Third Party Playfab or Playfab with Photon or Mirror? so much to choose

Hello,

So i have been researching and actually did my first login using Playfab, however it seems that Playfab might not be able to make a lobby or waiting room, which would be the next step in my game creation.

So i am hoping there is a service or API with all the bells and whistles, I have checked PUN 2, and i dont see it having authentication, but has everything else (match making, lobby, chat etc.), I also checked Mirror, but doesnt seem to have authentication either, so wondering what everyone went with, or maybe they mixed Playfab + Photon or Playfab + Mirror OOOR Firebase with .. is there maybe a one API does all? or maybe just make my own authentication? what is everyones thoughts and input?

 

PlayFab is great, and free up to a certain usage threshold - I'd recommend using it unless you want to self host another solution (which comes with many headaches such as scalability and security).

PlayFab + PUN is a good combination, and easy to setup with good tutorials. I came across a few smaller services which offer both player data storage and real time communication, but after some research decided that none were as reliable and easy to setup as these two.

Mirror (or MLAPI, recently acquired by Unity) is another good option which you can integrate with PlayFab, but the big differentiator to PUN is that you need to self host with these. Once you account for servers in multiple regions it gets expensive if you don't know how popular your game is going to be! They also work P2P, but then you will have to solve NAT problems and host migration - PUN alleviates all of this for you by being a relay through a server for you, removing NAT problems and with automatic host migration. That said you still need to do some work if you are using their 'Master Client'.

I've been jumping between solutions for the last 6 months, and have settled on PF + PUN 2. It really is one of the easiest, most scalable solutions for smaller games and does a lot for you. Just remember it's client sided through a relay which makes cheating hard to deal with, but there are methods of detecting cheating and banning the player later through PlayFab.