Proactive, not reactive: Code Wizards CEO on 24 years of keeping games online

Code Wizards' CEO looks back on 24 years of keeping games online: a smooth launch comes down to proactive troubleshooting, not firefighting after the fact. He boils launch preparation down to 5 key points, including load and soak testing at 120% of expected peak concurrent players and a communication plan covering engineering and the community. AI code generation offers limited help on large-scale systems and closed console platforms, and today is mainly used to speed up experimentation and produce rough-draft art and placeholder dialogue.