From one stack in an investor’s data center to 18 global locations, 4Players’ 25-year journey shows just how far game server and voice chat technology can go.
Founded in 2000, 4Players began as a gaming media and community platform, offering the latest news, reviews and downloads through an online hub that connected gamers across Germany. Over the years, they became one of the country’s most recognized gaming websites, creating a strong base which would support their move into the world of private game server hosting with 4Netplayers in 2003.
In 2021, 4Players made a strategic decision to discontinue its magazine and shift its focus entirely toward software solutions for gamers, gaming studios, and beyond. That same year, the company expanded their offering into the B2B-market and launched ODIN Voice – a real-time voice chat solution supporting not only game studios but also other industries where low-latency communication is essential. And in 2024 came ODIN Fleet, bringing 4Players’ customers managed game server hosting at scale. Phillip Schuster, CEO of 4Players, says these two solutions are often used in tandem by studios and developers.
“If you want to have great voice-chat within your game, you typically also need to have great servers. So it’s a good fit, and they are designed to work well together.”
To power the hardware behind these tools, 4Players needed a partner that would join them along this journey, helping them to evolve beyond providing Europe-based B2C private servers to supplying global B2B services.
When 4Players came onto the scene in 2000, infrastructure looked nothing like it does today.
“The networking landscape was completely different,” says Phillip. “There were no hyperscalers, so we had to build up a server network and do it all ourselves.”
Despite this, they had access to the right resources available that would get them off the ground.
“When we were founded, we were invested in by venture capitalist Freenet AG, who had their own data center. It was huge, and completely overengineered for what Freenet had needed, so we had free capacity. It was like our base; we grew everything out from a stack in that data center.”
Soon enough, 4Players had built a strong foundation of infrastructure expertise within Europe, owning and managing their own systems. But when the time came to expand globally – especially to support their growing B2B ambitions – Phillip and his team knew they needed a provider who could help take them to the next level.
“Gamers deeply care about the hardware they run, and game developers also. Some clients come to us and say, ‘we need to have this specific hardware’. And if we reach out to servers.com, they can deliver that.”
“When we first met [servers.com] in 2019, we were in the process of internationalization. We’ve always had a huge foundation in Europe, but it was during this time frame that we were thinking about needing to go to the US.”
With 25 data centers globally, including 8 in the US, servers.com was already equipped to cater to the needs of 4Players. So, when an opportune meeting happened at Gamescom 2019 between Phillip and servers.com Head of Gaming Jarrod Palmer, the start of a relationship was only around the corner.
It wasn’t long after 4Players’ first deployment of servers.com infrastructure in the US that Phillip realised the two companies complemented each other as partners, not just as provider and customer, meaning the partnership soon grew beyond the US, too.
“We quickly noticed that we share the same values and that you really deliver what we needed, especially in the first place with the US. You were like our backbone for our US business. And then we expanded to Asia, and you were by our side during the Palworld peak.”
In 2024, indie game Palworld took the world by storm. Exploding in popularity overnight, the game achieved a concurrent player count of over 2 million, but behind the scenes it was the 4Players team providing game server hosting and operational support. For a small game expected to see modest traffic, the sudden demand pushed infrastructure to its limits, with servers being spun up around the clock to keep pace. Working with servers.com, 4Players COO Oliver Paul was on the front line, keeping Palworld up and running:
“The demand for the servers was so high - we had ten times the orders of a normal day. servers.com helped us a lot with placing the hardware and filling the demand. Without you, we wouldn’t have managed it.”
4Players soon recognized that reliable support from servers.com was critical. It’s no secret that even the most well-crafted game can lose its audience if players struggle to connect or experience downtime, and poor infrastructure support only heightens that risk. For 4Players and their customers, servers.com quickly eliminated that concern.
“It's about personal connection. When we have discussions with our partners and clients, we try to be as personal and supportive as possible” says Phillip, knowing that the relationships built on personal connection are the ones that matter most when things get tough. “And this is what [servers.com] also do. And I think that makes a difference.”
“You can go to hyperscalers, but you will never, ever talk to anyone. So if you have any issues, you are alone. Or you have to pay huge amounts of money to get some support. And I think – for our business and how we imagine it - that's just the wrong way of doing it.”
However, support was only one part of 4Players’ decision to choose servers.com’s bare metal over hyperscale cloud. Another, Phillip explains, was the customizability that comes with dedicated servers.
“[With the hyperscalers], you have virtual CPUs, so you don't typically know the exact specifications that are behind them. But gamers, they deeply care about the hardware they run, and game developers also. Some clients come to us and say, ‘we need to have this specific hardware’. And if we reach out to servers.com, they can deliver that.”
At servers.com, flexibility runs through everything we do – from the hardware itself to the agreements behind it. Game launches like Palworld’s are impossible to predict; sometimes millions of players show up overnight, sometimes far fewer. So when extra capacity isn’t needed, we simply scale it back, no strings attached – a feature praised by Phillip.
“[servers.com servers] are fast and you don't have to be careful about, ‘Oh God, we signed a 12-month retainer’, these kind of things. That’s just amazing, and we liked it a lot with servers.com. And that sets you apart from the competitors.”
“[For Palworld’s launch] the demand for the servers was so high - we had ten times the orders of a normal day. servers.com helped us a lot with placing the hardware and filling the demand. Without you, we wouldn’t have managed it.”
“Our plan is to grow ODIN Fleet and Voice” explains Phillip. With years of experience and a deeper understanding into their requirements, 4Players has a clear idea of the next steps they need to take.
“Especially in the B2B space, you really need to have reliability services – we have service level agreements. So we are getting into a more mature setup with worldwide locations, and servers.com is one of our backbones in this area.”
What started as a partnership for 4Players’ expansion into the US has developed into a worldwide collaboration, supporting developers and studios across the globe. But more than that, it’s been the journey we’ve taken with 4Players to become a trusted partner; more than just a provider.
From plugging in the hardware to a player loading into a game session at launch, it is the transparency of projects – from all sides – that ensures the support needed to execute.
Gaming Sales Executive Charlie Bowers understands that, above all, the journey to launching a game is a shared effort built on trust, communication and partnership.
“It’s been a huge journey; from being a complement to being a partner, helping us deliver excellent services for our clients.
“[4Players] is setting developers up for success, and we're trying to set you up for success. So, at the end of the day, if we're successful, we're all successful together. And that's all it's about: working closely and knowing what’s best for the customer.”
Thank you to Phillip Schuster and Oliver Paul for sitting down with Charlie Bowers to share the 4Players x servers.com story. You can view the interviews here:
From private game servers to global B2B success | 4Players
4Players: making the shift from B2C to B2B with ODIN Voice Chat
These answers were taken from our interviews with Phillip Schuster during Gamescom 2025, and Oliver Paul at Gamescom 2024
Nathan studied Creative Writing at Bath Spa University, including a six-month Erasmus scheme at Stockholm University in 2020. Outside of work, Nathan is both a film buff and car enthusiast.
