Older games just don’t survive: no company is making much of an effort to maintain online services for long-running titles.

Ubisoft has announced that it is shutting down online services for more of its “older games”. It has named 10 games, and these and their target platforms are as follows: Assassin’s Creed II (Xbox 360), Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood (Mac), Assassin’s Creed Liberation HD (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360), Assassin’s Creed Revelations (PC), Ghost Recon Future Soldier (PC), Heroes of Might and Magic VI (PC), NCIS (PC), R.U.S.E (PC), Splinter Cell: Conviction (Xbox 360), Trials Evolution (PC).

The servers will be taken down on January 25th. When this happens, these games will not be able to play multiplayer, you will not be able to link your Ubisoft account, and online services will be unavailable. Some of the games on the list have already experienced server shutdowns, but the French publisher did this on other platforms last year. So Yves Guillemot essentially waited for the critical voices to die down… but that’s what sneaky publishers who don’t have the needs of gamers in mind do.

“Shutting down these services for older games is not something we take lightly, but it is a necessity as the technology that powered these services has become obsolete. Below is a list of affected games and platforms. For a detailed breakdown of the impact of this shutdown, please see our updated self-help article (https://www.ubisoft.com/en-gb/help/connectivity-and-performance/article/decommissioning-of-online-services-for-older-ubisoft-games-january-2024/000105788),” Ubisoft wrote.

Last week, we heard from the French publisher that a major game has been postponed, so that it will not be released in the first three months of 2024, but in the second quarter. Although the company didn’t say which game, we reported that it could be Massive Entertainment’s Star Wars: Outlaws, so it could be the first big launch of Ubisoft’s next fiscal year (which starts on April 1). We also reported that Skull & Bones has also been delayed… but honestly, with Sea of Thieves, how much demand is there for another game like that?

Source: VGC