End of Gamespy? For Real?

[Nicholas 5]

So that post by Maruk, is it true or was it just a really convincing and harsh early April Fools Day joke?

I've scoured all over the internet looking for answers but haven't found anything regarding it besides what Maruk posted. Nothing is said on the official Gamespy Tech website, Facebook, or Twitter. No one has said a single word about it here. Also, it is no longer April 1st, I would have assumed that someone would have said something by now if it was fake. If it is real, are they ending support for all games that utilize Gamespy or just the Bohemia Interactive titles?

Some answers would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Edited April 2, 2014 by Nicholas

[larsiano 12]

I’ve also heard that Gamespy was throwing in the towel after more than a decade of service. It had something to do with the massive changes in the gaming word etc etc etc.. That it would be so soon and with such disasters results has now become clear with reading the disturbing port of Maruk. What to come of good old Arma2 NON-Steam users?

[Beagle 684]

I’ve also heard that Gamespy was throwing in the towel after more than a decade of service. It had something to do with the massive changes in the gaming word etc etc etc.. That it would be so soon and with such disasters results has now become clear with reading the disturbing port of Maruk. What to come of good old Arma2 NON-Steam users?

You have to switch to ArmA III. I've read that too much of people still play ArmA II. I do not even have such a steam account.

[chortles 263]

It's apparently real and not just for BI titles. As per Maruk's post, 'original' Arma 2 "will have more limited multiplayer experience with loss of server browser, cd key authentification and NAT traversal systems. That said, direct IP connection to servers should work even after Gamespy services are no longer available" while Arma 2: OA is seemingly going Steamworks.

[jgbtl292 0]

gamespy gives this information for one year !!

[Nicholas 5]

gamespy gives this information for one year !!

Well, I certainly don't go to the Gamespy Technologies website (I didn't expect them to have this info hidden away under the "Pricing" page) and there have been absolutely zero gaming websites that have covered this from what I have found.

Edited April 2, 2014 by Nicholas

[lukio 18]

If this is the case, I will be a very happy person. The gamespy server browser in A2/A3 is a horrible tool and I am happy to see it going away. Technically Gamespy did a decent job (when used in other games), but somehow in Arma it was got treated like a unloved stepchild. At least now this never fully implemented feature will go away completely. I sincerely hope that the new kid gets better treatment.

[Nicholas 5]

If this is the case, I will be a very happy person. The gamespy server browser in A2/A3 is a horrible tool and I am happy to see it going away. Technically Gamespy did a decent job (when used in other games), but somehow in Arma it was got treated like a unloved stepchild. At least now this never fully implemented feature will go away completely. I sincerely hope that the new kid gets better treatment.

I'm happy that Bohemia Interactive is switching to a Steam solution. But I am unhappy that there are many, many games (Primarily older games) that will be affected besides Bohemia interactive's games, including many console games. When they announced that "Gamespy was shutting down" last year, I assumed that it was only the news website of Gamespy (Owned by IGN), not the actual "Gamespy Technology".

Gamespy Industries, Inc. was owned by IGN Entertainment.

Gamespy Technology is owned by Glu Mobile and was purchased in 2012.

They are completely separated companies.

Edited April 3, 2014 by Nicholas

[Th4d 10]

Will they use the steam server browser or just set the steam mode on the current ingame server browser as default?

I would much prefer the steam one and being able to joing friends servers with ease.

[Phantom Six 25]

You can say, SWAT 4 still works if you get the custom server browser. You just can't use the built in one, but servers are still around (gamespy).

[semiconductor 309]

I'm happy that Bohemia Interactive is switching to a Steam solution.

Sooner or later Steam will share the destiny of Gamespy or just degrade into another Origin with hats and useless levels... then what? Unlike previous games, Arma 3 is deeply integrated with Steam and probably unplayable without it. So instead of a small and almost unnoticeable service that doesn't critically affect players' ability to enjoy the game, we now have a big service full of bugs and social junk, that serves solely one purpose — increasing wealth of its owners by means including, but not limited to, not allowing players to be independed from that service.

I don't see how Steam is better solution.

Edited April 3, 2014 by Semiconductor

[Sniperwolf572 758]

Sooner or later Steam will share the destiny of Gamespy or just degrade into another Origin with hats and useless levels... then what? Unlike previous games, Arma 3 is deeply integrated with Steam and probably unplayable without it. So instead of a small and almost unnoticeable service that doesn't critically affect players' ability to enjoy the game, we now have a big service full of bugs and social junk, that serves solely one purpose — increasing wealth of its owners by means including, but not limited to, not allowing players to be independed from that service.

I don't see how Steam is better solution.

"The headlights on my car have died, I don't see how just buying new headlights and replacing them is a better solution because they might die in the future too, I'll just build myself a new car."

