Games for Windows Live Closing Next Year: Rumor

[Matthi205]

Finally, halfway decent XBox ports.

On another note, what the hell was GFWL good for at all? I've only ever experienced it as an unnecessary nuisance when I just wanted to play a game.

I'm not entirely sure on the issue, but I guess GFWL wasn't really DRM at any point in its existence, which means t hat most games should continue to work as they did before. Plus, you know, The Pirate Bay (.sx now) and isohunt (.com, .ca) still exist, so you can probably find a working executable to play your games should they ever cease to work.

 

[Seydaman]

"You can continue to enjoy all the features of Age of Empires Online as the service will remain 100% operational until July 1, 2014 when the server will shut down."

This would seem to imply that Dark Souls Prepare to Die mulitplayer will end on July 1, 2014 as it also uses GFWL.

This was my only reaction to this story also.

Exactly the same.

Well, we'll maybe have DS2 by then, right?

Otherwise, not that sad to see it go, was/is shit anyway.

 

[Seydaman]

So my old GFWL games won't be operational?

My Viva Pinata won't be operational? That's what I play when I need to relax for a while.

Can microsoft fuck up any more? Seriously?

It'll still function in single-player, but GFWL was the essential "Server" for multiplayer activities, so it just means no MP.

 

[Seydaman]

So my old GFWL games won't be operational?

My Viva Pinata won't be operational? That's what I play when I need to relax for a while.

Can microsoft fuck up any more? Seriously?

It'll still function in single-player, but GFWL was the essential "Server" for multiplayer activities, so it just means no MP.

yeah but I would need saving. Its one of those games that put saving behind a login wall.

I would hate to try to find a crack for it after 2014, because obscure games like this is virus city.

I think you'll have more trouble finding a crack in the first place. I didn't even know Viva Pinata HAD a PC release.

But I think you can actually just make an offline account. Cloud saves are something else entirely, no idea if you can get local saves...

 

[Irridium]

Wonder if this means my games that use GFWL will be bricked when it ends. Oh goodie, July 1 2014 will be a fun day...

Am I no longer going to be able to play GTAIV, Fallout 3/New Vegas...

New Vegas doesn't even use GFWL :/

But I totally agree, I have a few GFWL games that I still play from time to time, like FO3, Dirt 2, Dawn of War 2 and most importantly, Dark Souls. Does this mean only the multiplayer will die?*, how could we access those games when the service goes kaput?. I know there'll be some cracks and whatnot, but I still want to know what are they going to do about it.

[small]*Fun fact, Halo 2 PC still has many players on MP.[/small]

My mistake, I thought it did because FO3 had it, haven't played NV for awhile. I am going to be sad though if I can't get my Dark Souls saves stored locally, it's a game I've been wanting to play through for a while now, just have barely had any free time.

Fallout 3 also has a mod that removes GFWL from the game, so it'll be fine.

 

[WhiteTigerShiro]

Translation: I have a little under a year to grind-up Fallout 3 and Bioshock 2 to 100% completion, or they will be forever locked at their current progress. Hm... Fallout 3 shouldn't be too hard, since I mostly just have some alignment-based levels to get, but Bioshock 2 will take a little more doing since I haven't even actually finished the game, let alone figured out what I need to do for 100%.

Edit: Oh shoot! And Bioshock 2 has those stupid multiplayer achievements. I honestly don't even know if people even play that anymore. :/

 

[Saviordd1]

And here I thought I'd never get to use this video.

Translation: I have a little under a year to grind-up Fallout 3 and Bioshock 2 to 100% completion, or they will be forever locked at their current progress. Hm... Fallout 3 shouldn't be too hard, since I mostly just have some alignment-based levels to get, but Bioshock 2 will take a little more doing since I haven't even actually finished the game, let alone figured out what I need to do for 100%.

