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Microsoft formally denies that they're shutting down GfWL next week.

D

Delusibeta

Banned
At last, Microsoft recognises that they have something nobody likes.

We are continuing to support the Games for Windows Live service. As previously announced, as part of the retirement of Microsoft Points the Xbox.com PC marketplace was closed. Although customers are unable to purchase new games from the marketplace or receive title updates, they can continue to enjoy previously purchased content by downloading them through the Games for Windows Live client as usual. We remain committed to investing in PC gaming in the years ahead, and look forward to sharing more in the future.
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This follows the GfWL Marketplace getting shut down, the PC version of Fable 3 becoming abandonware because Microsoft doesn't want to generate new GfWL keys for it and one of their own studios, Twisted Pixel, following the GfWL exodus by switching the PC version of Ms Splosion Man to Steamworks. GfWL might not get shut down next week, but it's pretty clear that the service is on its last legs and I'll be genuinely surprised if the plug isn't pulled before the end of this year.
 
Sucks that games like Fable 3, Gears of War etc. will basically become unplayable after this without resorting to shady workarounds or hacked saves.
 
As I've said before, my guess is that the shutdown date was pushed back six months to December 31st.
 
onken said:
Sucks that games like Fable 3, Gears of War etc. will basically become unplayable after this without resorting to shady workarounds or hacked saves.
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The brutal reality of online-activation DRM.

And imagine Microsoft wanted to make an entire console ecosystem that was even more activation-dependent than this.
 
Well, store redownload functionality isn't the same as game match capability. For all we know, Halo 2 will cease to allow you to connect to each other in games.
 
Never mind running a gaming service, Microsoft can't even shut it down properly.

Why people want Microsoft to have anything to do with PC gaming after what we've seen from them in the past decade is beyond me.
 
Yeah its most likely giving publishers more time.
Codemasters announced in January that Dirt 3 will remove GFWL in a future patch.
We still haven't received it.
I think its a lot easier said than done.
 
TheAbsolution said:
I think they do have plans. It's just not ready yet.
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Yeah I believe Rockstars plan is as followed "you want to play GTA online ? buy our 1 year old console port for the PC called GTA 5 for $60".

With Microsoft though I wish they would just bite the bullet and take GFWL out back and put a bullet between it's virtual eyes. This is just delaying the inevitable, nearly all devs have ditched GFWL and outside of GTA 4 and one or two other games I can't see many users actually using GFWL.

Just kill it already and never do anything like this again.
 
I'll never be able to play again Dark Souls online. :( Bought the game on Steam, Had to sign up for GFWL, it gave me a generic user name, later on I decided to change it.. and I've never been able to play the game since.
 
hardcastlemccormick said:
The brutal reality of online-activation DRM.

And imagine Microsoft wanted to make an entire console ecosystem that was even more activation-dependent than this.
Click to expand...

This always puzzled me... Lots of people hated GFWL and what it meant for games and yet seemed happy with the same company pushing an always online/fully DRM'ed console... Given the 180's not too many people thought that, but still...
 
We remain committed to investing in PC gaming in the years ahead, and look forward to sharing more in the future.
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Oh look, we can add another statement to the list of lies Microsoft have uttered about PC gaming.
 
I'll wash my hands of GFWL as soon as DaS is ported to steamworks.

And maybe GTA4 as well, but then again GTA5 is around the corner.
 
If a game still hasn't removed it's GFWL shackles, it's never going to at this point.

This has been known for awhile. Warner Bros, Capcpom, 2K, etc. took the time to implement Steamworks so we could continue to play our games. You really think Rockstar, FromSoftware/Namco, Epic or Microsoft care about implementing steamworks?
 
LiK said:
Probably delaying it to allow more pubs to migrate to Steamworks.
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Hopefully... but since most publishers didn't patch their GFWL games (there was already enough time for them to do it) I doubt many of them will do it now.
 
I only have Fable 3. Got it during a Steam sale before realizing it was GFWL. I keep hoping maybe they'll update it to remove it at some point soon. One day I would kind of like to be able to play the game, as bad or good as it is.
 
