Setting Up Photon PUN with Azure and Unity

Introduction

In Part 1, we built a real-time multiplayer game using Unity 3D, Azure Cloud, and OAuth authentication.

Now, let’s take a deeper dive into Photon PUN—a powerful multiplayer networking solution—and explore how to integrate it with Azure Cloud.

We’ll cover:

• The history of Photon PUN and where to get it.
• How to sign up and pricing details.
• Adding Photon PUN to Azure for better scalability.

A Brief History of Photon PUN

Photon PUN (Photon Unity Networking) is a real-time multiplayer framework developed by Exit Games. It’s one of the most popular networking solutions for Unity, offering features like:

• Matchmaking & Room Management 🚪
• Lag Compensation & Syncing 🔄
• Cross-Platform Multiplayer Support 📱💻
• Dedicated Cloud Hosting ☁️

Personal Experience With Azure and PUN

I have watched Photon grow up over the years. The first version used was around 2011.
The good news is- compared to then, internet connections have improved since then and the overall experience for players, and developers, have improved quite a bit.

In 2011, we had to “roll our own” security etc.. Usually a website where you have to sign up with user name and password etc.. Things are much easier now, as networking, Azure, and Photon have all improved..

Where to Get Photon PUN

You can find Photon PUN on the Unity Asset Store or directly from Exit Games:

• 📥 Photon PUN on the Unity Asset Store
• 🌍 Photon Engine Website

Step 5: Signing Up for Photon PUN

Before integrating Photon with Azure, let’s set up a Photon account and get our App ID.

5.1 Create a Photon Account

1. Go to the Photon Engine website.
2. Click Sign Up and create a free account.
3. Once logged in, go to the Dashboard.
4. Click Create a New App and select Photon PUN.
5. Copy your App ID—you’ll need it for Unity.

5.2 Understanding Photon Pricing 💰

Photon PUN offers a free tier but has paid plans for scaling:

For large-scale games, Azure integration can help offload server costs. Let’s do that next! 🚀

Step 6: Adding Photon PUN to Azure

Now that we have Photon set up, let’s deploy it to Azure Cloud for better performance and scalability.

6.1 Deploying Photon to an Azure Virtual Machine

Photon’s dedicated server mode lets you host game sessions on Azure Virtual Machines (VMs).

1. Create an Azure VM:

   • Go to Azure Portal.
   • Click Create a resource > Virtual Machine.
   • Select Ubuntu or Windows Server.
   • Choose a Standard D2s v3 (2 vCPU, 8GB RAM) instance.
   • Set up networking (allow TCP/UDP ports 5055-5058 for Photon).
   • Deploy and copy the public IP address.

2. Install Photon Server:

   • Download Photon Server SDK from here.
   • Upload the Photon Server files to your Azure VM.
   • Run the Photon Control Panel and start the server.

3. Connect Photon PUN to Azure:

   • In Unity, go to PhotonServerSettings.
   • Change the Server Type to Self-Hosted.
   • Enter your Azure VM’s public IP as the Photon Server address.
   • Save and test the connection.

6.2 Scaling with Azure App Services

For larger games, you can run Photon in Azure App Services instead of VMs. This enables auto-scaling.

1. Create an Azure Web App:

   • Go to Azure Portal > App Services.
   • Click Create Web App.
   • Choose Windows or Linux.
   • Upload Photon PUN as a service.

2. Enable Auto-Scaling:

   • In the Scale-Out settings, configure automatic scaling.
   • Define rules based on CPU/memory usage.

This setup allows Photon PUN to scale dynamically, ensuring smooth gameplay for thousands of players. 🎯

NOTE
Unity3d is very versatile and can target many platforms. All the techniques here apply to iPhone-iOS, Android , as well as Windows and Mac.

Unity3d has the ability to target web pages- by compiling to web assembly. BUT the caveat is when you are running on a web page, your code can talk back to the server it came from , but cannot make calls out to other domains (cross origin issues).