Halo 2 PC Server Shutdown Next Month

[Jan 17, 2013, 09:13 am ET] - Share - Viewing Comments

The Halo Bulletin has a lengthy post on the author's gaffe in not recognizing a YouTube star, details on season 2 of Spartan Ops, and word on next week's matchmaking playlist update (thanks Eurogamer). Buried way at the bottom is the announcement that February 15th will see the closure of multiplayer servers for the PC edition of Halo 2 (forever to be known as the game that failed to force you to upgrade to Vista). If you are impacted by this, then you and 19 other players are not at fault here:

To switch gears ever so slightly, we’re sad to report that the service end-date for Halo 2 PC Multiplayer will be February 15, 2013. We’ve been monitoring the population for months, and it’s been peaking consistently at approximately 20 players or less. Those that own this game can continue to enjoy Multiplayer over LAN after that date; however our network services will be turned off at that time. We love you, Halo 2 PC, and you will live forever in our hearts.

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Re: Halo 2 PC Server Shutdown Next Month

Jan 17, 2013, 10:53

Creston

Techie714 © wrote on Jan 17, 2013, 09:11: It always cracks me up when I see posts by people when these servers get shut down that say something like "OMG, NO I love this game & still play it daily!!!". Sorry folks but games get old & costs are associated with some of these servers staying online...Time to move onto a new game.... How much do you think it costs them to run a server for twenty people? Seriously. I'd be amazed if it adds up to 5 dollars a year. The dedicated server simply runs in a virtual box on a cluster and since basically nobody hits it, it takes up virtually no resources on said cluster. That leaves the bandwith taken up, and even if these people played 24/7, it'd come out to like maybe a hundred Gig. Which at barebones prices would cost you 5 bucks. That said, yeah, if only 20 people are playing it, I'm not sure there's really a point in keeping it up anymore, especially since the game can still be played MP without it. (worst case scenario, they VPN to each other and emulate a LAN.) Creston

Re: Halo 2 PC Server Shutdown Next Month

Jan 17, 2013, 10:46

Kajetan

Techie714 © wrote on Jan 17, 2013, 09:11: Sorry folks but games get old & costs are associated with some of these servers staying online...Time to move onto a new game.... These costs are usually very, VERY low. You dont need the infrastructure for one server and one dedicated admin for this server. You install the necessary software on a virtual server machine, which contains several dozen low performing applications, which is located in a rack with other hardware containing dozens other low performance applications, administered by one guy. Costs per application aka MP server? A few dollars per application & month max. The real reasons behind these descisions are not of financial nature, but root in business policies. Do we still want that players can play these old games? Do we want them to switch to newer games which they have to buy first?

Re: Halo 2 PC Server Shutdown Next Month

Jan 17, 2013, 10:16

StingingVelvet

Not a big deal really but Creston is right that corporate bullshit prevents the obvious path to preservation.

Re: Halo 2 PC Server Shutdown Next Month

Jan 17, 2013, 10:06

Verno

Techie714 © wrote on Jan 17, 2013, 09:11:
It always cracks me up when I see posts by people when these servers get shut down that say something like "OMG, NO I love this game & still play it daily!!!". Sorry folks but games get old & costs are associated with some of these servers staying online...Time to move onto a new game....

Why would it crack you up? Games don't "get old" either, there might be compatibility problems with operating systems but that's mostly a client side issue. I still play Ghost Recon 1 with old college buddies, its a yearly tradition now since we're all over the globe and rarely get to see each other. I play a lot of old games, just because they're old doesn't mean they aren't fun and servers are very very cheap. The whole "get something new" is just an industry thing to keep people upgrading. Something like say a server binary just needs a script to watch and restart if it dies, it doesn't need a full time baby sitter. The cost excuse doesn't really fly.

I wish every company would just release the server software and let the community keep it up if they desire (like in this case). That's the right way to handle it IMHO. You don't want to pay for it, no worries, let the community worry about it and if there is a base for it then it will be kept up otherwise it will die out.




Playing: Animal Crossing, Sleeping Dogs, Tales of Graces F Watching: Survivorman, Justified, Silent Running

Re: Halo 2 PC Server Shutdown Next Month

Jan 17, 2013, 09:53

ochentay4

At least Halo 2 has dedicated servers. Not a great loss.

Re: Halo 2 PC Server Shutdown Next Month

Jan 17, 2013, 09:11

Techie714 ©

It always cracks me up when I see posts by people when these servers get shut down that say something like "OMG, NO I love this game & still play it daily!!!". Sorry folks but games get old & costs are associated with some of these servers staying online...Time to move onto a new game....




Steam (ID) http://steamcommunity.com/id/techie714/ DEAD SH0T

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