'Make a private hosted version of your game': Knockout City dev's top tip for studios shutting down a live service game is to give players the keys
'Make a private hosted version of your game': Knockout City dev's top tip for studios shutting down a live service game is to give players the keys
"Ultimately, it keeps the game that everybody at the studio worked so hard on alive forever."
I was one of the last ~50 active players on War of the Roses when they shut down the backend. I had a bit over 1000 hours almost entirely in 1v1 dueling servers. Everyone knew everyone else. Tons of tribal knowledge about weird mechanics and glitches, blood feuds, and just generally interesting emergent gameplay within this tiny little niche. Since they shut it down I've been through college, grad school, a couple jobs, moved across the country, etc. and I still miss it. I really wish we'd been given this consideration.
Oh man, what are the odds, I don’t play the game, but came across This, 3 weeks ago someone got it working again it seems.
WHAT
edit: oh my god https://i.imgur.com/idGN4L1.png
edit edit: literally today a bunch of old players started gathering in a discord to revive the community
private servers on cs 1.6 felt very similar to me.
except it still isnt completely dead because people can actually self host.
It's a shame they waited until the end to do it. I'd have bought the game just to support the gesture had they done it earlier.
Will be setting up a server and trying it out now 🙂
It would be hilarious if in like, 8 years from now, it somehow blows up out of the middle of nowhere and becomes super popular; simply because they opened it up to privately hosted servers.
I don't get why day-1 private servers aren't a thing. If nothing else, it allows them to cast off some problematic customers: the guys in Outer Slobavia with 1750 ping can set up a private server and have a better experience, the chuds can set up their own servers where the gameplay is just exchanging slurs without burdening the official GMs.
I suspect it's about economics; someone will setup a PS with the microtransactions turned off, or not enforcing license keys/accounts, and people will crowd it.
No shit Sherlock!
"Does standard business practice contradict ethics and hinder my ability to create? How could this be?!"
What a minute, I'm pretty sure I know the answer to this one ....
I remember when they took down Marvel Legends after the Disney buyout. I was so pissed because I loved that game
I hope more companies do that, but I'm not holding my breath.
