Microsoft Ends Xbox Live Support For Older Games. Is This A Flaw In Microsoft’s Centralized Online System?

Better get those key gaming moments in while you still can! According to a press release announced on February 5th, Microsoft will no longer support online play for original Xbox games, as well as the Xbox originals downloadable o0n the Xbox Marketplace. Apparently by pulling support of some games it “will provide the greatest benefit to the Xbox LIVE community.” What!?

We all could see this coming eventually. There comes a time when a company can no longer support the older games, especially when those games are over five years old. Right? It is a sticky situation. On one hand, Microsoft has such a centralized system that it costs them money to keep servers running smooth for their games. Because we don’t have to pay for the service per game, it makes our complaints against taking away online play seem not so credible. Plus, how many people still log in on a continual basis and play Halo 2 multiplayer? There cannot be many.

But even if there is only a handful of people who do still play Halo 2, or any other original Xbox game online, those people are now getting the shaft with Microsoft’s discontinuation. When we purchase a game that bases half of its worth on the multiplayer portion, we expect to have that portion available to us at any time. We paid for it. Not allowing people to play Halo 2 online anymore is the same as if Bethesda cut out all the side quests from Oblivion five years after you purchased it. No matter how you look at it, Multiplayer now a days is not just a feature or an extra, but something that people will actually buy a game solely for. What happens when Left 4 Dead becomes so old it is unsupported by Live? What would have happened to Counterstrike or Starcraft, two very old games that still have crazy online followings, if they were released under a centralized system that eventually disabled online play support?

What I am trying to get at here, is that I think this situation in context is not a big deal, but it does raise some important questions that should be answered as we move forward within our industry. I doubt there are many people who will be all up in arms over not being able to play Halo 2 multiplayer anymore, but I sure am seeing quite a flaw in a centralized online play system. With Microsoft having control over disabling the ability to play a game online, we are now giving ultimate control over to The Man. With Counterstrike, there are private servers that can keep the online community thriving, but with Halo 2 you got nothing but a campaign and bots.

As much as I love the Xbox Live service, I think this could be a serious flaw in the system. I guess we will just have to see how this will affect the console online gaming community as we move forward.