Edited April 3, 2014 by Sniperwolf572

[semiconductor 309]

"The headlights on my car have died, I don't see how just buying new headlights and replacing them is a better solution, I'll just build myself a new car."

"The headlights on my car have died, I don't see how just buying new headlights that even wouldn't let me start my own car without prior notice to headlights' manufacturer is a better solution."

[Sniperwolf572 758]

"The headlights on my car have died, I don't see how just buying new headlights that even wouldn't let me start my own car without prior notice to headlights' manufacturer is a better solution."

Your entire car already talks to the dealership that your headlights would also talk to, ever since you bought it and you were aware of it. Headlights talking to the same dealer would make no difference, and would avoid the need for you to gut your car to remove the "talking to dealer" bit.

You were fully aware that your entire car is talking to the dealership ever since you bought it and will for the entirety of it's lifetime. Manufacturer made that clear. Now they're adding yet another thing to improve your experience with the car, but to do so it requires it to communicate to the same dealership as it has been it's entire life. Yet now it somehow becomes an issue to you and you're asking of the manufacturer to gut the car and place new, in-house built insides.

[maddogx 13]

I don't see how Steam is better solution.

A better solution than... what, exactly? No solution at all?

Let's just look at the facts here for a second:

A: Gamespy will stop functioning in less than two months.

B: ARMA 3 is already integrated with Steam.

C: BI have already have a working implementation of the Steam server browser.

Switching to the Steam browser is the only logical choice at the moment, even if your doomsday predictions eventually come true. The important thing is that it's available and working right now.

[roberthammer 582]

and also Steam wont die that easily since there are tons of games that require Steam Master Server

[tommy290 10]

All car analogies aside, I'm still a bit confused as to whether this could impact me. It seems that Arma 3 is not affected at all, right? I have Arma II and the expansions (generally just to play DayZ mod), but they all run through Steam. So will those be ok too? Is there a list somewhere of older games that will be impacted? I can't think of any older games that are multiplayer that I play, but you never know.

[semiconductor 309]

A better solution than... what, exactly? No solution at all?

Than Gamespy was. Small, unnoticeable and wasn't interfering with other parts of the game. A tiny icon in the server browser menu was the only way average player could acknowledge Gamespy's existence.

Steam is a completely different story. And also a quite buggy one.

I know that Steam is the best digital distibution service around and I understand why BI deicded to switch to the Steam's browser. But the fact that Steam is the only one choice available doesn't automatically make it perfect, right? Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that BI should leave Arma without server browser, but Steam, in my opinion at least, has some flaws.

You were fully aware that your entire car is talking to the dealership ever since you bought it and will for the entirety of it's lifetime. Manufacturer made that clear. Now they're adding yet another thing to improve your experience with the car, but to do so it requires it to communicate to the same dealership as it has been it's entire life. Yet now it somehow becomes an issue to you and you're asking of the manufacturer to gut the car and place new, in-house built insides.

I don't get the point. Are you implying that I can't express my opinion about integration with Steam because I was completely aware of the fact that Arma 3 is depended on that service?

Besides, let me clarify this once again: I'm not asking BI to remove Arma 3 from Steam. I'm just saying that Steam probably isn't significantly better than the Gamespy because it makes Arma too depended on availability of its servers.

Edited April 3, 2014 by Semiconductor

[John Kozak 14]

All car analogies aside, I'm still a bit confused as to whether this could impact me. It seems that Arma 3 is not affected at all, right? I have Arma II and the expansions (generally just to play DayZ mod), but they all run through Steam. So will those be ok too? Is there a list somewhere of older games that will be impacted? I can't think of any older games that are multiplayer that I play, but you never know.

Depends on what are you are playing but there are really quite a few of them. My impressions are, the majority of pre-"cloud era" (released circa 2008 and before) MP games use GameSpy.

ArmA 2 would also be affected, I reckon, because it also runs through GS. And I'm not sure whether it's really possible to save it without hooking it into Steam (which is feared/opposed by some)

We still have WithSix, though. Maybe those guys would figure something out? Maybe they will even implement their own server browser :)

Edited April 3, 2014 by DarkWanderer

[Nicholas 5]

Here's a list of games that utilize Gamespy, this is definitely not a full list.

