Title

AWS re:Invent 2023 - Improving user experience at Epic Games using Amazon Timestream (DAT334)

Summary

Ian Robinson, an AWS architect, and Ken Hawthorne from Epic Games discussed how Epic Games utilized Amazon Timestream to enhance user experience.
The talk covered the architecture, implementation, and benefits of using Timestream, including specific features introduced over the years.
Timestream's capabilities in handling high-volume time-series data, real-time monitoring, and dynamic schema evolution were highlighted.
Ken shared Epic Games' journey with Timestream, focusing on the Epic Games Store's player ratings page.
Epic Games needed a solution that allowed for code reuse, quick data retrieval, long-term data storage, and performance tuning.
They faced initial challenges with query load and throttling but optimized their solution by downsampling data, batching queries, and partitioning data effectively.
The changes led to significant cost savings and improved throughput without altering the application code.
Future plans include adopting user-defined partition keys, increasing playtime accuracy, retaining yearly data, and maintaining the use of DynamoDB for running tallies.

Timestream's ability to handle large volumes of time-series data with high cardinality and rapid ingestion rates makes it suitable for gaming platforms like Epic Games, where player activity generates vast amounts of data.
The flexibility of Timestream allows for iterative improvements and tuning to adapt to the specific needs of a service, as demonstrated by Epic Games' approach to optimizing their player ratings system.
Scheduled queries in Timestream can be used for data transformation and downsampling, which can significantly reduce the size of the dataset and costs.
Batching unrelated time series queries can improve performance and reduce costs, showcasing Timestream's efficiency in handling compound queries.
The use of multi-measure records and customer-defined partition keys can lead to more efficient data partitioning and faster query times.
Epic Games' experience with Timestream underscores the importance of aligning database solutions with business needs and the potential for cloud-based time series databases to support large-scale, user-centric applications.