The online gaming industry is one of the fastest to grow, and the market is set to reach $256.97 billion by 2025. Of course, the pandemic that shook the world in 2020 significantly boosted the online gaming sector, and this industry emerged as an important money-maker in the entertainment arena.
Today, gamers offer a lot more than mere entertainment. It is a way to meet and connect with other gamers worldwide, learn essential life skills and lessons, and earn money.
The demands of gamers are simple. They want to protect their privacy, access a more comprehensive library of games and keep their online activities hidden so that their ISPs do not throttle their bandwidth. So you may ask what makes it possible for gamers to achieve their demands, and the answer is VPN.
Some of the Reasons Why Gamers Opt to Use a VPN are:
- Easily access geo-restricted games that might be inaccessible from your home country or when you are traveling. If your game is limited to the USA, you can connect to a USA IP VPN. Is your game limited to Japan? You can connect to a VPN server in that country.
- Enjoy fuss-free access to Steam and other marketplaces when you are traveling abroad. Some game stores might not accept payment if your IP address differs from the country in your profile. You can use VPN to get around this.
- If you have been unjustly banned from your favorite game, you can use VPN to change your IP address and get back in action.
- It offers protection against DDoS attacks. If you love playing competitive games, you will encounter opponent teams using dirty tactics and targeting your IP address with a DDoS attack. Premium VPNs have in-built protection against this.
- VPN masks IP addresses and encrypts data to ensure you can play games online for long hours while staying protected against snoopers and hackers.
- Be able to get your hands on online games that are yet to be released in your country. You can get early access using VPN.
These are some top reasons why gamers prefer using VPNs. Continue reading to learn how to choose a reliable VPN for gaming escapades.
Factors to Consider When Choosing VPN for Gaming
- No data limits or restrictions
Select a VPN service with no data caps, especially if you enjoy playing multiplayer games. Typically, multiplayer games use a lot of data and bandwidth. If there are data caps, you won’t be able to enjoy the game. After using the allotted data, the VPN provider may throttle the speed or suspend your service for the rest of the billing cycle.
Therefore, look for VPN providers that do not provide any data restrictions. This will let you enjoy playing games without getting worked up thinking about the data threshold.
- Lightning fast speed
To some extent, VPNs slow down Internet speed. But most premium providers ensure that the slowdown is negligible by having many high-bandwidth servers.
A fast connection is essential when playing games online because a lot of data is passing between the gaming server and your device.
Faster speed is a requirement for serious gamers, as you cannot enjoy the action if your game keeps freezing or starts reloading in the middle of a battle.
- Broad device compatibility
VPN compatible with several platforms and devices is the best option for gamers. If you want to change the device mid-game, you should not have to pay for another VPN service.
The best solution is to use a VPN that is compatible with consoles, PCs, and mobile devices. Of course, it’ll be a bonus if the service is compatible with PlayStation and Xbox consoles.
- A comprehensive range of server locations
To enjoy a better gaming experience, choose a VPN provider with various server locations across the globe.
More servers mean you might not encounter slow speeds during your game. Also, it will allow you to access more games worldwide.
- Good privacy rating and strong security
Security is the number one concern of Internet users. VPNs have impeccable privacy and security features to help gamers and other Internet users stay safe.
Therefore, choose a VPN using the highly secure AEs 256-bit encryption and OpenVPN protocol so that you can be assured of the safety of your data.
VPN services with a zero-log policy are preferred because they do not record what gamers do online. So you can engage and participate in any game you want, and nobody will know about it.
- Support for P2P connection
Support for P2P connections is essential if you play multiple games. Therefore, the VPN service you choose must offer support for P2P connections so that you can join multiplayer games without a glitch.
- Low ping rates are preferred
Gamers prefer VPN services with a low ping rate. If the ping rate is high, the connection will be slower, and you will have to encounter lags during online gaming.
This is why you must look for VPN services with a lower ping rate to have the best gaming experience.
FAQs on VPN for Gaming
- What should the VPN settings be for gaming?
The default settings will work just fine. Choose the server location, select your game, and start playing.
- Can VPN be used for gaming on PlayStation or Nintendo Switch?
You can use VPN for gaming across multiple platforms and devices, including a computer, laptop, smartphone, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation, Xbox, etc.
- Can VPN be used for streaming games online?
Yes, you can use VPN to live stream games on different platforms, such as Twitch. This will help to keep your online activity hidden and prevent bandwidth throttling.
To sum up, use VPN to take your online gaming experience to the next level and engage in exciting multiplayer battles. It helps maintain gamer security and privacy and lets you access a comprehensive range of games worldwide. In addition, VPNs bypass geo-block restrictions, prevent bandwidth throttling by ISPs and stop DDoS attacks.