AWS re:Invent 2025 - Amazon GameLift Streams Powers Bandai Namco Entertainment's Metaverse (IND394)

AWS re:Invent 2025 - Amazon GameLift Streams Powers Bandai Namco Entertainment's Metaverse

Overview

This presentation showcases the collaboration between Bandai Namco Entertainment and AWS to create the Gundam Metaverse, a global, accessible, and immersive metaverse experience for Gundam fans. The key technologies and strategies employed to address the project's technical and business challenges are discussed in detail.

Technical Approach

Professional Services

• AWS Professional Services provided comprehensive support across multiple areas, including strategic planning, application development, and infrastructure build-out.
• Their deep understanding of both strategy and applications enabled them to build a global, scalable cloud infrastructure that maximized value.

Amazon GameLift Streams

• Amazon GameLift Streams was a key component, enabling on-demand, low-latency streaming of the Gundam Metaverse to users across various devices.
• The service's global network of endpoints and device accessibility allowed the team to deliver consistent performance and expand the potential player base.

Multi-Region Scalability

• GameLift Streams' multi-location stream groups feature enabled centralized infrastructure management across multiple regions, reducing engineering resources and operational burden.
• The team achieved low latency (under 20ms in Tokyo, under 150ms between Tokyo and Oregon) and simplified client-server responsibilities through this approach.
• The ability to easily add new regions as demand increased provided flexibility to optimize for latency and cost.

Multi-Platform Accessibility

• The browser-based access through GameLift Streams allowed the team to deliver the Gundam Metaverse experience to multiple devices using a single build.
• Virtual game pads were implemented for mobile device operation, ensuring a consistent experience across platforms.
• The browser-based nature also enabled the use of web automation tools for scalable end-to-end testing, helping identify and resolve issues that only occurred with multiple simultaneous users.

Amazon API Integration

• The Gundam Metaverse integrated with Amazon to provide a seamless shopping experience within the metaverse space.
• Login with Amazon allowed users to link their accounts and make purchases without leaving the metaverse.
• The Amazon API was used to retrieve product details, pricing, and shipping information, and to process orders directly within the metaverse.

Business Impact

• The Gundam Metaverse was successfully launched in over 20 countries, providing a global, accessible, and immersive experience for Gundam fans.
• The multi-region and multi-platform approach, enabled by GameLift Streams, allowed the team to deliver consistent performance and expand the potential player base.
• The custom autoscaling and adaptive region autoscaler optimized the balance between cost and user experience, ensuring a high-quality metaverse experience.
• The integration with Amazon's e-commerce platform created a seamless shopping experience within the metaverse, further enhancing the overall user engagement.

Future Directions

• The team plans to expand the metaverse technology to other use cases, such as digital twins and simulation/training, leveraging the standardized back-end, front-end, and client components.
• The goal is to make the metaverse system available to partners, allowing them to quickly launch and scale 3D spaces worldwide.

Key Takeaways

1. Leveraging AWS Professional Services and cloud-native services like GameLift Streams can enable the rapid development and global deployment of complex metaverse applications.
2. Addressing multi-region scalability and multi-platform accessibility challenges is crucial for delivering a consistent, high-quality metaverse experience.
3. Integrating e-commerce platforms like Amazon can create seamless and immersive shopping experiences within the metaverse, enhancing user engagement.
4. Adopting a modular and standardized approach to metaverse development can facilitate the expansion to new use cases and enable collaboration with partners.