GameSpy provided a platform for players around the world to connect and play with their friends long before multiplayer games became the driving force of the gaming industry. Their services were utilised by over 800 publishers and developers. After Ziff Davis purchased IGN, he closed many of its secondary sites including GameSpy and the servers were officially shut down on May 31, 2014.
The list of games that were initially going to be affected included favourites such as Battlefield 2, Halo: Combat Evolved, Borderlands and Star Wars: Battlefront 2. While some are still playable on GameRanger, companies like 2K Games were able to save the online functionality for popular titles by transitioning the service to Steamworks and Activision also confirmed that none of their games will shut down.
But among the numerous casualties was Command & Conquer. While once it was an extremely popular franchise, it died as the real-time strategy faded away, with StarCraft being an exception. But after a short absence, online multiplayer for C&C3 and the expansion Kane’s Wrath, Generals and another expansion Zero Hour and Red Alert 3 is once again available.
Under the name of C&C: Online, this new multiplayer service platform will allow you to play the above mentioned games at no extra cost. Setting up C&C: Online is extremely easy as all you need to do is create a Revora account and follow simple steps in order to gain access to their servers. Some of the more convenience oriented features we expect from multiplayer games such as statistics, rankings and an auto-match system aren’t available at the moment but the basic functionality exists.
While some publishers may have abandoned their games after the GameSpy shutdown, for understandable monetary reasons, this is a great example of how the community can revive the games they love, even if it is for a selected few.
