It's because MMOs were sold as subscriptions (most of the time) so they're legally covered in being allowed to end their service. The crew however was sold as a full game with no subscription. They didn't make it clear that the game could cease to exist even though you paid for it outright.

Sadly, I feel like a lawsuit line this won't have the benefit we're all hoping for (open sourcing on closure of services) but will instead just make all subsequent games free-to-play, which would make them more exempt to the same scrutiny. And we're already seemingly heading that way too, warts and all.

[–] DosDude@retrolemmy.com 7 points 9 months ago (2 children)

For the future maybe. For games that were sold one day, they would have to either keep supporting it, or release server software.

It is up to the gamers to keep supporting this practice in the future.

I can still play Unreal Tournament '99 and 2004 even though the servers are offline. I can even still play it online with the server ip and even use the server browser with fan mods.

You can't say the same for the crew when it goes offline.

[–] Wodge@lemmy.world 5 points 9 months ago (1 children)

The reason you can still play UT99 and 2004 is because those games were never hosted by epic on a central server. The game shipped with the server hosting tools, and it was designed to allow you to host your own server (if your connection was fast enough) or to rent your own server from a third party.

They're also very different types of games from the current crop of live service games that this youtuber is targeting.

[–] DosDude@retrolemmy.com 5 points 9 months ago

I am aware it's different. All I'm trying to say is either make it single player, release dedicated server software or keep supporting it. You sold it as a product. Don't remove access to a product.

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