Man vs Machine Breaks Record: 999 Simultaneous Players

MuchDifferent was just one player shy from its original 1000-player goal, but landed in the Guinness World Records Gamer Edition nonetheless.

A 10am EST on Sunday, MuchDifferent set a new world record for having 999 players battle simultaneously on a single multiplayer map, just one player shy of the company's 1000 goal. The previous record-holder was Sony's PlanetSide which saw 399 players participate in a battle within the same zone.

"The world record number has been confirmed by an independent expert who was observing the game as it was taking place," MuchDifferent announced at the conclusion of the Guinness event. "Confirmation from the Guinness World Records Gamer Edition will take a few more days, but we are supremely confident that our world record will be included in their next edition."

According to MuchDifferent, more than 1000 players were trying to sign into Man Vs. Machine simultaneously, but only 999 players were able to get in at any one moment. That said, for those who signed up and weren't able to attend -- it's not your fault the 1000-player goal wasn't reached.

"At 16.04.29 CET, Man was winning the battle against Machine as 999 people were part of a new world record," the company said. "About a second later, our server choked on the enormous number of people trying to get in to the game. We were receiving a far higher number of requests than we were expecting."

"But the server was restarted and during the next hour and a half we were averaging somewhere around 980 players at any given moment," the company added. "Proving that PikkoServer can take the strain and deliver an entirely new multiplayer experience never seen before."

This is certainly good news for developers seeking to create a FPS of large-scale multiplayer proportions. PikkoServer, the server and network technology behind Sunday's Man Vs. Machine demo, will be offered to studios at a later date. MuchDifferent will likely take the data it acquired from the recent FPS-based "test" and make the necessary tweaks to provide a more stable solution... and maybe even achieve the 1000-player goal after all.