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Sony removing online for Starblood Arena VR, game will be unplayable after July 2019 (2 years 3 months after launch)
- Thread starter Arthands
- Start date
User Banned (3 Days) Antagonising Other Members
Finding negative news about PSVR is the OP's MO.
People that have never even heard of Starblood Arena, much less played it, are now in this thread and very, very concerned about this game.
Well done, the thread is working as intended.
People that have never even heard of Starblood Arena, much less played it, are now in this thread and very, very concerned about this game.
Well done, the thread is working as intended.
Most people don't even care about the game, though. The problem is a different one but I guess you ignored that intentionally as it was and is obvious.
This should be called out.
Where were you when Sony shut down the servers to Gravity Rush 2?
We pay for Sony's online service.
I also feel like when they do stuff like this, how about just giving away the rewards with a free update so that they aren't lost forever?
Yeah, I didn't mean to intentionally ignore anything.
I agree that shutting down the servers for any paid game after only a couple of years, (including Starblood Arena) is a terrible practice, and just a bad look for the companies involved.
Sorry but people paid money for this game and Sony now charges for multiplayer.
No excuse for this.
If Sony is going to continue shutting down servers for games despite charging for Plus, then switch to P2P for your games or something.
No excuse for this.
If Sony is going to continue shutting down servers for games despite charging for Plus, then switch to P2P for your games or something.
What? Why do the players that paid full price for the game need to have their purchase literally erased because "not enough people played it"? As has been pointed out, there are better ways to handle servers. They're not keeping a data center with 10 nerds 24 hours to have Starblood running. It's just another server instance on a VM.
I have given up on MP-only games because of this very issue - you might get a few games on launch week, but soon your purchase will be worth zero and there are no refunds so...
If you're gonna defend corporate, maybe don't do it when people paid for a product they didn't get.
(unless you agree that all games are really just glorified rentals, in which case... maybe you're on the right track)
Most people don't care about Playstation at all, much less PSVR. Most people that care about Playstation don't care about much beyond Call of Duty. Should most people decide what happens to whatever game you paid for and enjoy but most people didn't like?
To be fair, most of them don't have dedicated servers. Most are P2P and use Xbox Live for matching only. Those games will be up and support all of their multiplayer features until Microsoft shuts down Live for the entire platform.
Any game that uses dedicated servers instead of P2P will be shut down someday.
Oh thats sad, Starblood is a fun game, if you survive the motion sickness.
I am lucky to have a stone like stomach and had fun with this game, but yeah, for a couple hours, then never played it again.
But not because it sucks, it's just too much of a hassle to setup PSVR for a couple rounds of Starblood.
If you got it on PS+, try it while you still can!
I am lucky to have a stone like stomach and had fun with this game, but yeah, for a couple hours, then never played it again.
But not because it sucks, it's just too much of a hassle to setup PSVR for a couple rounds of Starblood.
If you got it on PS+, try it while you still can!
Wow why such a short period of time. Sonymakes Alot from PS plus subs. Cant they do more to support those that bought the game.
The hero we don't deserve, truly.
What if some unknowing parent buys their kid this game because it's a fiver in a bargain bin at ASDA, only to find that a week later it's useless. It's not a good look and it's obviously something that's been planned for a while - these decisions aren't made over breakfast. Yet they'll still be selling the game on the PlayStation Store, and retailers that are still holding stock will be selling a few copies between now and Death Day. If Sony had any respect for its customers, it'd pull the game from sale with at least 6 months notice that it's going to be killed off, because I guarantee somebody will buy the game digitally, realise it has an expiration date, request a refund and then be told to get lost.
I can't cite numbers, but anecdotally I played on a weekend at normally high traffic times, and it struggled to find me any matches outside of the default mode. Even that took a while.
Does server for a single game even exist still? Shouldn't this kind of service work on demand? Like, if nobody is using, them it's not costing anything.
I don't care much about this game I just don't get why Sony keeps shutting games down. Like there are 360 games on BC that still have server support. They even managed to get certain EA 360 titles to go back online from what I understand.
I tweeted Whitemoon Dreams about that very idea....doubt anything will come of it but it'd be cool if they did that.
You never know. Some PSVR Devs are open to community feedback/requests.
Because said patch doesn't materialize out of thin air. Someone has to pay for it, and the entire point of doing this is to avoid sinking any more money into the title.
That's a real damn shame, Starblood was a great game that just didn't have much meat on the bones to keep me hooked. At least there is still some time to get matches in.
If I had to guess, GT5 and GT6 numbers were way higher for online mode but that didn't stop Sony to shut down the service.
How on earth can you defend this?? It's only been on shelves for two years. Even Nintendo is better in that regard (and their online support is... well, not the greatest lol).
We don't know, of course, but it seems that Sony doesn't use state of the art technology when it comes to servers for gaming. But no matter what, it seems they are more likely to shut down a service than the competition and are not able to run instances of their servers on demand which is, for 2019, not the brightest look.
