GameSpy Dying in the water

[silvaril]

Heya

Just a note for folks that like to Multiplay older games:

Over the last month, both game publishers and gaming communities alike were surprised to find their GameSpy multiplayer support suddenly disabled by GLU Mobile, who purchased GameSpy from IGN this August. Many games, including Neverwinter Nights 1 & 2, Microsoft Flight Simulator X, Swat 4, Sniper Elite, Hidden and Dangerous 2, Wings of War, Star Wars: Battlefront are no longer able to find (and in some cases even host) multiplayer games. While games like Neverwinter Nights are still able to directly connect to servers if players know the IP address, less-fortunate gamers expressed outrage on GLU Mobile's 'Powered by GameSpy' Facebook page. In an open letter to their Sniper Elite gaming community today, UK game developer Rebellion explained it was helpless to change the situation: A few weeks ago, the online multiplayer servers for Sniper Elite were suddenly switched off by Glu, the third-party service we had been paying to maintain them. This decision by Glu was not taken in consultation with us and was beyond our control. We have been talking to them since to try and get the servers turned back on. We have been informed that in order to do so would cost us tens of thousands of pounds a year — far in excess of how much we were paying previously. We also do not have the option to take the multiplayer to a different provider. Because the game relies on Glu and Gamespy's middleware, the entire multiplayer aspect of the game would have to be redeveloped by us, again, at the cost of many tens of thousands of pounds.

Link to SlashDot:
http://games.slashdot.org/story/12/12/0 ... ut-warning" target="_blank

Here following a list of games I know to be affected:

• Hidden and Dangerous 2
  Microsoft Flight Simulator X
  Neverwinter Nights 1 & 2
  Sniper Elite
  Star Wars: Battlefront
  Swat 4
  Sword of the Stars
  Wings of War

[Isgrimnur]

Pretty crappy. At least EA gives people advanced notice.

[silverjon]

Everything GameSpy has been fooked for years, basically a slow death spiral. IGN killed off ForumPlanet a few months ago, also because it would cost too much to keep the system online.

[silvaril]

Heya

Most insightful comment I've seen thus far:

Use steam and things like this can be avoided. I think GFWL was in existence even back then, so even that piece of crap could have been used and probably gotten a kickback from MS.

Until 5 years ago, Gamespy was where Steam is today when it comes to multiplayer server backend services. Gamespy's master server had extremely high availability, scaled well into the hundreds of thousands of simultaneous clients, and their SDK was simple and easy to integrate into most games. When games like Sniper Elite were made, this was by far the best choice for a 3rd party server browser backend.

Furthermore at the time the idea of Gamespy changing hands was right up there with Gabe selling Valve. It just wasn't on the radar - there was no reason for Gamespy's owners to ever do it as the server backend service always turned a reasonable profit.

Of course in 2012 Gamespy isn't used nearly as much as it was back then. The core technology is sound, but it's archaic; it was designed in the era of Quake, optimized for arena shooter style dedicated servers, complete with heartbeats and people browsing lists of servers to find what they're looking for. It never properly evolved to handle P2P matchmaking (a something foisted on to PC users by console ports), and the lack of ancillary services (chat, etc) only widen the gap. Steamworks has effectively supplanted Gamespy in this day and age due to the combination of services Steam can offer and the vastly superior P2P matchmaking. Or to put that another way, with game companies doing so few native PC games and so many PC ports, these days they wanted a service that closely emulated Live/PSN to ease the porting, and that's something Gamespy couldn't do as well as Steam.

At this point Glu is straight up trying to extort game developers. Before the sale the going rate on something like Sniper Elite would be in the 4 digits; with the common Gamespy API and relatively few users, the load was minimal and Gamespy didn't need to do anything special to support the game. By charging tens of thousands of pounds Glu is trying to maximize their profits and milk everyone dry by charging rates many times the cost of providing the service. If they want tens of thousands of pounds for Snipe Elite, I can only imagine what they're charging EA for the earlier Battlefield games, which are far more active.

In any case, this is a shameful end to the Gamespy service. While it hasn't been relevant for new games for some time, it deserved better than to go out like this, with a vulture gaming company shaking down developers for every last cent they can get.

There will be no disruption in service to GameSpy's current customers and contracts as a result of this acquisition by Glu.

If rebellion has a contract about the service they could probably sue to get it back on, especially since they can show they said publicly it wouldn't change.

The deals developers made with Gamespy depended on the developer, but from what I understand they'd sign a multi-year contract to cover the first couple of years of the game (when it would be the busiest) before reverting to a year-to-year basis. As usage for any given game dwindled, Gamespy kept their rates low, which meant even for a small number of users it was practically pocket change to keep paying Gamespy to continue supporting the game. Most likely Rebellion's 2012 contract has expired, and they are unwilling to pay Glu's rates for the next year. So there would be nothing to sue over; the contract ended and then Glu jacked up the rates immensely.

