I am going to be starting a GSP in the near future (shooting for August of 09 but getting licenses in order, building the servers, getting a professional web design, and so on takes a good bit of time).

I have been running servers and doing support for GSPs for years. I am no newbie to the market. My only question that I am not sure on is what are some of the most popular US cities as far as game server rentals? I have read Chicago is #1, Dallas is #2, and so on. I would like more on this though if possible.

Def. Chicago & Dallas, some teams will tell you Chicago is too central, therefore they would prefer New York as an East Coast location.

I am going to be starting a GSP in the near future (shooting for August of 09 but getting licenses in order, building the servers, getting a professional web design, and so on takes a good bit of time).

I have been running servers and doing support for GSPs for years. I am no newbie to the market. My only question that I am not sure on is what are some of the most popular US cities as far as game server rentals? I have read Chicago is #1, Dallas is #2, and so on. I would like more on this though if possible.

Def. Chicago & Dallas, some teams will tell you Chicago is too central, therefore they would prefer New York as an East Coast location.

This is a good question that I've wondered about for a while. I constantly hear that gamers prefer the coasts; I'm assuming to accommodate foreign players better. However, I'd think that most US-based game server admins/clans would want to focus on getting the best connectivity IN-country.

My common sense would then tell me the midwest would be the best shoice.

powergsp, could you explain how they see Chicago as 'too central'; I would think that would be a benefit, especially if your provider is hooked into a large carrier hotel like Equinix.

London/EU is very popular, although there's lots of competition around here.

Chicago is the most popular North American location by a factor of 5.

Chicago is the most popular North American location by a factor of 5.

Would you say that is the rule or exception for most GSPs?, obviously your response is going to be biased due to you representing a GSP with a heavy Chicago presence.

I am not trying to say that Chicago isn't popular but I would have to guess across the industry as a whole, at least for north america, that Dallas/Houston would right up there with Chicago.

Would you say that is the rule or exception for most GSPs?, obviously your response is going to be biased due to you representing a GSP with a heavy Chicago presence.

I am not trying to say that Chicago isn't popular but I would have to guess across the industry as a whole, at least for north america, that Dallas/Houston would right up there with Chicago.

Dallas is certainly large, as is NYC, but Chicago still beats them out by a significant margin.

ColoCrossing is not a GSP, but Velocity Servers is, which we own, and the numbers correlate to Chicago being the largest by far.

Dallas is certainly large, as is NYC, but Chicago still beats them out by a significant margin.

ColoCrossing is not a GSP, but Velocity Servers is, which we own, and the numbers correlate to Chicago being the largest by far.

I was referring to Velocity Servers and know of John from other forums as well so the reference fits depending on where you're coming from. I was not trying to call ColoCrossing a GSP.

Again could your own company's experience not be different from others? That is all I am trying to get at here. Last time I checked there were other GSPs in the market lol...so without a tabulated data source from all of the GSPs then we surely will never know with absolute certainty where the most game servers are.

Dallas and Chicago are the two prime locations. Get servers in both locations to start providing game server hosting and you will be all set :)

Yes, you can look at it different. If in for example Dallas there is a company that beats Velocity servers in network,support, price, whatever else, they won't go with them.

The reason why the East Coast is preferred is because European gamers will dislike anything from Central US to the West Coast, because the latency differences are huge (about 65% from East to West Coast)

From my experience in the GSP market over the last 7 years I can say without a doubt that Chicago has grown to be the most popular. Dallas was once a larger "player," but Chicago has certainly upstaged any other POP.

From my experience in the GSP market over the last 7 years I can say without a doubt that Chicago has grown to be the most popular. Dallas was once a larger "player," but Chicago has certainly upstaged any other POP.

Just to keep this thread going, because well I find it very interesting, in your opinion what has driven this change between these two locations?

Just to keep this thread going, because well I find it very interesting, in your opinion what has driven this change between these two locations?

You have to take into consideration the vast player base in Canada, who almost always have better connectivity to Chicago than Dallas.

I can't say that Dallas was ever the largest location in our experience, though. Growth in Chicago simply outpaced that of Dallas.

