Ask HN: Ideas for scaling and monetizing a web game with chaotic usage?

Several months ago I developed a web game for a Twitch streamers to play with their viewers. It was developed for a specific livestream that averages several thousand concurrent viewers. I knew when the stream was going to start so I was able to preemptively scale up the backend.

Since then the game averages a few hundred hits a day with unpredictable massive spikes in traffic when other big streamers play it.

Currently it takes several minutes for the backend to automatically scale up from the typically tiny load. The scaling up process also makes the website really slow/glitchy and it kind of ruins the user experience.

I think this is an ideal use case for serverless tech but the game uses a database and websockets which seems like it will make the serverless path quite complex and costly.

Which brings me to my next problem... How should I monetize this thing? Currently I solicit donations but those only cover a fraction of the cost. I think it would be best to ask the streamers to pay to play but I don't want to discourage them from playing while the game is still growing. Maybe I should just eat the cost while things are scaling up?