Skyegrid and IBM are changing the game.

Not so long ago, it was just a gamer’s dream—the ability to play high-end games with zero lag from a laptop, tablet, or phone without installing gaming software or buying expensive hardware. The only way to access top-tier, blockbuster “AAA” games was via a console system or powerful PC. And, as games increased in sophistication, gaming systems required constant upgrades to keep up, which quickly became expensive.

As college students in Indonesia, several gamer friends and I started looking into how we could develop a more affordable gaming platform. That early research led us to focus on remote server technology—in the cloud.

We founded Skyegrid with the vision of creating a complete gaming ecosystem. The foundation for that ecosystem was an affordable online platform that could support the streaming of AAA games to mobile devices, laptops, and older PCs. In addition to the platform, we wanted to provide compelling game content and easily accessible gaming information that ultimately would help strengthen the entire industry.

The right cloud is key

To make our vision a reality, we needed a powerful cloud platform that could match the performance of a console system or high-end gaming computer—one that could deliver enough compute power that users wouldn’t suffer from lag or latency, which can seriously disrupt play.

Scalability was also a necessity. We had partnerships in the works with several Indonesian telecommunications companies to bundle Skyegrid solutions into their mobile plan offerings. Once those partnerships were in place, our platform would need to be able to accommodate the subsequent influx of mobile plan subscribers.

In looking into cloud platforms, we found IBM to be the clear winner, with the combination of the IBM Cloud with Citrix Hypervisor and IBM Cloud Bare Metal Servers solutions. Together, they provided the computing power we needed to deliver a latency-free gaming experience and access to the bare metal servers upon which our software relies. What’s more, the IBM solution was equipped with graphics processing units (GPUs) to support the high-quality graphics required for AAA gaming.

As a new company, Skyegrid qualified for the Startup with IBM program. This program provides us with access to IBM Cloud offerings for a fraction of the usual cost. We are then able to pass that savings on to our customers to deliver an affordable gaming experience.

A strong foundation for a sky-high future

Today, Skyegrid has made good on its initial vision. We support multiple devices and platforms, including Android, Apple Mac OS, Microsoft Windows, and Linux operating systems.

Since launching in August 2018, we have attracted more than 9 million views and 3,000 subscribers, with 16,000–18,000 visitors per day and 500,000–550,000 per month. We also offer 88 gaming titles—28 more than our closest competitor—drawing in users from not only Indonesia, but also the US, Malaysia, and Singapore.

Cloud gaming is the future, and Skyegrid is well-positioned to help drive that future forward. Currently, we’re looking into increasing our server capacity to support new users and increasingly complex games. With 41 million gamers in Indonesia, we already have a vast potential customer base. By tapping into IBM Cloud global resources, we hope to extend our services worldwide.

Read the case study for more details.