20 years of GPORTAL: the evolution of GPORTAL
On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of GPORTAL, we currently provide you with all kinds of blogs, social media posts and events that you should not miss. Today's blog is about the creation and history of our company GPORTAL, which can look back on more than 20 years of experience and success.
Beginnings, big dreams and the hard reality
Having met at school and having been good friends so far, the founders of GPORTAL at that time asked themselves if they could not create something out of their hobby and passion that would give many people all over the world access to the virtual worlds of various games and change the gaming industry. The willingness was there, the know-how more or less as well and the idea was born.
The dream of having their own data centers filled with quite a few servers and groundbreaking products that create something completely new in gaming was the idea, but pretty soon the friends realized that the reality was a bit different after all and above all the struggle for bare existence played a big role. Before even the slightest thought of gaining a successful foothold in the gaming industry, a hell of a lot of work had to be put into the creation of the company. Probably that was a bit naive in retrospect, but where GPORTAL is now, it was worth every effort and the damn right way.
First milestone, first games and challenges
After many years of work and with a bit of risk-taking and perhaps a bit of cockiness, the company, standing on fresh and shaky legs, applied in 2010 to be the host for Battlefield 3, which was released in 2011. A few months before the release, and with fading hope, actually came the commitment and with it the first milestone with much growth in clientele for GPORTAL. But of course this also meant more work, providing and managing even more technology, overhauling the existing infrastructure, more staff and of course the whole thing had to be properly advertised with marketing. Up to now, the portfolio included the well-known games that were especially popular at LAN parties, including Half Life with the mods Counter-Strike and Team Fortress and games like HALO, Medal of Honor or Unreal Tournament.
The success with Battlefield and the collaboration with DICE/EA continued with GPORTAL being chosen in 2013 as one of nine game server hosts worldwide to host their newly released triple-A title Battlefield 4. And again, of course, there was more work to do, but also a significant increase in GPORTAL's clientele. Now new areas had to be taken care of, including for example DDoS protection, competitiveness among all hosters, special attention was paid to product design and also the growing clientele had of course higher expectations. The biggest topic here was a panel to administrate your own game server, with which any settings can be adjusted at will.
From the old to the new system for success
Due to the growing clientele, the higher expectations and the own desire to be number 1 on the market someday, one thing was for sure: an own system was needed. So they worked on their own website, a store system, new products and a revised customer panel, and of course a message had to be sent somewhere so that the recognition value is given and the branding works.
After almost two years of hard work and once again new challenges, this time in the area of software development, in 2015 the old system was converted to the new and completely custom-built system. The website included new features and forward-looking different approaches that the industry had never seen before. For the young company, the whole effort naturally meant some sleepless nights, but looking back, we can definitely say that it was absolutely worth it.
Evolution of GPORTAL Websites
ARK: Survival Evolved and support for Conan Exiles
Shortly after the hard work of the past two years should bear the first fruits, a game called ARK: Survival Evolved came on the market, which is still one of the top games in the survival genre. GPORTAL quickly noticed this, as the customer base grew to unimagined dimensions and brought with it a number of challenges that first had to be met in a very short time.
In 2017, the developers of Conan Exiles, Funcom, approached GPORTAL after we had already asked to host their game a few months earlier and were unfortunately rejected at that time, and asked GPORTAL to host their official servers. So in a very short time the whole team had to almost roll over to be able to provide over 100 hardware systems only in Frankfurt, Germany. Once again a big thank you goes to the whole team, which worked almost day and night on it and the suppliers, who made it all possible by working hand in hand with the company.
More partnerships, global locations and Xbox servers
In mid-2017 and the years after, more and more studios followed and some partnerships developed, including the firm partnership with Stunlock Studios, the developers of V Rising, which has a big place in our GPORTAL heart. We are the official server host of many more games and could not be prouder to be trusted so much.
Also in 2017, we secured our first global locations outside of Germany, not only to expand our offering last, but also to reach more people and allow them to play with friends on powerful and performant game servers around the world. Another highlight of 2017: GPORTAL became the first hoster in the world to offer and rent private Xbox servers.
The future of GPORTAL
Thanks to over 60 partnerships with various studios, GPORTAL can definitely be called one of the biggest players in the industry. The entire team has put so much work, heart and soul into this project from the very beginning, which is now the home of many employees, spread all over the world, who participate in and drive the success of GPORTAL every day. The entire team is wholeheartedly committed to the project and shares gaming as a passion. Without the employees and the school friends from back then, none of this would have been possible!
But of course the story of GPORTAL is not finished, there are still some chapters open and we are constantly working on new concepts and ideas to never stand still and to keep developing. A new highlight will be blockbuster games, which we may accompany and support, with mod support and providing servers. Of course, we continue to work on our technology and want to simplify the control and operation of our servers even for absolute beginners in this world. Together with our customers, the community and the employees, we want to take the step from a game server hoster to a gaming experience company.
