Is SubSpace Really Dead?

GameSpot News has been following what appears to be the decline of the SubSpace universe. Unofficial word on the web states that Virgin, the now defunct publisher in the US, will shut down the master servers that provide SubSpace players with a game matchmaking service.

Finding official word on the future of the title has been increasingly difficult as calls to EA, Westwood both referred us to other outside divisions. Repeated calls to Virgin Interactive in the UK and Spelling Entertainment in the US have gone unanswered and anxiety is clearly building in the SubSpace community of late. Gamers have been racing around the ether world of the Net to find an amicable solution that would result in the continuation of SubSpace Internet gameplay.

Players have been trying a number of options to beat the shutdown by trying to build their own networks without any assistance from VIE. Without the master server though (also called the billing server), all stored user information including player's handles, squad listings, and other data would remain property of VIE and unavailable to SubSpace players.

One player, Christopher Farmer who goes by the handle Nerve Agent for The Royal Air Force SubSpace squad believes that the main reason VIE won't release the servers is "legally I don't think VIE could hand over the database because of personal privacy issues." If someone were to get a hold of that data pool, there could be personal information (billing information, for example) about past players that could be used in illegal ways.

The tight-knit SubSpace community began its life during a beta test a few years ago and gained a following through word of mouth. SubSpace released to retail shelves and didn't make as great a dent sales-wise as other titles (likely due to weak marketing support). As Virgin's recent demise became public, many assumed that the title would join EA's cache of gaming titles.

As we reported a few days ago, the SubSpace development team has been reassigned to another project by Westwood. The team is supposedly working with the Star Trek: Voyager license. Although, Westwood officially will not comment on what the team is doing, we've had confirmation from a few sources that say the team is definitely working on the Voyager project. Yes, another Star Trek title…

SubSpace fans have erected several petition sites hoping to sway the powers that be to keep the master directory going. The problem is that the master server needs a good deal of bandwidth to support the servers and would take some money to keep the servers going. Players of the game have considered talking to the big online game matching sites to see if they'd be interested in hosting online play. As there seems to be no current responsible team dealing with SubSpace, all the work appears to be fruitless.

So the statement resonating in the ears of SubSpace players everywhere is that the server will go down on October 31, 1998 - during what could be the last SubSpace convention ever.