Come July 1, 2014, all GFWL servers will be shut down.

[Nickelob Ultra]

Wait, what exactly is happening and how is it significant?

GFWL was basically "Steam" that was designed and maintained by Microsoft and used the same Gamertag system that Xbox LIVE uses.  the problem however was that GFWL was slow, unreliable, and prone to problems a lot of the time.  GFWL acted not only as a DRM but also as the online backbone, i.e. automatching, server lists, etc.  once Steam came with Steamworks, their own online backbone which as much faster, reliable, and less problematic, GFWL basically bit the dust and one by one game developers started dropping GFWL in favor of Steamworks.

i for one am incredibly happy to hear this.  GFWL was slow and awful to use, i don't care if some of my games won't have online anymore.

[Ad Bot]

[ABlockOfCheese]

Why don't they just merge windows live and xbox live and create like a "Microsoft Network" or some stuff that allows for crosspatform gaming, like steam is with the PS3?

Or better yet, work out a deal that will put xbox live compatible with steam.

[Harm94]

Why don't they just merge windows live and xbox live and create like a "Microsoft Network" or some stuff that allows for crosspatform gaming, like steam is with the PS3?

Or better yet, work out a deal that will put xbox live compatible with steam.

Well Windows 8 was suppose to be able to run xbox games, but you had to pay for live membership to do that.

[Marcem]

Well Windows 8 was suppose to be able to run xbox games, but you had to pay for live membership to do that.

no it wasn't, that would be impossible.

[Nickelob Ultra]

Well Windows 8 was suppose to be able to run xbox games, but you had to pay for live membership to do that.

nah it was just stuffty arcade games, not full xbox games.

[beachbum111111]

no it wasn't, that would be impossible.

forget. I was looking forward to playing earth defense force 2017

Anyway microsoft will probably release an update for GFWL so you can play them offline.

[Harm94]

I remember a bunch of tech websites chanting that, Ohwell. Speaking of xbox did Halo 3 ever get released for free? My brother keeps turning on his xbox to see if it's ever going to come out for free like Microsoft said. I betting it never will and it was just a fabricated lie to promote live before Xbox One comes out.

[Nickelob Ultra]

forget. I was looking forward to playing earth defense force 2017

Anyway microsoft will probably release an update for GFWL so you can play them offline.

the games play fine while offline already, i imagine that if you try to log in or use GFWL-based multiplayer that hasn't changed to a new system it'll just go "the servers are unavailable".

I remember a bunch of tech websites chanting that, Ohwell. Speaking of xbox did Halo 3 ever get released for free? My brother keeps turning on his xbox to see if it's ever going to come out for free like Microsoft said. I betting it never will and it was just a fabricated lie to promote live before Xbox One comes out.

yeah everyone had the idea that xbox 360 games were suddenly going to be able to be played on PCs, even i was getting ready to go to windows 8 just for that, but nope.

[Harm94]

I hate how some games require that you have to login just to play the damn game. Just like DOW2

[Tonkka²]

Oh stuff

What about Fall Out 3?

[Zalot]

i hate windows live
it deleted my batman: arkham city save
when i was like 80% through the game

[Comatose]

i hate windows live
it deleted my batman: arkham city save
when i was like 80% through the game

I know that feel.

[kevin 51l]

GFWL almost instantly ruins a game for PC

why can't they get rid of it earlier zz

[Titanium Man]

Oh stuff

What about Fall Out 3?

Fallout 3*

[MegaScientifical]

GFWL almost instantly ruins a game for PC

why can't they get rid of it earlier zz

Probably because 1: Companies thought they could trust Microsoft more since it had been established longer than Steam. 2: After a while, too many games were imbedded in the network to simply shut it down because 'people don't like it.' 3: It had to slowly die/become unable to be profited from to take it down.

As we've been saying, games will need updates. Some games might break if they don't get patches.