Videogame Firms Power Up Networks for Online Players

Videogame companies are spending millions of dollars to build faster networks for online games that attract tens of millions of players apiece. Gameplay slowdowns -- often called lag or latency -- can result in the early death of characters, a frustration that causes some players to lash out at fellow gamers, bad-mouth games on public message boards or simply quit playing. Lag happens when some players’ data takes too long to reach game servers, putting them out of sync with other gamers and potentially causing them to lose. To level the playing field, game companies are tapping infrastructure providers that typically cater to big media and Wall Street firms.