Distributed sample-based game profiling with game metadata and metrics and gaming API platform supporting third-party content

A distributed real-time game hosting system, comprising:

• one or more processors, wherein the distributed real-time game hosting system includes a game server;
• and
• memory coupled to the one or more processors, the memory storing one or more programs configured to be executed by the one or more processors, wherein the programs include a plurality of game applications and a plurality of gaming platform modules that manage the execution of the game applications, the one or more programs including instructions for performing operations comprising:
• obtaining a first game application that includes first gameplay instructions that perform gameplay of the first game application and one or more API calls to host routines that are implemented by the gaming platform modules;
• receiving a first user request to initiate a first gaming session for the first game application;
• in response to the first user request, initiating the first gaming session and managing execution and context of the first gaming session under control of the gaming platform modules;
• and
• managing performance of the first gaming session in accordance with session management routines implemented by the gaming platform modules,
• wherein the first user request to initiate the first gaming session is received at the game server via a first developer interface that is configured to enable users to initiate gaming sessions with one or more game applications, including the first game application, provided by a first developer of the first game application for execution on the game server.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing one or more programs, wherein the programs include a plurality of game applications and a plurality of gaming platform modules that manage execution of the game applications, the one or more programs comprising instructions, which when executed by a distributed real-time game hosting system including a game server, cause the game hosting system to perform operations comprising:

• obtaining a first game application that includes first gameplay instructions that perform gameplay of the first game application and one or more API calls to host routines that are implemented by the gaming platform modules;
• receiving a first user request to initiate a first gaming session for the first game application;
• in response to the first user request, initiating the first gaming session and managing execution and context of the first gaming session under control of the gaming platform modules;
• and
• managing performance of the first gaming session and in accordance with session management routines implemented by the gaming platform modules,
• wherein the first user request to initiate the first gaming session is received at the game server via a first developer interface that is configured to enable users to initiate gaming sessions with one or more game applications, including the first game application, provided by a first developer of the first game application for execution on the game server.

The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim wherein the one or more programs further comprise instructions for:

• while the game server is executing the plurality of game instances:
• generating by a profiling server a game profiling instruction to collect a plurality of data samples for each of a subset of the plurality of game instances, wherein the profiling server is coupled to the game server over one or more wireless communication networks;
• sending the game profiling instruction to the game server by the profiling server;
• in response to the game profiling instruction:
• identifying by a local orchestrator module of the game server the subset of the plurality of game instances according to the game profiling instruction;
• collecting by a collection module of the game server the plurality of data samples associated with each game instance in the identified subset, each of the plurality of data samples including at least game state data and system performance data associated with the one or more synchronous gaming sessions corresponding to the respective game instance;
• and
• sending by the game server the plurality of data samples associated with each game instance in the identified subset to the profiling server;
• and
• providing the plurality of data samples to an analytics server, thereby allowing the analytics server to analyze the plurality of data samples to improve gaming performance and/or user experience associated with the gaming title.