GFWL NOT shutting down 1st July

AWPC · 23 Jun 2014 at 10:48

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2014/06/19/games-for-windows-live-exodus-continues.aspx

So if you want to buy any GFWL enabled games in the Steam sales its ok for now but like most things MS it could shutdown with little notice :rolleyes:

Martini1991 · 23 Jun 2014 at 10:57

Well that's going to put a dampener on me rushing to complete my GFWL games, but now it means that I'm able to buy more ; Kane and Lynch for example.

What is silly though is how long they've waited to come out with this.

They need to re-release GOW etc then.

benjii · 23 Jun 2014 at 11:05

What would happen to GWFL games if it did get shut down?

Witcher1979 · 23 Jun 2014 at 11:07

Most of them you could still play in offline mode with an offline profile or some games have files to remove GFWL from even starting, the biggest issue would be all those with no lan modes would die online.

AWPC · 23 Jun 2014 at 11:09

Martini1991 said:
Well that's going to put a dampener on me rushing to complete my GFWL games, but now it means that I'm able to buy more ; Kane and Lynch for example.

What is silly though is how long they've waited to come out with this.

They need to re-release GOW etc then.

MS do not care its a failed experiment like most of their failures. Just buy the used retail GOW DVD-Rom the keys have 15 activation limits if its used up all 15 buy any cheap 2007-Aug 2009 GFWL game it uses the old serial key system so will work on GOW as well its not gamertag linked serial number wise unless you bought the digital version from MS which is no longer available when the PC marketplace shutdown.

matt_fsr · 23 Jun 2014 at 11:15

You'd have thought a company with as much money as MS would have been able to afford to leave the servers running...

malachi · 23 Jun 2014 at 11:22

Not many play it online I dont think but Street Fighter X Tekken is still running on GFWL. Capcom has no plans to transfer it over to Steamworks like they did with Street Fighter 4 AE a few weeks back.

AMG · 23 Jun 2014 at 11:25

Some of them have been transferred or GFWL just patched out.

Ace Combat 6 is one of them...Not sure about GTAIV through or Red faction to that point.

RedvGreen · 23 Jun 2014 at 11:51

Pretty sure the Batman games and Dawn of War 2 had it at some stage.

murah · 23 Jun 2014 at 11:57

Batman:AA and AC got ported over to steam works, most people lost their original save unless they used the migration tool posted on steam forums

Witcher1979 · 23 Jun 2014 at 12:09

Little confused as to why they ripped out GFWL if M$ actually had no intention of shutting it down. I figured they had inside knowledge from M$.....

malachi · 23 Jun 2014 at 12:09

RedvGreen said:
Pretty sure the Batman games and Dawn of War 2 had it at some stage.

Dawn of War 2 did but it was Steam + GFWL. Now its only Steam, the expansions made it Steamworks completely.

benjii · 23 Jun 2014 at 12:53

matt_fsr said:
You'd have thought a company with as much money as MS would have been able to afford to leave the servers running...

Of course they could afford it, it would be a drop in the ocean. However, they're a business and it if it's losing money they're going to cut it.

AWPC · 23 Jun 2014 at 14:19

Witcher1979 said:
Little confused as to why they ripped out GFWL if M$ actually had no intention of shutting it down. I figured they had inside knowledge from M$.....

It probably was due to shut 1st July then Phil Harrison said in March this year it would not shutdown for now as "that would be wrong" as in to leave PC gamers with unplayable games.

MS should leave the GFWL servers running for a few more years then who could complain the biggest problem is the GFWL serial numbers not sure they still generate them which means no more bg discount digital sales (that's why several have gone from Steam as they cannot get new keys from MS apparently).

Either way its a mess as MS no longer have the employees (they were all laid off in 2012) who made GFWL so no way to reverse engineer their own client to make it function when they do shutdown the service

~Divine~Wind~ · 23 Jun 2014 at 14:26

Does this mean I can spend the point sI haev in my MS account now then?
They've converted the old poitns I had into about £30

RedvGreen · 23 Jun 2014 at 14:26

They should just migrate to Steam and be done with it. A quick patch for each game reliant on GFWL will sort the online account aspect too.

matt_fsr · 23 Jun 2014 at 14:43

benjii said:
Of course they could afford it, it would be a drop in the ocean. However, they're a business and it if it's losing money they're going to cut it.

And at the same time, cut themselves forever out of the growing PC gaming market?

Yeah, nice move there Microsoft. Ah well, they can stick to ripping-off console COD fanboys a couple of times a year instead.

Jeps · 23 Jun 2014 at 15:05

RedvGreen said:
They should just migrate to Steam and be done with it. A quick patch for each game reliant on GFWL will sort the online account aspect too.

Well its not really that simple. First off, each game studio would need to talk with steam to agree to use their service, not sure how it works or if they have to pay some sort of fee but its likely.

Then they have to re-write the online back end to support steam instead of GFWL which is potentially a huge task depending on how much the game relies on GFWL servers for online features.

khodos · 23 Jun 2014 at 15:52

I don't see any new shutdown date. I guess they will keep it running indefinitely for the moment?

ZombieFan · 23 Jun 2014 at 18:25

Complete speculation, but I'm guessing they are planning to migrate GFWL over to something else. Maybe 1st July was an original migration date, but for whatever reason they are not ready yet (GFWL replacement not complete?). In any case, it's sticking around for now.

GFWL NOT shutting down 1st July

Can't type for toffee