Gameye raises $1.6 million to minimize delays in multiplayer games

Gameye has raised $1.6 million for its business of creating matchmaking services for multiplayer online games.

The Rotterdam, Netherlands-based startup created an applications programming interface (API) that enables competitive gaming companies to launch multiple multiplayer games with a stable infrastructure and good matchmaking. Investors in the deal include Makers Fund, Seedcamp, and Niccolo Maisto, the CEO of the leading competitive gaming platform FaceIt.

For people to enjoy a multiplayer game, they should be matched not only in skill but in speed of online gameplay. Gameye has created tools that do their best to match players by online speeds. With this solution, game companies don’t have to create their own custom tools each time they create a new online game. (GamesBeat will be holding a session on multiplayer gaming during the Game Developers Conference).

Gameye’s founders — Sebastiaan Heijne, Elmer Bulthuis, Ralph Heersink and Denise Helderop — started Gameye in 2017 with a focus on esports matchmaking. But they saw a wider problem: creating a stable infrastructure required for multiplayer sessions.

So Gameye created a hybrid environment of dedicated and cloud servers, which ensures each multiplayer session is hosted on the best low-latency network (or one with the fewest interaction delays).

Above: Team Gameye from left to right: Jürgen Stirnweis, Ralph Heersink, Denise Helderop, Sebastiaan Heijne, Elmer Bulthuis and Paul van Santen.

Image Credit: Gameye

“We’ve heard of too many studios facing the same problem,” Heijne said in a statement. “With Gameye we’re hoping to give our customers piece of mind that they are getting the most cost-efficient and effective hosting solution available so they can focus on creating great games. We want to see more games make it to market and more opportunities to grow the competitive gaming scene.”

Gameye said its API takes the internal pressure off developers and platform holders, as it creates the functions needed to operate live multiplayer gaming. Their solution also includes a hybrid environment of maintained dedicated and cloud servers, with container technology that allows them to spin off or spin down places on the server based on need and efficiency.

Studios were spending significant resources to ensure their games could handle spikes in play as well as deployment systems. Gameye’s technology means studios can focus on developing great games with multiplayer functionality without the pressure of developing systems needed for multiplayer sessions internally.

“The gaming industry is booming and rapidly moving to the cloud. Gameye perfectly fits our thesis of investing in pick-and-shovel businesses that will play a central role in this transition,” said Seedcamp partner Sia Houchangnia in a statement. “The opportunity ahead is massive and Gameye has a truly passionate team of experts that are perfectly positioned to size it.”

Craig Fletcher, the founder of Global Service Provider and esports event organizer Multiplay, which was sold to United Kingdom retailer GAME in 2015 for $22.7 million, will serve as an adviser to Gameye.

“When I invest, I look at the team first, Gameye has a great one; highly skilled and full of passion and commitment,” Fletcher said, in a statement. “They have a great product that is much needed in the marketplace. Furthermore, having built a game server business before in Multiplay, it gives me an opportunity to help them learn from my experience doing it the first time round.”