I hate such news. It seems only Sony are doing this. Still bitter about Spirits of Destiny server shutdown. Game was good ffs. Stop that shit Sony. Give games at least 10years before you kill them off entirely. We´re in 2019 Jesus Christ. Everything is online these days except Sony (online) games.
That's why they are doing this. And it will happen in the future. Nobody playing it online? Shutting down the serves.
Simple as that.
Regardless of how dead the game is, I find it very hard to find any angle to defend this when PS+ is bringing in billions of dollars per year, we're told, to provide an online service and feature set. This is exactly the sort of thing that the subscription fee is supposed to be paying for - server cost. This is supposed to be the benefit of a paid subscription model. It's been years since Sony started charging for online play and the service hasn't improved in any tangible way.
At the very least, Sony should be patching the game to allow offline play and allow players to host P2P/LAN matches. That would allow players who have already bought and paid for the game to keep playing it, while also appeasing the anti-consumerists who think Sony should just shut down every game that isn't popular because they're apparently losing money on this $60/yr service.
At the very least, Sony should be patching the game to allow offline play and allow players to host P2P/LAN matches. That would allow players who have already bought and paid for the game to keep playing it, while also appeasing the anti-consumerists who think Sony should just shut down every game that isn't popular because they're apparently losing money on this $60/yr service.
This is something about how Sony has handled online services for the last two generations that actually bothers me. I don't like that major features for online titles can be dropped when the online service is paid. I totally understand there are practicalities in play, and we've seen examples of games getting extended sunset windows, but this is still a bummer.
Why don't they have a proper cloud service for PS+ so that servers could be spun up on the fly whenever and wherever they need to be? It eliminates the need to have a dedicated server.
It's not discontinued. 'Discontinued' is 'we are not selling this game anymore'. What they have actually done is render the products that people have already bought worthless after only two years with no explanation or anything. All this while take an exorbitant monthly fee to supposedly fund exactly this. I don't need to prove where the PS+ money goes because it's explicitly collected as payment for online multiplayer therefore it's entirely reasonable for consumers to expect that that is what it will be spent on. If your expectation of customer service is so low that all this doesn't sound shady to you, then I honestly don't know what to say to you.
You guys are so quick to jump to Sony's defence but do you even know the player counts for this game? What is the basis for this defence?
As for your attempts to blame this on consumer. You guys talk like releasing games is some kind of partnership with these companies. That's it's a two way street and gamers need to 'do their bit' to keep servers open. What actually happened is they sold people a product and then two years later decided to basically destroy it. There's no obligation on consumers; it's all on the party that took people's money. That's how a contract of sale works.
Not sure why Sony's server always shut down. Killzone 2/3 servers died in March last year, and Twisted Metal's servers shut down in like 4 days.
However, I can still play online with Gears of War (360) after like what, 16 years? Microsoft is great about keeping its servers up.
However, I can still play online with Gears of War (360) after like what, 16 years? Microsoft is great about keeping its servers up.
Does any pub use state of the art server tech for gaming? Sony is a strange one, they should include a P2P option in future titles.
There's more to it than just numbers.
How many copies were sold and how many are currently active online?
I agree it's never good hearing about a game shutting down but I think more info is needed for context.
I don't have an issue with removing servers for games, but there should be a minimum guarantee of span of time regardless of whether or not the servers are basically dead. A couple of years whlist still in the same generation is just not on.
Developers possible should consider end of life plans during development, eg: characters skins that are unlocked online, become unlocked with a patch if online portion is removed... any sort of online requirement for single player functionality should also be dropped.
Feasibility aside (as I know it will never happen, logistical nightmare) I would love to see some sort of server archive, with all the stats/unlocks etc are retained rather than just dumped into a recycle bin. THEN, start a rotational "retro" gaming calendar. Killzone 2 was removed early last year, but what if for the month of June 2019 they reinstated the online portion, the following month it gets "archived" again and replaced with something else (eg: Twisted Metal) and so on...
We've seen game servers fill up near end of life, with gamers playing a final few rounds, or try to unlock MP trophies/achievements. I think if given notice that you'd have the chance to play "Game X" online again at some point, you'd have a decent chance to see some high number count again.
Developers possible should consider end of life plans during development, eg: characters skins that are unlocked online, become unlocked with a patch if online portion is removed... any sort of online requirement for single player functionality should also be dropped.
Feasibility aside (as I know it will never happen, logistical nightmare) I would love to see some sort of server archive, with all the stats/unlocks etc are retained rather than just dumped into a recycle bin. THEN, start a rotational "retro" gaming calendar. Killzone 2 was removed early last year, but what if for the month of June 2019 they reinstated the online portion, the following month it gets "archived" again and replaced with something else (eg: Twisted Metal) and so on...
We've seen game servers fill up near end of life, with gamers playing a final few rounds, or try to unlock MP trophies/achievements. I think if given notice that you'd have the chance to play "Game X" online again at some point, you'd have a decent chance to see some high number count again.