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2K Games will transition a few key legacy titles to Steamworks

by Mark Tyson on 23 April 2014, 10:30

Tags: 2K Games (NASDAQ:TTWO), Valve, PC

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We have previously reported on the GameSpy multiplayer matchmaking service closure, which is scheduled to happen on 31st of May this year. A couple of weeks ago we heard from EA which confirmed that it would save Battlefield 2142, Battlefield 2 and Battlefield Bad Company 2 from the end of multiplayer functionality which it was facing as GameSpy makes its exit. At that time we wrote in the footnotes that 2K Games was probably the biggest publisher yet to speak out about which of its GameSpy enabled multiplayer titles would (not) be saved. Now we have an official announcement concerning this upcoming event thanks to the 2K Games Support web pages.

From a long list of affected titles it looks like 2K is only going to maintain multiplayer service for Borderlands 1 (Borderlands 2 is a Steamworks title on PC) and a selection of Civilisation games titles.

The official announcement reads as follows:

"2K will implement online service changes for several legacy titles, including releases for Windows PC, as a result of GameSpy Technology terminating its online service offerings for video games."

"Beginning May 31, 2014, Borderlands 1 and select tiles from the Civilization catalogs will temporarily go offline while service is transitioned to Steamworks. During the transition, players will experience interruption of several features, including online play, matchmaking and voiceover Internet protocol (VOIP). Players will not experience interruptions to offline play."

The full list of migrating titles, destined for Steamworks multiplayer matchmaking, is as follows:

  • Borderlands®
  • Civilization® III
  • Civilization® III: Conquests
  • Civilization® III: Play the World
  • Civilization® IV
  • Civilization® IV: Beyond the Sword
  • Civilization® IV: Colonization
  • Civilization® IV: Warlords

However there's a much longer list of legacy titles where online service functionality will be simply dropped coinciding with the GameSpy closure. "We apologize for the inconvenience this may cause," writes 2K Support.

The list of has-beens includes a couple of Jetfighter, Stronghold and Top Spin titles, several Vietcong games and more. You can take a look at the complete list here. Let us know if you are disappointed by this news, or perhaps you're relieved at the saving of Borderlands and Civilization III/IV multiplayer.

HEXUS Forums :: 10 Comments

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Posted by Ferral - Wed 23 Apr 2014 10:48
From what I have read of this Borderlands on PS3, they are looking into the viability of transferring that one.

Crysis 1 & 2 are not getting transferred to another service on PC.

EA are however doing Battlefield 2, Bad Company 2 and Battlefield 2142 to keep the games alive.
Posted by Spud1 - Wed 23 Apr 2014 14:02
It's good that publishers are going to save some of the more popular games, so all credit to them.

I'm still pissed at Ziff & now Glu mind - shutting down NwN and FSX was a pain a few years back, and then a complete shutdown this year..I mean, Gamespy was truely awful throughout it's entire “life” as a service, but still, it's a bit rich to just shut it down wholesale like this.
Posted by Jingee - Wed 23 Apr 2014 17:59
Good riddance. Death to the over-abundance of pointless clients that spam our home computers. For every Steam, there's a Windows Live Marketplace that refuses to allow you to play your copy of Arkham Asylum, meaning you have to pirate a copy…
Posted by cps1974 - Tue 29 Apr 2014 12:55
good riddance to bad rubbish
Posted by Saracen - Tue 29 Apr 2014 13:12
Spud1
….

I'm still pissed at Ziff & now Glu mind - shutting down NwN and FSX was a pain a few years back, and then a complete shutdown this year..I mean, Gamespy was truely awful throughout it's entire “life” as a service, but still, it's a bit rich to just shut it down wholesale like this.
And what happens if, at some point, Steam shuts down?

Granted, it's not looking likely right now, but with corpirations, you never really know. For example, Lehman, GM, Woolworths, and many more have found the ground shifting under them and they struggled to, and in some cases, failed, to stay afloat.

Let's face it, ANYONE buying Steam-dependent games implicitly accepts this risk. It may or may not hapoen, but if it does, you can probably kiss goodbye to any remaining value you felt you had in Steam games.

So, either you accept that risk and continue to buy Steam games (like most people), or you don't, and just don't buy anything requiring Steam (like me).

Either we play games we want, right now, and accept it might all disappear overnight, and that that risk is a price you're willing to pay. Or, like me, you refuse to run that risk, in which case the price is not playing games you otherwise would have played (and bought). It's saved me a fortune, by not being prepared and/or willing to put up with Steam.

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