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Leaderboards and Tournaments FAQ

Following is a list of frequently-asked questions related to Leaderboards and Tournaments.

General

Q: Where can I hold competitions?

Developers can host competitions worldwide in countries/regions where AWS services are available.

Q: How long will it take you to integrate Leaderboards and Tournaments into one of your games?

Designing new game experiences takes time, but developers have told us that the Leaderboards and Tournaments integration itself can be done in less than 2 weeks.

Q: How does Leaderboards and Tournaments handle time zones?

Internally, the Leaderboards and Tournaments system stores dates and times using the UTC time zone. In the administrative console, Leaderboards and Tournaments displays dates and times in your local time zone. You also enter dates and times using your local time zone.

In the Leaderboards and Tournaments APIs, start and end dates/times are encoded as Linux timestamps. Your app can decode these timestamps into a day/time notation in your local time zone.

Compatibility

Q: What games can be used for Leaderboards and Tournaments?

Any game or app can use Leaderboards and Tournaments.

Q: What if my game already has PvP or other competitive features?

Leaderboards and Tournaments is a great compliment to PvP and competitive games as it allows developers to build on their competitive experience by introducing tournament features and user-generated competitions.

Q: Can I integrate Leaderboards and Tournaments into a console game on PS4 and/or Xbox?
Any game or app on any platform can use Leaderboards and Tournaments, including mobile, console, PC, and voice. Leaderboards and Tournaments is platform-agnostic, so players can compete across all platforms in the same competitions. Tactical Monsters and Shaq Fu are examples of games that are already live on Xbox.
Q: I have a HTML5 game. Can I use Leaderboards and Tournaments?

Yes, you can invoke the methods in Game API from your browser-based game because they are CORS (Cross-Origin Resource Sharing) enabled. However, please note the following:

  • Only the following headers are supported for CORS requests: Authorization, Cache-Control, Content-Type, Session-Id, X-Amz-Date, X-Amz-Security-Token, X-Api-Key.
  • Access-Control-Allow-Credentials is intentionally not enabled because none of the Game API methods accept or return "credentials". Please do not set XMLHttpRequest.withCredentials property or the credentials option in the Request() constructor of the Fetch API.

Game Options

Q: How do visibility and entry requirements work?

Leaderboards and Tournaments gives developers the flexibility to group players in the way that works best for their game. Developers can simply define the attributes they’d like to use to filter which customers should be able to see a competition, and which should be able to enter. Attributes include, but are not limited to, the player’s location, device type, character level, type of character/car/deck they have equipped, possession of a specific consumable item, highest score, etc.

Q: What scores show up on the leaderboard?
The score that shows up on the leaderboard is set by the tournament organizer using the Leaderboards and Tournaments Console or the Leaderboards and Tournaments Tournament Organizer on Twitch. A game can support the default score value or a list of game stats. Tournament organizers can choose a leaderboard stat from this list when they create a tournament. For example, a game can provide a score value or pass in-game stats such as Points, Kills, Wins, or Coins. The tournament organizer can choose one of these as the leaderboard stat. Values of this stat determine player ranking on the leaderboard.

Tournament Organizer

Q: What is the Leaderboards and Tournaments Tournament Organizer?
Leaderboards and Tournaments Tournament Organizer is a Twitch extension that allows Twitch broadcasters to create tournaments for their viewers for Leaderboards and Tournaments-integrated games directly from their Twitch channel.
Q: Do I have to pay for plays from tournaments hosted by Twitch Streamers in the Leaderboards and Tournaments Tournament Organizer?
Game developers are responsible for paying for game plays. Each developer account receives 35,000 free plays per month (for the first 6 months) across all apps. Developers can also limit activity from the Leaderboards and Tournaments tournament organizer by restricting access to Twitch broadcasters on the allow list and/or defining tournament-level limits such as max duration, attempts per player, and players per tournament.

Billing

Q: Is there a “free tier” for Amazon Leaderboards and Tournaments services?
Each developer account receives 35,000 free plays per month (for the first 6 months) across all apps. For more information, see Leaderboards and Tournaments Pricing.
Q: Why are you using AWS for billing?
AWS has world-class tools to pay your AWS bill (including Leaderboards and Tournaments charges), monitor your usage, and budget your costs.
Q: Am I required to have an AWS account?
Yes. You'll need an AWS account, and you need to link an AWS account to each Leaderboards and Tournaments game for billing.
Q: What if I have a problem with account linking?
Contact Appstore support.
Q: What if I have a problem with my AWS account or my bill?
Contact AWS support.