Google Cloud report explains why Pokemon GO servers went down so often in that first month

Let me set the scene: it's summer 2016, early July, and Pokemon GO was on the verge of releasing. For the lucky few it came out without a hitch but the rest of us had to weasel our way in, causing huge server crashes and ultimate digital chaos.

A blog post from yesterday showed that the reason behind these server crashes was because Niantic simply wasn't expecting the amount of traffic they received. The graphs are both terrifying and utterly amazing as you try and even comprehend what the workers at Niantic must have been feeling as that line started rising higher and higher.

If any of you were around when Ultimate Chicken Horse (PC) first launched its multiplayer beta, you'll know what a bugger server overloads can be as the game was nigh unplayable – but that was a 500 player limit on Unity at first. After Pokemon GO launched in Australia and New Zealand it took only 15 minutes for the traffic to surge way past what was expected. Combine that with foreign iTunes accounts and Android's APK files, it's no wonder the servers went down.

As you can see from the chart Niantic expected 1X traffic with 5X for worst-case-scenario. Instead they had an influx of 50X too quickly to catch and just had to rush about and watch in horror and awe as the servers strained beneath the weight of expectation.

Check out the full report here. It's actually a fascinating read.