Microsoft planning discontinuation of Games for Windows Live service
On top of shutting down the Marketplace for its Games for Windows platform, it appears Microsoft plans on discontinuing the Live service entirely.
On top of shutting down the Marketplace for its Games for Windows platform, it appears Microsoft plans on discontinuing the Live service entirely. Although Microsoft promised the "service will continue to operate as usual," a since deleted Xbox support update mentions a specific shutdown date for the service.
The Age of Empires Online support page noted that "Games for Windows Live will be discontinued on July 1, 2014." After that date, the server will shut down, rendering the game unplayable.
IGN took a screencap of the notice before Microsoft removed it from its website. While it seems likely this was an early look into Microsoft's plans, the company has been known to reverse course on a number of decisions. For now, it appears GFWL is going the way of the dodo--the only question is when.
-
Shacknews
replyAndrew Yoon posted a new article, Microsoft planning discontinuation of Games for Windows Live service.
On top of shutting down the Marketplace for its Games for Windows platform, it appears Microsoft plans on discontinuing the Live service entirely.-
[deleted]
-
Ultra Street Fighter IV PC is going to be Steam-only. I don't know what WBIE is going to do for Arkham City or Arkham Asylum. I imagine that 2K is still too stoked about GTA5 to care about GTA4.
It's a sad position, considering how many GFWL games were released years ago, from developers who can't bother to spend development time to get them off of GFWL (games like Bioshock 2, Bulletstorm, Fallout 3's DLC section, Dead Rising 2). Most of those developers will probably just let the games die off, since they have to worry about getting paid, and therefore focus only on current titles. -
-
-
A comment was made and deleted on the matter; http://chattypics.com/files/xCVlXx5_cv77ga0wdg.png
-
Awesome
-
-
-
-
-
[deleted]
-
-
-
[deleted]
-
-
They better not. I've bought 3 games from them that have GFWL. I haven't even played RE5 yet, now there's the possibility I won't be able to play a game I HAVE A DISC FOR because Microsoft doesn't feel like meeting their obligations.
Capcom needs to address this asap.
-
-
-
-
-
Hmmm since THQ is now defunct, I wonder how Warhammer Dawn of War I and II will fare.
-
They might end up in licensing purgatory unless Sega is able to calm down Games Workshop and work something out. Dawn of War II is already on Steam, though: http://www.shacknews.com/article/57111/dawn-of-war-2-using
-
Wait... sorry; correct that: DoWII: Retribution uses Steam exclusively: http://www.shacknews.com/article/65587/dawn-of-war-retribution-uses
DoWII had some dumb hybrid of Steam and GFWL.
-
-
-
It's this kind of news/rumors that worries me about online all the time, which let's face it is coming eventually, maybe not with this new gen, but surely with the next one. When you buy a game and can't play it anymore because the severs are no longer operational that's a serious issue with the industry, when are gamers going to stand up and say enough is enough? And why does most of the gaming media think this is a good idea?
-
[deleted]
-
At the very least, you can't buy the DLC anymore, because the GFWL Marketplace is getting shut down in 3 days.
-
Strongly rumoured that both Batman titles as well as Bioshock 2 are going GFWL-free soon.
-
-
Will Microsoft not be stripping GFWL from their own PC releases?
I don't have many, but will stuff like Iron Brigade & Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet stop working like the Age of Empires online example come that date next year?
I assume 3rd party publishers like Capcom, Codemasters, 2k / Rockstar, etc will be removing it from their games. At least I hope they do.-
Microsoft Studios already took care of this: they don't release PC games anymore. Halo: Spartan Assault is a Windows 8 RT / Windows Phone 8 app.
As for the games from third-party developers that Microsoft Studios publishes over GFWL, yeah, they have some 'splainin to do. But the answer is most likely going to be "tough shit; we'll let the developers do what they want, on their own dime." -
I think they will provide maintenance level support or night-lighting the service so existing games still work. They just won't expand on the service.
-
[deleted]
-
-
-
-
[deleted]
-
-
Double negative....AHHHH THE HORROR.....!
-
-
-
-
haha people were talking about this last week
http://www.shacknews.com/chatty?id=30652582#item_30652582-
[deleted]
-
He's busy playing with his Kinect.
-
-
-
Great, but does this mean GFWL games will now be unplayable? I sure hope it doesn't become the responsibility of the developers to release updates to make the games playable without GFWL, because I'm sure some of them won't bother :(
Best case scenario, all games will work without any issues but won't have MP support unless the developers decide to switch to steamworks or something.-
But I thought most of GFWL was online check DRM, and GFWL's game saves are locked into profiles that are only accessible when online (...which won't be possible after they shut down the GFWL authentication servers).
This isn't even official yet, but only giving publishers a year before they have to announce whether a bunch of games released from 2007-2011 will even be playable? And for some developers that aren't even around anymore, or haven't worked on the game in years? I imagine we'll hear some (unofficial) pushback.-
I'm sure they can simply decrypt the save files and allow them to be used offline once the GFWL service is removed.
-
-
-
-
About freaking time. GFWL has been a horrible mess for years.
-
it's a good call. GFWL was a sideshow of a service and not the quality people are going to want on their fancy shmancy gaming master race rigs.
-
Somewhere out there, dognose just howled at the moon.
-
Maybe Microsoft might be planning to start from scratch and create their own Steam-like client...? Remember recently the Steam director, Jason Holtman, moved to Microsoft to apparently "make Windows a great platform for gaming." (source: http://au.ign.com/articles/2013/08/14/former-steam-boss-jason-holtman-joins-microsoft). They must be planning something...maybe his plan to simply support steam? lol
-
-
-
No, that's not a replacement. If it's in the Windows 8 App Store, doesn't it need to be runnable on Windows RT, and support touchscreens?
-
[deleted]
-
-
-
-
Even if they are, why would I even consider investing any time or money in it when I know they're capable of pulling the plug on it just as easily as GFWL?
-
-
[deleted]
-
[deleted]
-
-
[deleted]
-
-
-
First they tried to charge for this shit like XLive (fuck you that shit doesn't fly on PC) then it goes FREE(still, fuck you) and now it's going away finally. I'm just concerned about the GFWL games I currently have and still like to play. So glad this nightmare is coming to an end. Microsoft if so out of touch with PC gaming its really embarrassing considering they make the OS of choice for the platform.
-
Trust Microsoft to do the right thing (finally) in the most ultra douchey manner possible.
GFWL has never been anything more than a giant taint ache, and now they're going to fuck people over who still use it to play games they like.
Fuck Microsoft. -
Crying tears of joy right now. Can't believe that piece of shit service stuck around as long as it did. Reiterating what others have said: fuck Microsoft.
-
[deleted]
-
-
[deleted]
-
Logan's Run Difficulty mode unlocked: You have until June 2014 to finish it. There is no sanctuary!
It will be patched out I'm sure.-
[deleted]
-
-
-
[deleted]
-
[deleted]
-
[deleted]
