Is this what the future of gaming is?! Dead games!?

We complain about always online. We bitch, we moan, we whine. Some people think we should shut up and deal with it since everyone has internet now. Of course we wont stop(at least I wont), and surelly enough, were actually right.

On march 1st EA's Darkspore got Shut down. Darkspore is one of those cases were it has some pseudo online functionality to excuse its always online DRM sceme, a very popular practice among publishers nowadays(especially EA). There are people who enjoyed this game, and though I believe it was a below average crap, I really dont think it deserved to die. Its especialy Outrageous when this happens for no reason at all.

An MMO or exclusively multiplayer game, such as WoW, LoL or world of tanks are games in which online is their main thing and need it. Its their core. If one day their popularity dies then the core of their existence and purpose dies too. Darkspore, on the otherhand, was not an online focused game. Its predecessor, spore is partially, but it doesn't require an internet connection to work properly.

Darkspore was not the only game. There are other ticking timebombs waiting to go off. Pretty much anything that blizzard made lately can shut down and much like darkspore, theres no reason. Luckily Blizzard's games are secured by their popularity, but how long can they last. Not as much as their predecessors, thats for sure. Then we have the new NFS, which I expect to be quite short lived. When Im still able to play NFS 3 with some friends on the same computer many years after it got released its tragic the same cant be said about need for speed 2015.

I am hard pressed to imagine myself not being able to play games from my childhood and then proceed to show them to a younger generation. Falcon 3.0 was my first flight sim. I owe my love for flight sims and real life flight to that game. I go back and play it(thank dosbox and now GoG). Many games from the 90s I find to be enjoyable even to this day. The Wing commander series, freespace, total annihilation, age of empires, jazz jackrabbit, commander keen, along with countless new millenium games that came before all this online/cloud/social nonsense got shoehorned into games. Even multiplayer centric games can survive, like Battlefront 2. Easily runs on average laptops. Get together with friends and have a lan party.

Whenever There are friends or relatives over with their kids, and Im apointed to entertain them with some games, I always go with older games I show them how old games were and Im glad when they show a genuine interest. I actually try to condition them to hate nonsense. Is it crazy? Yes, But I don't care. Much like EA and other publishers don't care and see fit to treat the gamer, and ultimately their games, like garbage.

Unfortunately it's the way games are going. Physical media is dying as well. It's sad because I prefer physical media. I also like the option to play offline if I want. I am an older gamer and might be set in my ways.

That's why I avoid buying online only games. It pretty much won't exist anymore in like 5-10 years, depending on its popularity.

I honestly feel like online games are dying down just a bit. It seemed like more of a hype craze in early 2010s. Yea that was six years ago.

Yes, it is. It is no coincidence that the price of retro games is skyrocketing.

I'm pretty far from worried about this myself. For one the number of online only games is a tiny fraction compared to games that you can play offline. Secondly I don't need to have every game I buy be playable for as long as I live, it'd be impossible for me to always replay every game I bought and every game I will buy anyway. There's so many different games to play that I'm generally done playing most games within a year and moved on to other ones anyway.

Well a lot of games will be dead brick in a few years, especially on consol like once they kill the online fonctionnality of the PS3 and 360 ...

But on PC ... games like Unreal are still alive online, people created their own server. Maybe it will be possible to keep some games online unless there was something different in the way they made online for Unreal again how they make online for say ... Street Fighter V

I wouldn't worry about Blizzard, they still let you play games from the 90s online, battle.net is a pioneering online gaming service and is just as strong today. Pretty much the best around. I don't think people understand just how profitable Blizzard is, they could probably buy a few countries if they wanted.

Personally I'm always online, so I don't mind if a game requires an online connection, like Diablo 3, which I feel is a much, much stronger game BECAUSE it is online only.

I have more fun with online games honestly. Everything can be made better with a friend, or 2, or 20.

Yes, in a way it sucks and is sad. But it's the way things are going.

I think the overall majority doesn't really care if they can play a certain game 10 years from buying or completing it though.

@LuminousAether: In ps3 it doesn't require online.

I have a PS3 fat and slim, I have access to games from the PS1-3 libraries! I have a 360 as well with a decent amount of games.

I just can't see myself paying for Remasters/Retro "UNLESS" there is vast improvement and some decent content.

As I said, their popularity is their insurance. But still, if diablo 1+2 and/or starcraft 1 stop being supported you'll still be able to play them.

I reckon this is kinda subjective, but again, you missed the point. Online games are being made online just for the shake of it. As I said in the case of darkspore, Theres half assed good-for-nothing online features that have no reason to bind the game online. Just as they do in NFS. Why we shouldn't be able to just simply turn them off? Its to follow a trend or control the user as much as possible. Even games that might previously had nothing to do with online are now made with online components or become exclusively online. All that while their coated with PR nonsense and lies. Who can forget simcity?