Edit: Oh shoot! And Bioshock 2 has those stupid multiplayer achievements. I honestly don't even know if people even play that anymore. :/

There's easy ways to get around GFWL, I know if you use FOSE and the mod manager Fallout 3 doesn't even remember it has GFWL.

 

[WhiteTigerShiro]

And here I thought I'd never get to use this video.

Translation: I have a little under a year to grind-up Fallout 3 and Bioshock 2 to 100% completion, or they will be forever locked at their current progress. Hm... Fallout 3 shouldn't be too hard, since I mostly just have some alignment-based levels to get, but Bioshock 2 will take a little more doing since I haven't even actually finished the game, let alone figured out what I need to do for 100%.

Edit: Oh shoot! And Bioshock 2 has those stupid multiplayer achievements. I honestly don't even know if people even play that anymore. :/

There's easy ways to get around GFWL, I know if you use FOSE and the mod manager Fallout 3 doesn't even remember it has GFWL.

That's not really my concern so-much as making sure to get 100% achievements before it's locked-out. I have a bad mix of OCD and completionism, so it'll bug me every time I check my Live achievements and see FO3 and BS2 sitting there incomplete, and knowing that I can never fix that.

 

[Bat Vader]

Hopefully if this happens Microsoft or the people that developed the games patch out GFWL from all the games that have it.

I have a bad feeling that Microsoft may just say deal with it when this happens and all my GFWL games don't work anymore.

 

[major_chaos]

"You can continue to enjoy all the features of Age of Empires Online as the service will remain 100% operational until July 1, 2014 when the server will shut down."

This would seem to imply that Dark Souls Prepare to Die mulitplayer will end on July 1, 2014 as it also uses GFWL.

Well that is just tragic, why with no multiplayer I might actually be able to go human form in the burg/parish without getting instantly invaded by a low SL dickwraith with +15 gear and a maxed out pyro flame, and that would just be awful /sarcasm

OT: As long as the games that used GFWL continue to work in single player, I'll call this good news. For all the hate people fling at origin, in my experiencing it actually works 99% of the time, which is more than I can say for GFWL. Although this will probably make it so you can't get achievements anymore, which is a little bit disappointing, but also totally worth it if it means the worst digital distribution platform ever made will just go away.

 

[Icehearted]

Oh, Andy. Calling it a "service" is a disservice to actual things that offer a service. I know, not your word per se, I just find that phrasing ironic... and not the humorous kind of ironic.

If this is true, it has been a long, long, very long, very slow death. Like Microsoft fun bucks, I won't be sorry when this is gone. I don't even care if this renders my GFWL games useless, I just want it gone, dead, quartered, burned, and scattered into the winds.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

If my copy of Dawn of War 2 ends up getting bricked because of this, I'll be pissed. I can't stand needing to log into GFWL just to play the singleplayer, and if they shut it down and lock me out, I'll be even angrier. Why use the damn thing in the first place?

 

[Caiphus]

If this is true, why did they bring on that ex-Steam boss? Holtman, I think his name was. Seems odd to hire new blood if the plan is to shut down the entire service in the medium term.

 

[Grabehn]

This just follows through with the "Microsoft doesn't want gaming on PC. But in my opinion, is there any other thing to say than "GOOD". I mean the system was shit, because there's no way I'd call that thing a "service".

The only problem I see is all the people that will want to keep on playing a game that has to go through it for the online functions. Other than "Age of Empires Online" I mean.

 

[chozo_hybrid]

If my copy of Dawn of War 2 ends up getting bricked because of this, I'll be pissed. I can't stand needing to log into GFWL just to play the singleplayer, and if they shut it down and lock me out, I'll be even angrier. Why use the damn thing in the first place?

I'll add to that motion, I still haven't started the second campaign for that game yet.

 

[Something Amyss]

Nobody likes GFWL, but if it brings down games with it, there will be a riot. It's not just multiplayer that would go offline -- in many cases, the save files are keyed to your Live account. If you can't log in, you can't save and you can't load your previous saves.

