Game-Changing Migration: Faster Queries & Unified Data on Databricks
Automated SQL migration delivered 55% faster queries and moved a leading gaming company from Trino to Databricks in just 15 days.
Problem Statement
A leading global gaming company relied on Starburst Trino with data stored as S3 Parquet files to run critical analytics and player insights. As gameplay data grew in volume and complexity, the company faced mounting challenges: infrastructure management, no ACID transactions, and cumbersome schema evolution. Without a unified metadata layer or audit trail, governance remained fragmented, raising risks for data integrity and compliance.
Business teams needed near real-time analytics to make fast, data-driven decisions, but fragmented governance and insufficient visibility slowed time-to-insight down. Engineering teams spend extra hours managing infrastructure costs rather than focusing on development. Staying ahead of player trends and in-game metrics demanded a modern, robust platform.
ChallengesÂ
- Manual scaling limitations with Starburst Trino workloads
- Lack of ACID transactions, causing data consistency risks
- Complex schema evolution and storage optimization overhead
- No unified metadata or audit trail for governance and compliance
- High operational costs and manual effort to maintain pipelines
Our Solution
Syren supported the code and data migration efforts from Starburst to Databricks. We analyzed and converted existing Starburst Trino SQL queries to Databricks SQL syntax using SQLGlot and Regex for automated, high-accuracy translation. Queries were refactored for compatibility with Databricks, with Trino-specific functions replaced by equivalent constructs and custom UDFs where needed.
Large S3 Parquet datasets were converted to Delta Tables, unlocking ACID transactions, time travel, and schema enforcement. We further optimized the tables with partitioning and ZORDER for faster query performance. All tables and business views were onboarded into Unity Catalog for unified governance. To maintain data integrity, we developed automated DDL scripts for any missing objects and created validation scripts comparing hash values of query outputs between Trino and Databricks.
Syren’s migration was completed in just 15 days, fully aligned with the client’s data architecture.
Key Value Delivered
- Automation of query migration reduced manual effort and sped up go-live
- Legacy Parquet storage modernized to Delta format for better performance and reliability, strengthening governance and rollback capabilities.
- Automated validation ensured accuracy of migrated queries, building trust in the new platform.
- Robust governance with Databricks Unity Catalog for simplified metadata management.
Impact
Conclusion
With Syren’s expertise and AI-first approach, the gaming company accelerated its move to Databricks, reduced operational complexity, and set a strong foundation for scalable, insight-driven growth.