Live service requirements on single-player games need to stop

[Oliver]

I appreciate this might not be the most original complaint but it bears repeating: there is no legitimate reason for a single-player game to require a persistent internet connection. None.

The argument that it prevents piracy has been thoroughly debunked by thirty years of evidence. The argument that it enables cloud saves is solved by optional cloud sync, which every platform supports natively. The argument that it prevents cheating does not apply to games with no multiplayer component.

What it actually does is create a dependency on publisher infrastructure that will eventually be switched off, at which point the game ceases to function. You have not bought a game. You have bought a temporary licence to access a game until the publisher decides otherwise.

To their credit some studios are upfront about this. Most are not. It should be a legal requirement to state clearly on the product that it requires an always-on connection and will stop working when the service ends. It is basic consumer information.

Rant over. Currently replaying Morrowind, which does not require an internet connection and still works perfectly twenty-three years later.

 

[Matt]

The annoying part from a development side is that the authentication servers are often separate infrastructure from the game itself. When they go down, the game goes down with them. Nothing to do with the game code — just a dependency that was never designed to be optional.

 

[Corey]

Single player's where I spend most of my time honestly. Can hop on and off whenever which suits having Ned around — he demands attention at inconvenient moments.