On matchmaking for multiplayer cloud gaming

Abstract

Matchmaking is the process of grouping players together to set up game sessions in multiplayer online games. In this paper, we focus on the matchmaking for multiplayer cloud gaming (MCG). We formulate the MCG matchmaking problem with the objectives of maximizing the number of game sessions formed and minimizing the cost of cloud servers rented to serve the sessions. We propose a two-step matchmaking framework and several heuristic algorithms to assign players to servers. Experimental evaluations are conducted with real Internet latency data.