Dedicated Server
A dedicated server is a remote machine — not owned by any player — that runs your game’s simulation and acts as the authoritative source of truth for everything that happens in a match. Every player’s client sends inputs to the server; the server resolves them and sends the result back. No single player can cheat by manipulating their own client.
Dedicated server vs. listen server
A listen server runs the game on one player’s machine, making them both host and participant. It’s cheap to set up but creates an unfair advantage for the host and fails when they disconnect. A dedicated server removes the host entirely — the server has no player attached to it and runs only the game logic, giving every player an equal connection.
For competitive or ranked multiplayer, dedicated servers are the standard. The latency fairness alone makes the investment worthwhile.
Why studios containerise their dedicated servers
Historically, deploying a dedicated server meant configuring bare-metal machines by hand. Modern studios package their server binary, dependencies, and configuration into a Docker container — a portable, reproducible image that runs identically in a local sandbox, a cloud VM, or a bare-metal data centre. Containerised servers can be started in under a second by an orchestrator responding to matchmaker demand.
How many dedicated servers do you need?
The number of concurrent servers you need depends on your session profile: how many players per match, how long matches last, and how many concurrent players you expect. A well-configured orchestrator scales this automatically — starting new server instances as demand rises and releasing them when sessions end, so you’re never paying for idle capacity or turning players away.
See also: How Gameye game server orchestration works · Session hosting · Containers