Also: While I have a LOT of fucking issues with ubisoft and insist they have the resources to keep those content servers up (if not the multiplayer servers) for games like Splinter Cell that used DRM models that involved streaming game logic, they also aren't killing the latest and greatest games. The Crew 1 is shutting down in April (apparently, hadn't heard). That is a 2014 game that very much underwhelmed and has had a sequel for 6 years now.

While it is possible that the Uplay client is where EVERYONE is... anyway. SteamDB says The Crew has 21 concurrent players right now https://steamdb.info/app/241560/ and peaked at 76 in the past six months. I don't think all that many people are going to be impacted by shutting down the servers.

There are very much arguments for games like Madden that have a two to three year life span (if memory serves). And that IS "planned obsolescence" but also... is kind of support for the game. Because just look at the old expansion pack model of FPS where a new expansion/DLC would splinter the playerbase drastically and run the risk of killing Battlefield or even frigging Starcraft. Keeping everyone on the same two or three versions works wonders at keeping the game alive (and is why they should just be live games with a new DLC every year but that is a different discussion).

We see similar with the various open world areas in Guild Wars 2 where the vast majority are ghost towns if they aren't part of the latest DLC or event. And that is why Destiny 2 decided to disney vault their story.

But that is not the same as not dedicating significant developer resources to something that has 20 concurrent players. Moreso if the team/company is shuttering.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Man, this thinking sucks.

So… the problem is they should just make better games? Really?

No, the problem is that there's no reason these games should have to disappear except that they were engineered to. All games are worth preserving, even bad games, even old games. It doesn't matter that my friends and I were perhaps the only people in the world playing Rainbow Six 3 at that moment in 2014, because that game having LAN meant that we could still play it, and we would always have the opportunity to play it. The Crew, much to my surprise, actually found a substantial audience, and it is a different game than its two sequels, but now Ubisoft can force obsolescence in that game that people today are still enjoying in an effort to get them to buy one of the sequels. They shouldn't have to buy the sequels to keep playing, and more than that, they should be able to go back to the old game whenever they want.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Again. Ideologically, I agree with you.

When devs are already crunching 60-80 hour work weeks to launch a game and are increasingly worried about their studio being shuttered because they only have one or two fan favorite games in the pipeline? I don't at all blame them for not taking the time to prioritize it to the 10 people who want to play the game three years after their unemployment benefits ran out.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Then they can't blame me when I buy from their competitors instead, who prioritized a critical feature in the development of their game. (And also, building the game this way is a larger drain on their resources than if they built it without the server requirement. They just want microtransaction dollars.)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Okay? Obviously you should buy what you value and if LAN support is a high priority, buy based on that.

The point I have been making is that preventing the 50 people left playing a game after ten years from continuing to play is not "planned obsolescence". It is just the reality of software development.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

It is planned obsolescence. I'm quite familiar with software development and its realities. They knowingly built a game that won't continue to function in multiplayer after the plug is pulled.

In any case, you and I aren't going to agree, but I take issue with their definition of "full offline" for the reasons we've already discussed, and I'm disappointed that the answer I found in this thread is that they're not interested in adding LAN to this mode.