GAMECOST03-BP01 Choose the appropriate type of storage for user generated content to reduce costs

Each type of data generated and stored in your game has unique characteristics that you should consider when determining the right storage solution for your workload.

Level of risk exposed if this best practice is not established: Low

Implementation guidance

Use Amazon S3 Object Lifecycle Management to store object data in the most cost-effective storage class. Amazon S3 provides multiple storage classes and object lifecycle management to make it straightforward to set up simple and fine-grained policies to automatically transition data between storage tiers to reduce costs. Instead of simply storing data in the S3 standard storage class by default, consider setting up a lifecycle configuration to transition data between tiers automatically over time, or use S3 Intelligent-Tiering storage class for unknown or changing access patterns.

Alternatively, S3 Intelligent-Tiering can cost-effectively and automatically transition data between tiers and is recommended as a default storage class since it provides cost optimization without the need to manually setup lifecycle policies, and is now the best choice for small and short-lived objects. For more information, see Amazon S3 Intelligent-Tiering – Improved Cost Optimizations for Short-Lived and Small Objects.

Common use cases for Amazon S3 include storage of game assets, static content, game logs, data lake storage, and backups. For use cases where file systems are required, such as attaching shared file systems to workstations during development, consider using Amazon Elastic File System (Amazon EFS), which provides different storage classes and automatically grows and shrinks as you add and remove files with no need for manage the infrastructure.

Amazon S3 One Zone-IA is an ideal storage option for transient data related to in-game sessions, matchmaking, or other ephemeral information that can be re-created as needed. That type of game data does not require redundancy across multiple Availability Zones (AZs). This lower-cost storage class is well-suited for records of player actions, game events, and other telemetry data used for analytics or debugging.

The key cost optimization benefit of using S3 Express One Zone for such game data is the significant cost savings compared to the standard S3 storage class, with up to a 20% reduction in storage costs. This can be particularly advantageous for games with large volumes of data that do not require the same level of durability and availability as mission-critical application data. By leveraging S3 One Zone, game developers and publishers can optimize their cloud storage costs without compromising the overall player experience.

Implementation steps