The Real Abed said:
I only have Fable 3. Got it during a Steam sale before realizing it was GFWL. I keep hoping maybe they'll update it to remove it at some point soon. One day I would kind of like to be able to play the game, as bad or good as it is.
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You can find a patched .exe online to do this now. You paid for the game so go play it.
 
Espi said:
If a game still hasn't removed it's GFWL shackles, it's never going to at this point.

This has been known for awhile. Warner Bros, Capcpom, 2K, etc. took the time to implement Steamworks so we could continue to play our games. You really think Rockstar, FromSoftware/Namco, Epic or Microsoft care about implementing steamworks?
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Capcom still has games with GFWL IIRC.
 
Reading MS's statement, I don't see any denial that a shutdown is imminent. All they say is, "We are continuing to support GFWL", which means "As of right now, the lights are still on." They could easily have said "We have no plans to shut down GFWL", and they didn't, because that would be lying.

I think "MS refutes the rumors" is completely inaccurate reporting. Good on MS, I guess, for some A+ corporate doublespeak that bamboozled Game Informer, Polygon, etc.
 
Espi said:
If a game still hasn't removed it's GFWL shackles, it's never going to at this point.

This has been known for awhile. Warner Bros, Capcpom, 2K, etc. took the time to implement Steamworks so we could continue to play our games. You really think Rockstar, FromSoftware/Namco, Epic or Microsoft care about implementing steamworks?
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I don't think Capcom patched a single game. They've already announced they're not even bothering fixing their mainline franchise numbered entry in Resident Evil 5, ffs, and their "plan" for street fighter 4 was for you to buy the 60000th version of the game.

Capcom probably handled it the worst out of anyone, tbqh.
 
Ugh

its funny i was on a strange mix of happiness and despair which grew stronger each day we approach july 1st.

happy as they finally pull that disaster out of life support but in the other hand was despair as i have quite games on that service, as Dark Souls, GTAIV, Gears of War, Fallout 3 (i bought that on Live marketplace, cannot activate on Steam) Fable 3 and Halo 2.

but as of now, i honestly dont know how i feel about this. seems like "the service will remain active for the time being" but it feels like a desperate attempt to give some time to the publishers that promised to strip GFWL.

as one gaffer said before. "for the moment being, the light is still on"


EDIT (pointless to make another post)

Espi said:
If a game still hasn't removed it's GFWL shackles, it's never going to at this point.

This has been known for awhile. Warner Bros, Capcpom, 2K, etc. took the time to implement Steamworks so we could continue to play our games. You really think Rockstar, FromSoftware/Namco, Epic or Microsoft care about implementing steamworks?
Click to expand...

Bandai Namco said this year to be looking for options for Dark Souls and Ace Combat
so far they stripped Ace Combat Assault Horizon Enhanced Edition of GFWL early this year. (april 1st if i recall correctly) but now, the conversion to Steamworks was handled by the internal dev team (team aces) itself. with Dark Souls the final word is on From Software side.
 
pa22word said:
I don't think Capcom patched a single game. They've already announced they're not even bothering fixing their mainline franchise numbered entry in Resident Evil 5, ffs, and their "plan" for street fighter 4 was for you to buy the 60000th version of the game.

Capcom probably handled it the worst out of anyone, tbqh.
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I have no problem with the SF4 Ultra situation, anyone that wants to play SF4 will want to want to play the Ultra version anyway. It sucks their other games might get left in the dust though.

This is clearly just an extension, possibly to give other devs more time, possibly to avoid negative headlines for now. (I'm guessing it's a bit of both) It would probably go over better if they pair pulling the plug on GFWL with releasing that Halo collection on PC or something.

To get MS some credit, this time they've actually shown some signs of maybe living up to their nth "We still care about PC!" statement.
 
I'm satisfied as it is, as the damage to the service is done now that most, even if not all, are removing the use of the service in their games. It's dead, even if some games will continue to hang on to the servers that's left. And Microsoft will have a really hard time pushing a similiar service.
 
Is it even possible to download GFWL games still? I know MS says so but the GFWL marketplace client handled all the downloads and it hasn't worked in ages.
 
I hope that the publishers take the opportunity to take their GFWL games to Steam. I'd love to continue my Dark Souls playthrough.
 
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