Matchmaker Integration
Gameye + Nakama
Native Fleet Manager implementation. Nakama matchmaking to a running dedicated server in under 0.5 seconds.
Nakama's Fleet Manager interface lets your backend delegate dedicated server allocation to a specialist platform. Gameye implements that interface natively — the same pattern as the official AWS GameLift integration, but without egress fees, without AWS lock-in, and with sandbox access in 24 hours.
The Fleet Manager handles the full session lifecycle: creation, player join and leave tracking, backfilling (adding players to existing sessions), and termination. Player connections are verified against Gameye's describe-session endpoint. The Fleet Manager can be triggered by Nakama's matchmaker or called directly for manual session creation — it's not matchmaker-only.
- Players queue — Nakama handles party formation and matchmaking logic
- Match found — Nakama calls the Gameye Fleet Manager to request a session
- Fleet Manager calls Gameye's Session API — server spins up in the closest region
- Gameye returns the server IP and port to Nakama (~0.5s average)
- Nakama delivers connection details to the matched players' clients
- Match starts on a dedicated Gameye-managed server
Installation
The Fleet Manager is a Go package. Install it into your Nakama server module:
go get github.com/Gameye/nakama-fleetmanager/fleetmanagerWhat you need
Requires Nakama 3.21+. Five environment variables configure the Fleet Manager:
Request sandbox access at /get-access/. Provisioned within 24 hours — no sales call required.
Your Gameye environment URL. Provided with your API token during onboarding.
Your application or image name in Gameye. Must be published to a Docker registry Gameye pulls from.
The specific build version to deploy. Lets you control which server build is in rotation during rollouts.
Your primary target region. Gameye places sessions across bare metal and cloud globally, with automatic failover.
Why Gameye for Nakama studios
$0.07/vCPU/hr is the full compute cost. Bandwidth is included — no per-GB charges on top of your session costs.
0.5s average server start time. Players don't wait between match found and server ready.
Gameye exposes ping data to the Fleet Manager for latency-aware matchmaking. Players get placed on the server closest to them — not just the closest region by geography.
Gameye runs across bare metal and multiple cloud providers. If one region or provider has an issue, sessions fail over automatically.
If you're migrating from Hathora, Gameye is the only platform with a native Nakama integration. No connector to rebuild.
Known limitations
The Gameye Nakama integration is the right fit for most session-based multiplayer games. A few things worth knowing before you start:
Gameye's Session API doesn't paginate, which limits FleetManager#List for studios that need to query large numbers of running sessions programmatically.
Sessions are created immediately on request with no built-in job queue or backpressure. If a session creation fails, retry logic needs to be handled at the application layer.
Frequently asked questions
Is this the official Nakama integration for Gameye?
Yes. The nakama-fleetmanager package is Gameye's own implementation of Nakama's Fleet Manager interface, maintained by the Gameye engineering team. It follows the same pattern as Heroic Labs' official GameLift integration.
Do I need to write any custom integration code?
No. The Fleet Manager package implements the full Nakama interface. You configure it with your API token, environment URL, image name, and region — the session allocation handoff is handled automatically.
Can I run Nakama on Gameye too, or just the game servers?
Gameye orchestrates your dedicated game server containers — the session layer. Nakama itself typically runs on your own infrastructure or a separate hosting provider. The Fleet Manager bridges the two.
What regions does Gameye support?
Gameye places sessions across a global network of bare metal and cloud capacity. Sessions are placed in the region closest to your players, with automatic failover if capacity is unavailable. Contact us for a specific region list.
Get started
Sandbox access in 24 hours.
Request your API token, push your image, and make your first Fleet Manager allocation — all before your next sprint ends.