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Google PCA Practice Question: A gaming company needs to store player session…
A gaming company needs to store player session data that is frequently updated and requires strong consistency within a single region. The data model is simple key-value with few attributes. They expect up to 1 million concurrent players, each performing 10 writes per second. Which database is most suitable?
⚠ Common exam trap
PCA often tests the distinction between Bigtable (high-throughput, single-row strong consistency, NoSQL) and Firestore (document store with per-document write limits), causing candidates to pick Firestore for 'NoSQL key-value' scenarios.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Cloud Bigtable
Cloud Bigtable is a fully managed, high-throughput, low-latency NoSQL wide-column store designed for massive-scale workloads with simple key-value access patterns. It scales linearly to handle millions of operations per second and provides strong consistency for single-row reads/writes within a region, matching the gaming session use case. Its row-key design supports the 10 writes/sec per player at 1M concurrent players without the relational overhead of Cloud SQL.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Cloud SQL
Why it's wrong here
Cloud SQL is a relational engine whose single-primary write path and vertical scaling cannot absorb 10 million writes per second, and its schema model does not match simple key-value access. It would be the right choice for transactional workloads needing joins, foreign keys and multi-row ACID transactions rather than session key-value data.
- ✗
Firestore
Why it's wrong here
Firestore's multi-region and regional configurations use eventual consistency for many query patterns, and its per-document write throughput limits cannot sustain 10 million writes per second. It suits mobile and web app synchronisation with modest write rates, not a high-velocity session store demanding strong single-region consistency.
- ✓
Cloud Bigtable
Why this is correct
Cloud Bigtable delivers high-throughput, low-latency reads and writes for simple key-value data, scaling linearly to millions of operations per second. Its single-cluster routing provides strong consistency within one region, satisfying the gaming company's 10 million writes per second and simple-schema constraints.
- ✗
Memorystore
Why it's wrong here
Memorystore is an in-memory cache layer, not a durable database, so session data would be lost on eviction, failover or restart, and it does not provide the durable strong consistency the stem requires. It is the right choice for sub-millisecond caching or ephemeral session lookups in front of a persistent store.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Data Migration and Transfer Services
Key term
Throughput
Throughput is the rate at which data is successfully transferred from one point to another over a network, typically measured in bits per second.
Key term
Column
A column is a vertical set of values in a database table that stores one specific type of attribute for every row.
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Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official Google Cloud exam blueprint
This PCA practice question is part of Courseiva's free Google Cloud certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the PCA exam.