LATAM X Europe low latency games is now possible thanks to EllaLinks

Approximately 85 million Brazilian online gamers are rejoicing with the opening of a high-speed communication channel between Brazil and Europe. 

The gaming community, especially professional e-Sports players, had long been asking for a high latency connection and the elimination of barriers between Brazil and Europe, now made a reality with EllaLink’s transatlantic cable and the partnership between the Brazilian online gaming service NoPing and the Brazilian ISP IP Telecom.

The championships in European servers will be much more disputed from now on.

IP Telecom provides access to differentiated traffic to the main game servers in Europe. NoPing is a high-performance solution for latency improvement focused on the online gaming segment.  

There is less than 120 ms latency and a speed of up to 100 terabits per second!

Marcos Kenickel Vasconcelos, CTO of NoPing, said a few months ago that playing on an equal footing with Europeans was something they had always dreamed of, which is now possible due to the technology developed by EllaLink.

Until now, Brazilian players used to choose to participate in championships in North American servers, a limitation that has now ended.

Brazilian gamers now benefit from a lower latency (between 30% and 50%) when connecting to European servers, where the game platforms are usually hosted, which increases their competitiveness.

Players have at their disposal exclusive routes on the undersea cable with

Very high speed and performance connection (up to 100 terabits per second);

Latency (data transmission response time) of less than 120 ms, less than connections via the USA to Europe;

More frames per second (FPS);

With these quality increments, it becomes possible for Brazilians to play at home in the most competitive tournaments, eliminating the need and the inherent costs of travelling to Europe to train (bootcamps) or to compete on an equal footing. 

Something that limited the development of most players due to the teams’ inability to afford the costs of travelling to Europe (accommodation, internet connection, rental of appropriate equipment). 

No more technical connection limitations and delays that ultimately decide the game. In other words, the quality of the player will no longer depend on the quality of his Internet connection, essential in an excellent high-level competition environment. Therefore, it will increase competitiveness and also inclusion

“In an online game, if you imagine two players, one Brazilian and one North American, playing on a European server, aiming at the same target, at the same time, the difference between winning and losing will be in which one hits first. And this is determined by latency, which players call LAG”.

Rafael Lozano, Country Manager Brazil, EllaLink

The first real test is already on February 18th

The first real test of Dota2, one of the most popular online games, is scheduled for February 18th. It is called “NoPing Day”, and on that date, Brazil and Europe will confront each other using EllaLink’s intercontinental cable. 

Marcos Kenickel Vasconcelos is convinced that the direct connection with Europe will benefit the Brazilian Dota2 players.

This is the “modality in which the Europeans are strongest and also the one that awarded the highest prize in e-Sports [the equivalent of sports championships, but online], in 2021, around 47 million dollars”.

Therefore, it could be an opportunity for Brazilians now that the competition will be on a level playing field. 

Despite previously existing obstacles to participating in tournaments on an equal footing, Brazil has a prominent position in this area.

In online gaming, Brazil ranks third in the world behind the USA and China. It has already had world champion teams in games such as Free Fire, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS: GO) and Rainbow Six Siege.

Of course, even before the “NoPing Day”, casual games between Brazilians and Europeans have already been held through the EllaLink cable. And Marcos Vasconcelos says that latency has dropped by about 30% for players in the southeast region. Due to greater physical proximity to Europe, players in the northeast have seen latency drop by 50%.

Gamers anticipate more competition soon when EllaLink’s cable connects Cape Verde. Marcos Vasconcelos says that the excitement on the e-Sports circuit will continue. 

The Cape Verde connection should have “an impact on the increase in intercontinental matches of popular online games. At that time, we will have a wave of African players joining the circuit.” 

Marcos Kenickel Vasconcelos, CTO of NoPing

In addition to the Cape Verde connection, EllaLink is soon to partner with data centres with facilities in Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam and Paris, increasing the cable’s spectrum in central Europe and, therefore, playability. 

Players will notice the difference

Latencies between the main game servers on both continents were around 250 milliseconds (ms) before the partnership between EllaLink and IP Telecom and later with NoPing. For a gaming experience to be considered good, it should be below 150 ms.

“With EllaLink cable, this latency drops to less than 120 ms between points of high traffic concentration in Europe,” highlights Rafael Lozano, director of EllaLink Brazil. Gamers will feel the difference. 

“We will now have hotly contested online championships between the two continents, which should increase the inclusion of Brazilian players in Europe”, concludes Marcos Vasconcelos.

It is important to remember that the gaming market has grown 10% a year in recent years, above most markets. In 2020, the year of the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, it grew 12%, and in 2021 it should have grown, even more, said the head of NoPing.

Marcos Vasconcelos says games sell more than music and movies combined, totalling $174 billion in revenue.

Curiosities about the transatlantic cable

EllaLink’s cable connecting Europe to Latin America: 

It is six thousand kilometres long;

• Directly links Sines to Fortaleza, 
• Results of an investment of 150 million euros;
• It is the first to connect Europe and Latin America directly.