Dmitry

July 18, 2023 — 5 min read

Zone provides users with the ultimate Web3 gaming experience by offering an online — and on-chain — gaming universe with a unique blend of gaming diversity, earning opportunities, global community, and competitive thrills. More than just a platform for gaming, Zone fosters a free-to-play environment where players can enjoy their favorite games while also participating in on-chain gaming challenges, earning real monetary prizes, engaging in yield farming activities, and collecting unique digital assets. So far, over 300k gamers of all skill levels and gaming tastes have enjoyed using Zone for its user-friendly interface and variety of game options. Being a project that revolves around user experience, Zone’s top priority is gameplay. To keep these gamers engaged on the platform, Zone must ensure that gameplay remains seamless and uninterrupted. That’s where having a dependable infrastructure partner and technical resource like Quicknode is essential.

Zone Games Homepage — zone.game

The Challenge: Striking a balance between scalability and optimal performance

Zone’s prime concerns revolved around finding a reliable, scalable Web3 infrastructure provider to support their unique use case blend of gaming, DeFi, and NFTs while delivering a consistently smooth customer experience.

Striking a balance between scalability and optimal performance required constant monitoring and fine-tuning. As their customer base expanded and data volumes escalated, Zone faced the daunting task of continuous optimization to meet growing demands. They added dedicated resources and expertise to overcome these challenges, continually investing in infrastructure improvements, API reliability, and scaling strategies. Zone considered hosting their own nodes, but the OpEx costs of a DIY solution were not viable. It was clear that they needed a better solution.

Zone chose Quicknode for reliability, scalability, and outstanding customer service

When selecting an infrastructure provider, reputation and confidence are key. AWS, Google, and Microsoft come to mind because of their proven reliability and good standing as industry leaders. Quicknode's reputation as a leader in driving Web3 adoption, impressive efficiency, and multi-chain support struck a chord, standing out as the perfect solution to the challenges Zone faced.

From the beginning, Zone found Quicknode's onboarding process exemplary, characterized by professionalism, expertise, and a smooth transition to the new platform. Zone instantly adopted Quicknode's suite of blockchain APIs for Algorand, thanks to abundant guides, documentation, and other developer resources. Quicknode's APIs also came equipped with essential security features, such as client-side JWT authentication and domain masking, facilitating a secure operational environment. Beyond just reliability and speed, Zone sought a business partner who could provide white-glove customer service, assist with GTM strategies, and offer best-in-class SLAs. They envisioned a true partner with whom they could grow, finding that potential in Quicknode.

Measurable results and impact

Quicknode’s impact on Zone’s business was immediate and apparent — allowing them to broadcast more than 300 transactions per second. Zone also experienced significant improvements in API response times, leading to the seamless, uninterrupted user experience gamers require. And Quicknode’s impact was felt beyond just platform metrics. By offloading their DevOps workloads to Quicknode, Zone freed up engineering resources to work on new features and solutions to improve their own platform, allowing them to develop and ship faster. Bringing new games to market faster while simultaneously lowering OpEx costs instantly became Zone’s competitive advantage.

Quicknode's solutions have been instrumental in confronting Zone's challenges and advancing its business objectives. The remarkable reduction in infrastructure-related issues brought about increased efficiency, reliability, and a streamlined operational workflow. There were also significant improvements in ROI, speed, customer reach, and satisfaction, as Quicknode's robust infrastructure empowered business expansion and liberated substantial engineering resources, translating to substantial time and cost savings.

A vision for continued success

Zone envisions a future of continued growth and innovation powered by Quicknode. As they scale up, the company plans to enhance their presence on more of Quicknode's 23+ supported networks and utilize more of Quicknode’s diverse product suite. Zone's experience with Quicknode underscores what's possible when a high-growth project connects with the right partner. It also sets a precedent for other web3 gaming companies and blockchain innovators looking to replicate this success. Leveraging key advantages such as enhanced reliability, scalability, improved operational efficiency, substantial cost savings, and increased customer satisfaction, Zone has achieved a formidable competitive advantage in the space.