and based in Toronto, Uken is a cross-platform game developer. The company builds top ranking games for mobile devices and Facebook including titles such as Forces Of War, Crime Inc., and Mighty Monsters, all of which have reached the top 25 in the Apple App Store and/ or BlackBerry AppWorld. Uken’s largest user base is iOS and about 50% of its customers are in North America, with the balance being from Europe, South America and Asia Pacific. Uken has been profitable almost since its inception and has a strong commitment to social responsibility. To date, the company has contributed over $50,000 to various charities. Uken helps users build friendships through its strong online gaming community. It’s at the core of all the company’s games and just as important as the game itself. The built-in forums, profile walls and chat features create an interesting starting point from which the other game mechanics are built. These community features give Uken designers a set of tools to create a deep immersive game experience. For players, the integration of social activity and game play results in an overall richer and more compelling gaming experience.
The Solution
New Relic made it easy to try the product. After an effortless installation via the Ruby gem, Uken found the SaaS solution immediately useful. Everyone at Uken uses the New Relic Dashboard since it aggregates all performance information into a single view and is displayed on TVs around the office. The team pays special attention to application server response times and their Apdex score. If the Apdex score drops, the team digs into the Transaction Traces or the slow transaction logs. Uken starts at the overview level and drills down to the game level to see what’s going on. They also look at the length of time the Apdex drop has been occurring, check to determine if the negative spike is already over, etc. New Relic allows the team to see if the issue is specific to an app server or if it relates to a specific transaction. The Slow SQL Log allows the team to identify slow queries by time and frequency. The ability to review the last seven days of data makes it easier to understand precisely what else happened during the time of the slow query. When there is a slow transaction, New Relic breaks it down to time per component so the Uken team focuses on optimizing transactions with the slowest average response.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
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