This is not going to happen. They're probably retiring the service, but keeping the light on for dozens of games is the responsibility they took on when they duped developers into using their half-baked service. Even if they are planning on shutting servers down, I'm sure the internet will easily bully them into reversing course.

I wouldn't count on that internet bullying thing working.

Three cheers and free beer for the person who pulls the plug on Global Failure Went Live.

Yeah! People losing their games is awesome!

Well for every game I own, I have to use cracks, UnLive (for removal of the WGL dependence) and Steam remover, so it won't affect me, but I wonder what will happen to people who play WGL-dependent games.

Ah the joys of digital distribution, right.

And remember kids, Steam will be gone one day too.

But...But Gabe totally promised he would set all the games free before that happened! He would never lie, would he? WOULD HE????

In seriousness, though, this is why I only buy games on the cheap online. I treat 'em like a rental and pay for them like a rental.

If this is true, why did they bring on that ex-Steam boss? Holtman, I think his name was. Seems odd to hire new blood if the plan is to shut down the entire service in the medium term.

It was to raise false hope. You see, what Microsoft wanted to emulate wasn't Steam's SERVICE, but their trolling. They saw all the delicious tears being shed by fans anticipating Half-Life 3 and wanted in on the Schadenfreude.

...I kid. In reality, they probably aren't bringing him in if they don't have some plans for PC. It doesn't mean GFWL is continuing, though. I wouldn't be shocked to see them kill the service and put up a new, different one and expect people to welcome it with open arms.

 

[GAunderrated]

Remember when EA's download manager was "shut down" and replaced with Origin? Yeah GFWL isn't going anywhere guys, its just getting rebranded.

 

[Therumancer]

Well, to be honest I'd imagine Microsoft will not take down GFWL until they have another service to use. Likewise there are enough games that require GFWL (typically also run through STEAM or something similar) where I'd imagine it will get interesting really quickly for Microsoft if they decide to yank the current service and brick all of those games, especially seeing as a lot of them are owned through things like STEAM, and have enduring popularity even if it's just for once in a while play (Warhammer 40k, Age Of Empires Online, etc...).

On some levels I'd imagine this could be a legal team's nightmare, and might actually get some other parts of the industry to jump on Microsoft. The industry has spent a lot of time defending their EULAs and establishing precedent through smaller scale cases. If a company like Microsoft which doesn't have all that much government goodwill to begin with decides to suddenly cheat hundreds of thousands people out of a bunch of software, and then quite probably use EULAs to try and deny them the right to class action suits and the like, your going to see those laws and precedents reversed pretty bloody quickly when people get mad enough and pressuring the politicians in a way that can't just be overlooked. Politicians who deny being paid off by corporations are going to be in a bad place if the media gets behind a ton of wronged consumers pushing them for action.... we might wind up in a situation where competing platforms conspire to help prop up a this lame duck in the 11th hour just to avoid the potential fallout from it's demise.

This is all conjecture on my part, to be honest with the way this letter sounded and the way it was pulled and denied it seems like Microsoft wants to shut down the service but did an about face, not being confident in their position. Whether I'm right as to why remains to be seen.

To be honest one smaller scale issue I'd be interested in if this happened is the issue of virtual property. While it hasn't been a consistant money maker (and is no longer being expanded apparently) "Age Of Empires Online" came with a big name and a lot of people paid money to unlock civilizations and such. Right now not many big games with a huge US player base and a microtransaction based virtual property system have gone down. Certainly not any on this level even of AOE is humble compared to most MMOs. The EULAs vs. the rights of property owners could get interesting pretty quickly when people starting losing stuff they paid for in large numbers. I've long suspected that a few situations like this might well lead to a case where microtransaction based games are required to establish a trust to ensure permanent operation before they can sell virtual property. Something which I've argued in the past that they should already be required to do.