As multiplayer games continue growing in scale and complexity, infrastructure has become just as important as gameplay systems. From launch-day demand spikes to long-term live service support, studios increasingly rely on scalable backend solutions to maintain stability, low latency, and player retention across global audiences. For smaller teams, especially, managing server infrastructure internally can quickly become a major technical and financial challenge.

In this interview, Flavio Kappelhoff, Director of Business Development at GPORTAL, discusses how modern game hosting providers support both developers and players through dedicated server infrastructure, regional deployment, and how infrastructure decisions directly impact multiplayer experiences in games like Enshrouded and Hytale.

What does a company like GPORTAL do?

Flavio Kappelhoff, Director of Business Development at GPORTAL: The company is a game hosting provider, and we have two approaches.

One is for customers, which is the B2C business. There’s a portal where people can rent a private dedicated server to play with their friends. We offer this in 18 data centers all over the world. What’s very important is that it’s our own infrastructure and our own hardware; we’re not working with rented hardware. People can rent servers in the region where they want to play to ensure low ping, good latency, and a better overall game experience.

The second part is the B2B business. We rent bare metal servers to game studios. A studio can rent servers so players can play on official servers. Those are the main business cases we offer.

This is for when a studio needs to scale, is that right? Or rapidly expand into a region or handle spikes in demand?

Flavio Kappelhoff: Exactly. We have the infrastructure, and it’s fully scalable. They can use a fully managed tool where they can scale depending on growing player numbers.

Who are your typical B2B clients? Are they mostly large studios, or do you also work with smaller teams?

Flavio Kappelhoff: We have different types of studios. We work with small studios that offer official servers, but we also work with large-scale studios like Funcom. Basically, any studio that offers multiplayer games and needs game servers for players.

There are a lot of cloud providers out there. How do you differentiate from larger providers like AWS or Azure?

Flavio Kappelhoff: Compared to larger providers, we differentiate through our experience. We’re capable of helping with and developing specific needs for studios, which is very important. Availability across the world is also key.

Compared to providers like AWS or Azure, we are always cheaper because we have our own infrastructure, data centers, and hardware. We’re not renting anything, which allows us to control costs.

Have you seen any changes in demand or costs with the rise of AI and broader hardware constraints?

Flavio Kappelhoff: There’s always some impact. What really drives growt, and sometimes limitations, is new game releases. For example, when a big game launches and becomes successful, there’s a huge spike in demand for servers.

Right now, RAM is very expensive due to global market conditions. Hardware availability can also become limited when demand spikes. So you have different types of impact depending on the market and the success of specific games.

How do you balance your B2B and B2C approaches? Is B2C more self-service?

Flavio Kappelhoff: Yes, B2C is fully self-service. Users go to the platform, choose the game they want to play, and rent a server. They can pay with a credit card, PayPal, or other regional methods.

They choose how many players they want, depending on the game. Some games support small groups, others, like Rust, support 50 or 100 players. Once payment is confirmed, they receive an IP address and can start playing with friends immediately.

On the B2B side, we have dashboards where both the studio and we can monitor concurrent users. If servers fill up quickly, we provision additional bare metal servers. We can scale rapidly based on demand, even in specific regions.

What’s the split between B2B and B2C in your business?

Flavio Kappelhoff: I can’t give exact numbers, but the business started with B2C, so that side is still a bit larger. However, there is strong demand on both ends, depending on the type of game.

Do you have any examples where you helped a studio scale successfully?

Flavio Kappelhoff: Yes, definitely. Hytale is one example; we’re an approved provider and always have enough resources to support it as the game grows.

Another example is Enshrouded from Keen Games. The game relies entirely on dedicated server infrastructure, without official servers. When it launched in early access, there was a huge spike in demand, and we were able to support the player base. We continue to support it with each content update.

So it sounds like you remove a lot of infrastructure burden from developers, especially smaller teams?

Flavio Kappelhoff: Exactly. We maintain all the infrastructure, provide the expertise, and handle scaling. This saves a lot of cost for studios, especially smaller ones that may not have the resources or technical expertise to manage servers themselves.

What are initiatives like Loot Pass all about? How does that work, and what are your goals moving forward for the company?

Flavio Kappelhoff: Loot Pass is about giving back to the community. We are a community-driven provider, and we care a lot about what players want, such as what games they want to play and which regions they need.

We’re very active on Discord and social channels and provide strong support so players can enjoy the games they love.

For this year, we’re planning platform updates, including new features, improved support, and better design. We’re always looking for the next big game players want to play. There are some upcoming projects we can’t disclose yet, but we’re confident players will enjoy them.

On the B2B side, we have the capacity to scale further. Whether it’s a large AAA project or an indie title that suddenly gains traction, we’re ready to support that demand.

Flavio Kappelhoff, Director of Business Development at GPORTAL

Interview conducted by Kirill Tokarev