Re: akamai yesterday - what in the world was that

[Brandon Martin <lists.nanog () monmotha net>]

On 1/23/20 11:13 AM, Bryan Holloway wrote:
> This echoed events a month or so ago, and I'm curious as to what is 
> making these releases more, uh, network-impacting.

My understanding is that, in addition to factors others have mentioned 
(games are larger, more network based delivery, etc.), that there's a 
move AWAY from differential patching, to the extent it was previously 
being used, toward simply delivering an entire new copy of the game, 
including assets that completely duplicate those that someone may 
already have.

Apparently the rationale is that this is easier on the publisher and 
those preparing the release, which allows them to get things out sooner, 
since they don't have to come up with a decent differential patcher and 
can just make use of the delivery mechanisms already present on the 
content platform the user is already using.

When you've got 100GB games with huge market penetration and each 
"patch" is an entirely new copy of said 100GB game, that's a lot of traffic.
--
Brandon Martin