GDC is never short of newsworthy announcements and this year’s show was particularly fruitful thanks to the Google’s Stadia bombshell.
But for the developers in attendance, there was an arguably more enlightening and promising announcement in a small, packed out conference room where we were lucky enough to score a seat.
Tencent Games was there to announce CROS, a wide-ranging mobile development solution that’s already been used by over 200 developers, many of them which are extremely high profile. Miniclip, Epic, and Supercell have all made use of the platform.
So, what does CROS (Common R&D and Operation System) do?
Using its own PUBG Mobile as a case study, Tencent Games explained how each of the four elements of CROS helped turn the game around after an underwhelming debut, lifting it from 3 stars to an impressive 4.5 on the Google Play store.
First, there’s INO (Intelligent Network Optimization). 30 million players log into PUBG Mobile for some shooting fun every day and thanks to INO, they don’t experience any lag at all. INO uses Dual Channel solutions to optimize multiplayer gaming traffic which reduces latency by more than 90%. Naturally, this is a huge deal for all player.
Then there’s G6 (Game R&D Solutions), which gives developers a round-the-clock data storage solution. Results take under 3 milliseconds to appear and 20 million requests are possible every second. G6 also allows for high quality voice chat, creating a slicker and more immersive experience for gamers. The connection ratio is pretty much 100% and crashes are rare.
Next up is WeTest, a tool that dramatically cuts down on testing time by replacing fallible humans with powerful AI. WeTest tries out games on the 500 most popular smartphone models which covers 90% of players, ensuring that everybody has the same seamless multiplayer experience.
And lastly there’s MTP (Mobile Tencent Project) which is like an omnipotent bouncer, identifying and stamping out hundreds of thousands of different cheat tools so that everybody can play safely and fairly.
For players, CROS is a benign invisible hand that ensures games are as good as they can possibly be. For developers, it’s an indispensable tool for optimizing games quickly and efficiently.