You just haven't found your game yet

A while ago I was talking to my mom about gaming, and I told her: if you don't like gaming, you just haven't found your game yet.

She decided to give it a shot. Tried a few things. Nothing really clicked.

Until she played Elden Ring.

Now when I visit her there are moments where I walk in and hear "HOLD ON, BOSS FIGHT!", and she leans forward towards the screen like only a gamer can.

Gaming for everyone

My love for gaming started early. World of Warcraft, RuneScape, shooters like Call of Duty. Those games gave me experiences and memories that have stuck with me for years, and I genuinely wish everyone could have that.

That's one of the reasons I'm so passionate about Walter. It gives people who never really had the chance to get into gaming a way in, without having to spend heavily on hardware first.

Gaming is getting expensive

Hardware isn't getting any cheaper. Building a capable gaming PC is still a serious investment, and even older hardware and consoles carry surprisingly high prices.

We don't particularly like that.

So instead of sitting on the sidelines, we're building an alternative. Walter runs on its own network, powered by gamers for gamers. If you want to know more about how that works, have a look at the about page.

What we worked on this month

The goal was simple: collect as much useful data as we could, then use it to get more devices connecting and more sessions staying up. We expanded the test suite around browser compatibility and connection stability.

To everyone who has already played on the network, thank you. We've seen everything from sessions that lasted a couple of minutes to players who stayed connected for eight hours straight.

And the testing is already paying off. From the data we found that some browsers were using codec configurations our current stack didn't properly support. Because of the sessions you played, we could pin down the issue, push a hotfix, and increase the number of devices that connect successfully.

If you haven't played yet, go and try the alpha. If your experience is good, perfect. If it's bad, tell us. We're in alpha for a reason, and finding the things that don't work is worth just as much as finding the things that do.

Why only three games

Right now we only support three games on the alpha network, and there's a reason for that.

Every game produces its own telemetry. In plain terms, we're looking at how different games behave under different conditions, mapping those behaviours, and using the patterns to work out how each type of game should be handled by the network.

I'm oversimplifying, but the end goal is straightforward: the stream keeps up with your hands. Not on every connection yet. That is what the alpha is for.

Once we can reliably recognise and handle those patterns, we'll start opening up the library. Not on a date and not on a number. A game goes on when it holds up.

What you can play right now

Counter-Strike 2, still one of the best tests of how twitchy your aim really is.

Marvel Rivals, a hero shooter that plays completely differently depending on who you pick. Personally, I'm taking Punisher every day of the week.

And Warframe, if you want a bigger world with a story and a progression system to sink into.

Three very different games, and that's deliberate.

What's coming next

Besides the network itself, we're working on a dedicated Walter app. We want it on desktop, Android, iOS and most smart TVs, so that using Walter gets a lot easier.

What we're after is simple. Come home after a long day, drop onto the couch, turn on the TV, open Walter, play.

The app also lets us add the small things that make a difference: easier controller support, instant launching, less friction all round. Gaming shouldn't need a ritual before you can actually start gaming.

How you can help

Play. That's genuinely the most useful thing you can do.

At the end of a session, rate it. It takes two taps, and it tells us how that session actually performed.

And be brutally honest. We're in alpha. Plenty still needs improving, and pretending otherwise wouldn't help anyone. If something feels bad, breaks, stutters, looks strange or just annoys you, tell us.

Who better to help build a gaming platform than gamers from every genre?