GameSpy on Server Shutdowns

You might have already read about the server shutdowns that have been affecting Neverwinter Nights 1 and 1 Multiplayer among other titles, or you might have even discovered the situation firsthand. GameSpy has now chosen to explain the company’s position via Facebook, claiming that this is just the result of publishers and developers not wanting to pay for their services:

GameSpy Technologies a separate entity from GameSpy.com is a service provider to game publishers. Each publisher contracting with GameSpy Technologies elects at its sole discretion whether or not to maintain support for its titles.

A number of our publisher partners elected to allow their contracts for GameSpy Technologies’ services to lapse by not continuing to pay for these services. In some cases this lapsing ranges back as much as four years. GameSpy Technologies has continued to provide months, and in some cases years, of service support for free. However we cannot be expected to provide a service free of charge to publishers who choose not to renew their service agreements and in some cases remain delinquent in delivering payment for past services.

In each case reported in the press where there was a discontinuation of GameSpy Technologies’ services, the applicable publisher was well aware that they had not made the required payments under their agreements with GameSpy Technologies.

For the sake of clarity – the situation is identical to fans attributing fault to the hosting company of a popular website for ceasing hosting services, when the website owner refuses to pay its hosting bill.

It should be noted that the earlier reports indicated that the new owners of GameSpy Technologies, GLU Mobile, have raised the prices of their services and switched off the servers without consulting with the developers first, so this message should at least be taken with a grain of salt.

Thanks, PC Gamer.