[Zarathud]

This experience might encourage larger developers to pay more attention to the sale of technology their games depend upon.

[GreenGoo]

This experience might encourage larger developers to pay more attention to the sale of technology their games depend upon.

Maybe, but it's hard to imagine games going back to relying on lan multiplay and direct connections between clients. And no one would want that anyway, because it's a complete pain in the ass compared to Steam and other competent services of this nature (i.e. not Games for Windows Live). Hell, we play a Blizzard game but use Steam for our voice comm, two completely unrelated technologies. We might be able to go back to xfire (or whatever it was called), but most people aren't going to be happy about it.

Which means we're going to be in this situation for some time to come. People have how much invested in their Steam accounts and while not an identical situation, it's just as susceptible to this kind of fall out. Except with Steam it's both the Developers and Gamers who are vulnerable.

Not sure how the Gamespy situation could be prevented in the future. If anything, we're at more risk now than we were with Gamespy.

[NickAragua]

I remember finding out that Borderlands multiplayer was powered by Gamespy. I chuckled a little, having forgotten that Gamespy even existed any more. Then, it had a lot of trouble connecting me to people I was trying to play with.

I don't know, maybe it's because I don't play Quake (the original) any more, but does anybody actually give a rat's ass?

Not sure how the Gamespy situation could be prevented in the future. If anything, we're at more risk now than we were with Gamespy.

If Steam shuts down, I consider that it will be mildly inconvenient rather than fatal. As long as I have a week or two notice, all I need to do is grab a fresh 1TB hard drive, install Steam on that, download my entire library, and then permanently go into offline mode before they shut down. Now I can play my Steam games as much as I want, except for the multiplayer parts that rely on Steam for matchmaking. Which is not a problem for me, since I very rarely play multiplayer games (especially ones that require matchmaking - I do coop with people I know, by explicit arrangement, and that can be done via direct IP).

[silverjon]

I don't know, maybe it's because I don't play Quake (the original) any more, but does anybody actually give a rat's ass?

People who used to whine on Planet Baldur's Gate (pre-shutdown, obviously) about not being able to find anyone to play multiplayer Baldur's Gate with, and not being able to connect even if they did. Nevermind that it's a game very poorly suited to multiplaying with random strangers.

This did not constitute a large number of people. I'm just saying they did exist.

[Kelric]

If Steam shuts down, I consider that it will be mildly inconvenient rather than fatal.

How many millions of others will consider it fatal, though? Without several weeks notice, I certainly would. And if I got several weeks notice, most other Steam users would, too. Which means I really would need months to DL and save my games in offline mode as everyone else would be doing so as well.

[D.A.Lewis]

If Steam shuts down, I consider that it will be mildly inconvenient rather than fatal.

How many millions of others will consider it fatal, though? Without several weeks notice, I certainly would. And if I got several weeks notice, most other Steam users would, too. Which means I really would need months to DL and save my games in offline mode as everyone else would be doing so as well.

So perhaps we should start now????

Seriously, 1TB drives run about 90 bucks. I think I have a relatively small steam library of only only 35 games. We'll be the first computer game survivalists . . .

[Zarathud]

If Steam shuts down, PC gaming is dead.

[Freezer-TPF-]

If Steam shuts down, PC gaming is dead.

When Steam shuts down, I'll probably be gaming exclusively in my holodeck or V-World anyway.

[GreenGoo]

If Steam shuts down, PC gaming is dead.

Maybe the future of PC gaming (although I don't consider that a given, at all) but the past certainly wouldn't be. Or shouldn't be, and that's what we're talking about here. Lost access to games we supposedly already possess, not the ability to buy new games.

[LawBeefaroni]

If Steam shuts down, PC gaming is dead.

Steam box, folks, Steam box. Steam could "kill" "PC" gaming without shutting down at all. It could also kill consoles at the same time.

[Paingod]

I have come to rely heavily on Steam, having purchased one physical title in three years - and that one requiring Steam to activate it.

Given the broad spectrum of games and methods of use, I don't expect it will flounder short of extreme negligence by ownership... or if it gets bought out by another company that handles it poorly.

I don't, however, expect it to last forever and will eagerly search for and use any and all methods to spoof the service in order to keep my games running in the event that Steam actually dies. I know there's the magical "Offline Mode" but don't know how many games can survive like that. I'd also have to take an image of my computer with the Steam games all installed and keep that image safe and sound for the remainder of my gaming lifespan - else lose my trove.

GameSpy, though - I never used it and was always irritated that it kept wanting to run and connect to the internet despite my complete lack of desire to play against other people. Won't bother me to see it go.