There are plenty of new datacenters in Chicago which have cropped up in the last five years, which were not there when Dallas had a larger market share. Back in the bubble of game servers a few years ago, The Planet and others in Dallas simply didn't have the network continuity that they do now, and that may have driven the demand to Chicago which had better connectivity, and cheap space.

I will just add from what I've seen Chicago has grown in popularity over the past couple years.

Without a doubt london lol

TeamSpeak Dallas Servers: 67%
TeamSpeak Chicago Servers: 8%

Ventrilo Dallas Servers: 36%
Ventrilo Chicago Servers: 16%

I'm actually amazed that people are reporting Chicago as more popular then Dallas.

I'm curious, when a client signs up with you, what is your default location in the dropdown menu? Does that factor into things at all?

I'd say for us, if a client doesn't know what location they want, they likely just leave it set to Dallas. This might be why we see higher Dallas figures compared to the rest.

Great thread guys.

Without a doubt london lol
More Gameservers are hosted in Berkshire, United Kingdom than London, United Kingdom ;)

Chicago for me, I get a great ping, then again NYC is good for me too cause I'm halfway between the two :P

TeamSpeak Dallas Servers: 67%
TeamSpeak Chicago Servers: 8%

Ventrilo Dallas Servers: 36%
Ventrilo Chicago Servers: 16%

I'm actually amazed that people are reporting Chicago as more popular then Dallas.

I'm curious, when a client signs up with you, what is your default location in the dropdown menu? Does that factor into things at all?

I'd say for us, if a client doesn't know what location they want, they likely just leave it set to Dallas. This might be why we see higher Dallas figures compared to the rest.

Great thread guys.

I know some of our VOIP customers are more balanced between the major locations (Chicago, Dallas, NYC, etc). Seems your Dallas heavy.

Far most is Dallas, basically Dallas is the center of United States where most of the people on the east and west coast would get great latency.

Chicago for me, I get a great ping, then again NYC is good for me too cause I'm halfway between the two :P

a great ping for you yes but for us UK folk that would give us a ping of 100+

has to be london for us uk folk by far. very expensive but worth every penny running a decent server.

I am going to be starting a GSP in the near future (shooting for August of 09 but getting licenses in order, building the servers, getting a professional web design, and so on takes a good bit of time).

I have been running servers and doing support for GSPs for years. I am no newbie to the market. My only question that I am not sure on is what are some of the most popular US cities as far as game server rentals? I have read Chicago is #1, Dallas is #2, and so on. I would like more on this though if possible.

Most popular US locations would be Dallas, Chicago, and New York (probably a couple I've left out).

Yeah it sounds like Chicago would be a great first location quickly followed by Dallas, then maybe London (although I dont want to think about the prices to send colocation hardware overseas).

Chicago is by far the most demanded location then Dallas/New York.

Seattle is most definitely demanded especially for many west coast players such as Vancouver, and like me I used to live in Alaska, so a Seattle server was always nice.

It's actually interesting I remember Dallas being the most popular, but in past few years Chicago has grown quite of bit, because people love their networks & latency.

Few other locations to check out,
San Jose
LA
New York
Atlanta

Wouldn't this all be determined by where the clan is located? I mean if you have a local group and every one is located in the south east wouldn't a server located in the south east be better then one even hosted in Chicago?

~KB

Wouldn't this all be determined by where the clan is located? I mean if you have a local group and every one is located in the south east wouldn't a server located in the south east be better then one even hosted in Chicago?

~KB
Good point. Think about this way though, if your in a clan then your probably in leagues, scrimmages, matches often. A lot of teams won't play scrimmages, matches against your team if they don't the latency they want. When competitive clans get game servers they usually prefer Chicago, because not only will they get decent pings, so will their opponents. When I used to play games (CSS,COD), I remember teams refusing to play in our servers, because of the pings, so we were forced to move our server from east to central.

It does vary depending on the situation though.

Yeah it sounds like Chicago would be a great first location quickly followed by Dallas, then maybe London (although I dont want to think about the prices to send colocation hardware overseas).
Just pay your provider to buy the hardware for you and done!

Shipping it across is a mess due to customs. Dont try it.

Just pay your provider to buy the hardware for you and done!

Shipping it across is a mess due to customs. Dont try it.

I was wondering the same doesn't seem wise to ship from US/CAN to the UK.