While video games live on for ever all the while someone, somewhere has the console to play them on, the online portions share a different fate. When the company who owns the servers decides it’s time to move on, it’s time to move on. No questions asked.
Sony has already shut off the online servers for a host of games, including Race Driver: GRID, The Lord Of The Rings: Conquest, Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, and the original Motorstorm. Now it’s adding more titles to its list of decommissioned classics.
On October 1 2012, PS3 owners will no longer be able to play Motorstorm: Pacific Rift online, while PSP owners will lose access to Motorstorm: Arctic Edge and SOCOM: Fireteam Bravo 3.
This is one of the inevitabilities of moving from an offline single-player culture to an online multiplayer culture. Games will lose much of their worth as the online portions – often the parts afforded the most time and energy – are deemed no longer necessary. Sad but true.
