PokéFarm Case Study

Website: www.pokefarm.org

"Tsohost has been by far the best host at maintaining a near - 100% uptime, and for that all our users thank you!"

Tsohost has provided PokéFarm with hosting for it's interactive online game since January 2010. PokéFarm, a free to play game based on the 1996 fictional Pokémon universe. PokéFarm boasts a variety of features that allow users to breed and care for Pokémon whilst interacting with one another.

Initially a small programming exercise, PokéFarm unexpectedly exploded with popularity. Today, PokéFarm is the most popular Pokémon fan game online with an impressive 116,842 users, that spend on average 40 minutes a day gaming.

In September 2010 PokéFarm experienced an unprecedented increase in traffic, meaning their web hosting requirements dramatically changed. Tsohost guided PokéFarm through various options and provided honest recommendations on the most appropriate hosting solution to meet their growing needs. During the switching period PokeFarm placed great emphasis on achieving 100% uptime. As a result PokéFarm switched from shared hosting to a Dedicated server with a second server for redundancy. The overall solution greatly minimised the risk of downtime and disruption to the site.

Since the switch in 2010, any hosting related issues experienced by PokéFarm were efficiently dealt with by a friendly member of the Tsohost support team.

"Given that your average time responding to a support request is 12 minutes, I can pretty much say I almost always get an "immediate" response that is right on with resolving the issue. As compared to my previous hosts, where they would come back 3 days later."

Since working with Tsohost PokéFarm has also benefited from:

• A great increase in load times, with Google registering a speed rating of 90/100
• Increased traffic to the site, with users spending longer browsing
• Improved sales of 'premium currencies'

"When we switched to a dedicated set-up, I was a little apprehensive because of the cost that came with it, but I have not once regretted the move! Almost immediately, the site became many times more responsive and users came pouring in."

As PokéFarm progresses towards the end of its development, the parent company, The Dark World Network, aim to continue offering successful online games. The team behind PokéFarm are currently working on exciting new projects including 'PokéBattlers' along with other non Pokémon related games.

Adam from the PokéFarm team looks forward to hosting future projects with Tsohost.