Source: https://gameye.com/glossary/cloud-bursting/

---
title: "Cloud bursting | Gameye"
description: "Cloud bursting is when game server workloads automatically spill from dedicated bare metal into cloud providers during demand spikes."
---

# Cloud bursting

Cloud bursting is when game server workloads automatically spill from reserved bare metal capacity into cloud providers (AWS, GCP, Azure) during demand spikes. When demand drops, cloud capacity is released.

## Why it matters for game servers

Game traffic is spiky. Launch day, free weekends, seasonal events, and tournament finals can push concurrent players to 5-10x normal levels. Provisioning bare metal for peak demand wastes money 95% of the time. Provisioning only for average demand means players can’t connect during peaks.

Cloud bursting solves this by using reserved bare metal for the baseline and on-demand cloud for the peaks. The baseline runs at a lower reserved rate. The burst runs at a higher on-demand rate. You only pay the on-demand premium during actual spikes.

## How it works in practice

When utilisation on reserved bare metal hits a threshold, the orchestration layer starts placing new sessions on cloud providers in the same region. The matchmaker doesn’t change. The API call doesn’t change. Players get the same IP-and-port response. The only difference is where the container runs.

Building a multiplayer game? Gameye hosts dedicated game servers: ship your server as a Docker container and start one per match with a single API call, in a region near your players.

[See how it works →](https://gameye.com/how-it-works/)

[Back to Glossary](https://gameye.com/glossary/)

## Related terms

- ### Auto scaling

Auto scaling starts new game server instances as player load rises and releases them when demand drops — no manual intervention required. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/auto-scaling/)
- ### Bare-metal servers

A bare-metal server is a physical machine which lives inside a data centre. It’s a place where you’ll host your games matches and sessions. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/bare-metal-servers/)
- ### Cloud servers

Your cloud server is a virtual server. It runs in a cloud computing environment, and it's a place where you’ll host your games’ matches and sessions. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/cloud-servers/)