Alien vs Predator (Classic)

Alien vs Predator 2

ARMA

Battlefield 1942

Battlefield 2

Battlefield 2142

Battlefield Vietnam

Battlefield Bad Company 2

Call of Duty

Call of Duty United Offense

Call of Duty 2

Call of Juarez

Call of Juarez Bound in Blood

Civilization III

Commandos 2

Commandos 3

Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines

Commandos: Behind the Call of Duty

Company of Heroes

Company of Heroes Opposing Fronts

Company of Heroes Tales of Valor

Crysis

Crysis Warhead

Crysis Wars

Far Cry

Halo

Hexen

Hexen 2

Jagged Alliance

Jagged Alliance 2

Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault

Medal of Honor: Allied Assault

Medieval Total War

Medieval Total War 2

Multiwinia

Quake 2

Quake 3

Quake 4

Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit

Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit 2

Postal 2

Shogun Total War

Soldier of Fortune

Soldier of Fortune 2

Star Wars Battlefront

Star Wars Battlefront 2

Star Wars Jedi Outcast

Star Wars Jedi Academy

Star Wars Republic Commando

SWAT 2

SWAT 3

SWAT 4

Titan Quest

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2

Tom Clancy's HAWX

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Chaos Theory

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Double Agent

(Starsiege) Tribes

Tribes 2

Tribes Vengeance

Two Worlds

Two Worlds 2

Unreal Gold

Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War

Warhammer 40K: Dark Crusade

Warhammer 40K: Soulstorm

Warhammer 40K: Winter Assault

Unreal Tournament

Unreal 2

Grand Theft Auto IV

Midnight Club: Los Angeles

Red Dead Redemption

Operation Flashpoint

Iron Front: Invasion 1944

Take On Helicopters

Lost Planet 3

Mortal Kombat

Crysis 2

Sniper Elite

Age of Booty

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4

Tony Hawk's Underground

Tony Hawk's Underground 2

Tony Hawk's American Wasteland

World Series of Poker

X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse

F.E.A.R 2

Borderlands

Battlestations: Midway

Halo

Edited April 3, 2014 by Nicholas

[Th4d 10]

C: BI have already have a working implementation of the Steam server browser.

:yay::yay::yay::yay:

[chortles 263]

All car analogies aside, I'm still a bit confused as to whether this could impact me. It seems that Arma 3 is not affected at all, right? I have Arma II and the expansions (generally just to play DayZ mod), but they all run through Steam. So will those be ok too? Is there a list somewhere of older games that will be impacted? I can't think of any older games that are multiplayer that I play, but you never know.

ArmA 2 would also be affected, I reckon, because it also runs through GS. And I'm not sure whether it's really possible to save it without hooking it into Steam (which is feared/opposed by some)

The plan is to hook OA into Steam, but the prior games (i.e. if you're somehow playing original Arma 2 without OA) and TKOH will apparently have to resort to direct IP connect for online multiplayer.

[mr burns 132]

A better solution than... what, exactly? No solution at all?

Better solution tbh would´ve been to start thinking about this whole deal much, much earlier!

It´s sad enough that this will definately end the era of OFP (the original) for good.. really can´t (under)stand the white knighting here.

Well, I certainly don't go to the Gamespy Technologies website (I didn't expect them to have this info hidden away under the "Pricing" page) and there have been absolutely zero gaming websites that have covered this from what I have found.

It´s been well known for more than one year, around middle of 2013 iirc it was on most gaming pages. Gamespy might even have sent out newsletters (?! :D) to all their business contacts.

BI, as a professional developer, cannot have missed the info in any way imaginable.

[Sniperwolf572 758]

I don't get the point. Are you implying that I can't express my opinion about integration with Steam because I was completely aware of the fact that Arma 3 is depended on that service?

Besides, let me clarify this once again: I'm not asking BI to remove Arma 3 from Steam. I'm just saying that Steam probably isn't significantly better than the Gamespy because it makes Arma too depended on availability of its servers.

Arma 3 isn't just on Steam, it's already dependent (integrated) on many of it's services. Removing Arma 3 from Steam would already mean you have to remove Steam from Arma 3. Server browser is the drop in the ocean.

For Arma 3, Steam is the DRM, the multiplayer authentication already relies on Steam, CD-Key auth, distribution etc. It's what Steam offers as a platform. It also offers multiplayer server indexing and matchmaking, but they're not using it right now. They're already attached by the hip, there's no going back without reinvesting in rolling their own solutions for all those services and detaching all the hooks from the game.

Even if GameSpy did not die and kept being Arma 3 server index, if Steam died, they'd have to detach all the hooks from Arma 3 that are present already to make the game functional again anyway. Using Steams matchmaking service is logical because they're already using a ton of their services for the game. Instead of being reliant on Steam and GameSpy, the game will now only rely on Steam.

BI isn't interested in making a server index, they're not interested in making a multi-million-user content distribution network, they're not interested in making the DRM, etc. They want to focus on the game, instead of all the little meta services.

I hope you understand what I'm trying to say now that what you're concerned about has already been the case since the game was released.

[semiconductor 309]

Arma 3 isn't just on Steam, it's already dependent (integrated) on many of it's services.

And that is the feature I'm personally not very fond of. But I'm not asking BI to do anything about this, I'm just pointing out that Gamespy wasn't crucial part of Arma in contrast to the Steam.

Yes, Arma 3 has been tied to Steam from the very beginnig and it's quite obvious why BIS decided to do so; that decision has its pros and cons just like any other decision.

So what's the problem with this again?