GameSpy Says Publishers Didn't Pay the Multiplayer Bills

[Greg Tito]

GameSpy Says Publishers Didn't Pay the Multiplayer Bills

The servers shut down this week because publishers stopped paying for GameSpy's services.

On Monday, gamers discovered many of their favorite titles' multiplayer functions were no longer working. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/121009-GameSpys-New-Owner-Shuts-Down-Classic-Multiplayer] A flood of complaints were posted on GameSpy's Facebook page about the lack of warning and accused GameSpy's new owners (Glu Mobile) with possible extortion by holding the support for many older games like Neverwinter Nights 1 and 2, Star Wars: Battlefront, and Sniper Elite hostage. GameSpy responded to the allegations by posting a statement which claimed that game publishers had lapsed in paying the service fees charged to continue multiplayer support. GameSpy kept the servers going for as long as they could, but the company could no longer provide services without publishers paying the bills.

"GameSpy Technologies - a separate entity from GameSpy.com - is a service provider to game publishers. Each publisher contracting with GameSpy Technologies elects at its sole discretion whether or not to maintain support for its titles," the statement read.

"A number of our publisher partners elected to allow their contracts for GameSpy Technologies' services to lapse by not continuing to pay for these services. In some cases this lapsing ranges back as much as four years. GameSpy Technologies has continued to provide months, and in some cases years, of service support for free. However we cannot be expected to provide a service free of charge to publishers who choose not to renew their service agreements and in some cases remain delinquent in delivering payment for past services."

It is kind of crazy that these games still continued to have support when the publishers refused to pay - Four years! Egads. - and there's nothing wrong with GameSpy shutting down the service if publishers can't be bothered to keep the lights on.

"The situation is identical to fans attributing fault to the hosting company of a popular website for ceasing hosting services, when the website owner refuses to pay its hosting bill," the statement reads.

When you put it like that, it's kind of hard to blame GameSpy. It seems like they kept the faith by allowing publishers a long leash and the company just won't let those delinquents get away without paying anymore.

Source: GameSpy's Facebook page [https://www.facebook.com/gamespytech/posts/10152118921128475]

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[Charli]

Fawk, FOUR years? Ouch. Yeah I feel bad for the people who's online experiences have been yanked out from underneath them but this is a screaming fit for the publisher/developers ears. Not GameSpy.

Christ most servers yank the rug out from underneath people if they don't pay the day BEFORE it's due.

 

[Matt K]

To be fair though, considering how long it's been, it would have been nice if they'd at least give users a heads up about them pulling the plug.

 

[RicoADF]

that doesn't add up, if its over unpaid bills then why did they wait (some as long as 4 years) to disconnect an unpaid service?

 

[jollybarracuda]

A little hard to tell who's to blame now. First the devs say that they were just caught off guard and told to keep the servers running would costs thousands of dollars, and now the publisher is saying that the devs werent even paying. Just seems like two sides of an argument tossing in polarizing views to get the majority to disapprove of one or the other. Well I guess I set up camp right in the middle and say "Battlefront is amazing".

 

[Flames66]

What? awwww. >_>
Looks like no more Republic commando online then.

People played Republic Commando Online?

 

[Gather]

A little hard to tell who's to blame now. First the devs say that they were just caught off guard and told to keep the servers running would costs thousands of dollars, and now the publisher is saying that the devs werent even paying. Just seems like two sides of an argument tossing in polarizing views to get the majority to disapprove of one or the other. Well I guess I set up camp right in the middle and say "Battlefront is amazing".

It isn't too hard to believe both sides of the story are true. It depends on the type server hosting they offered to the developers.

 

[Reaper195]

At first, I was all "Well, why not just keep the servers up and threaten the publishers that you will shut them down on a specific date?". Then I read the four years part. "Well...good guys, you be."

 

[CardinalPiggles]

I get the feeling GameSpy didn't address the "tens of thousands of dollars" claim because that part is true.

Them leaving the servers on for longer doesn't negate the outrageous prices, they were most likely waiting to see if publishers were willing to pay before switching them off.

 

[Easton Dark]

Gamespy has to have the worst service ever anyway. I wouldn't pay for them if I was a publisher. I'd let the players make their own dedicated servers and have it be so many times better than Gamespy.

 

[Frostbite3789]

that doesn't add up, if its over unpaid bills then why did they wait (some as long as 4 years) to disconnect an unpaid service?

It adds up fine when you take into account they were recently acquired by a different company. These servers were probably cost next to nothing to run. So under the old regime, it wasn't a big deal.

When a new company takes over they're going to want to cut off the excess like this. No reason to keep them running, even if the cost is low if all it's doing is draining money from you.

 

[ResonanceSD]

Hell, I wouldn't have kept it up for four MONTHS if I was owed money by publishers. Good Guy GameSpy.

 

[marurder]

Why did they keep this quiet for four years though!? Surely they could have done some PR earlier to get pressure on the companies to pay up.

 

[Somethingfake]

gamespy, I wouldn't pay for a non existent service likes yours either.

 

[Another]

http://www.vg247.com/2012/12/10/gamespy-server-shut-downs-rebellion-head-responds/

Sounds to me like the new owners jacked up the price to run a server and shut off older titles without a fair warning to the devs. Because according to Rebellion they were paying "a modest annual amount".

 

[bificommander]

So remember all: Who needs obsolete things like LAN support in their games. You can just play your new games online whenever we bother to maintain it you want.

 

[RicoADF]

that doesn't add up, if its over unpaid bills then why did they wait (some as long as 4 years) to disconnect an unpaid service?

It adds up fine when you take into account they were recently acquired by a different company. These servers were probably cost next to nothing to run. So under the old regime, it wasn't a big deal.

When a new company takes over they're going to want to cut off the excess like this. No reason to keep them running, even if the cost is low if all it's doing is draining money from you.

True, although the low drain would be worth the price vs such bad PR for gamers losing their mp, the player doesn't care about the back story.