Microsoft trying to develop 300,000 player online game

Microsoft is trying to make history with a new 360 title, it seems – by developing a system that allows for 300,000 players simultaneously.

A job posting released by the firm has called for "an experienced server developer to help develop our server architecture. We are building an extremely high performance system to extend console games to the server in new ways; creating a completely new set of web services to support dynamic programming information of games and scheduling data".

That includes a new gameplay scheduler for Xbox Live – which presumably lets players agree times to meet online – and this new massively multiplayer game.

Requirements for the role include "building a backend capable of hosting a 300,000 player game in real-time with real money on the line (anti-cheating, etc)" the post ing says.

300,000 is a massive number of simultaneous players in real-time. Most MMOs use multiple servers to distribute their higher quantity of players. The only single-server game, EVE Online, has 300,000 players total – but only ever had over 50,000 playing in real-time at once.