EA closes year old game servers plus other stuff.

[El_Cid]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/5253248.stm

This got me thinking of the fun days in my old job where i would spend a happy lunch break playing the origonal Delta Force on-line - this was about 3-4 years after the game had been out and superceeded by two newer version. There were still a good many people enjoying the game even after all that time.

So is this the new way the pusher can get at the addict for more cash?
Release a game, make it MP then close the service down roughly a year later and only support the newest version?

It kind of reminds how Bethesda are treeting thier new Xbox360 customers, a vital part of Oblivions financial success(maybe as much as 70% of the games sales i've heard), with the official downloadable content that costs a few bucks each time. Its a shame that these 360 users have no other way to get additional content for the game, some are saying alot of this content probably could have been in the origonal release anyway.

So are we game players, like drug addicts, so dependant on the pusher that we will put up with anything to get our games?

Anyone have some other stories or views on the subject?

[Adagio]

As I'm not much a MP gamer, I couldn't care less which servers closes down
On the other hand if they make a SP game that requires you to log on to a server to play the game, then I'll never buy that game, partly for the above mentioned problem (server getting closed)

[Skanky Burns]

They are keeping their original EQ servers up despite having EQ2 servers and I doubt that situation will change. The original EQ servers, I have heard, have more subscribers and hence make more money.

If old servers don't make money, why should a company keep paying for them? If a company shuts down year-old servers, why keep buying games just so you can keep playing (virtually the same) game you had before?

[snoopy369]

You can still play directIP games of Madden and whatnot. They're simply closing down the matchmaking service. There are plenty of places out there for dedictaed Madden1998 or whatever players to get a game going ... I have no problem with them stoppiing providing their matchmaking service; it makes business sense and was never hidden. They told you from the beginning, in a big popup you had to click through to play, that the game server would close by august of the next year ...

[DrSpike]

I don't think gamers put up with anything. I mean, gamers complain, but the sensible ones know that companies are there to make money, and despite all the little things they do to get more of it for a given level of effort, ultimately they can only make more money by making games we want to play.

[Qilue]

Besides, even the most deaf of game companies have to listemn to their customers eventually. HOMM5 not using Starforce being the most glaring example.

Although some just seem to have two left feet like Egosoft with Starforce being replaced with Steam for their copy protection.