Almost four dozen games published by Ubisoft are going end-of-life
(see below for list*).

This isn't really news; except for the sheer number of games in this
instance, it's not unusual for a publisher to announce that they will
no longer be supporting a game or product after a certain point.
Financially, there's little profit to be made supporting a game
forever; you end up paying your developers and technicians more than
the game is bringing in with new sales. And a lot of these games are
pretty old (some, like "Ghost Recon", are over two decades past their
release date). And end-of-support doesn't mean you won't be able to
play the games; it's just that the multiplayer is dead, and they're
cutting off things like achievements and unlockables. But the core
game is still available, if you already own it.

Still... it's a lot of games to EOL all at once (it's actually more
than just those listed below, since an equal number of console titles
were also affected).

And a lot of those games were available for purchase until recently;
some of them, such as "Far Cry 2", you can still buy. End-of-Life'ing
a game you're still selling seems sleazy... even for Ubisoft.

It just reminds me of how dependent we are on the goodwill of our
corporate overlords for the privilege of using products for which we
paid good money. Sure, I can still fire up UPlay and install "Far Cry
2" now (minus a few bells-n-whistles), but will I be able to do so
next month? Next year? In 2030? Who knows... and that troubles me. I
/like/ my old games, often more than I enjoy my new ones. Being denied
access to them just because it bothers the bottom line of some
corporation seems unfair.

Well, we're not quite there yet... at least not with these games. But
that day is inching closer, and I don't like it.




---------------------
* Here is the full List of PC games losing support:

Anno 1404
Anno Online
Assassins Creed 2
Avatar
Blazing Angles 2
Call of Juarez 2: Bound in Blood
Call of Juarez 3: The Cartel
Far Cry
Far Cry 2
Far Cry Blood Dragon
Flashback Origins
Ghost Recon
Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2
HAWX
HAWX 2
Heroes of Might & Magic 5
I Am Alive
Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes
Might & Magic Duel of Champions
Might & Magic Showdown (& Paint Workshop)
Might & Magic X Legacy
Prince of Persia Forgotten Sands
Rainbow Six - Raven Shield
Rainbow Six Lockdown
Rainbow Six Vegas
Rainbow Six Vegas 2
Rayman Legends
Rayman Origins
Scrabble 2007
Scrabble 2009
Settlers 3
Settlers 4
Settlers 6 Rise of an Empire
Settlers 7 Paths to a Kingdom
Settlers Heritage of Kings
Shaun White Skateboarding
Shaun White Snowboarding
Silent Hunter 3
Silent Hunter4 U-Boat Missions
Silent Hunter4 Wolves of the Pacific
Splinter Cell Chaos Theory
Splinter Cell Conviction
Splinter Cell Double Agent
Adventures of Tintin
Tom Clancy's EndWar
Toy Soldiers: War Chest
World in Conflict

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 2022-04-27 00:06:22 +0000, Spalls Hurgenson said:

[cut for brevity]

---------------------
* Here is the full List of PC games losing support:

Anno 1404
Anno Online
Assassins Creed 2
Avatar
Blazing Angles 2
Call of Juarez 2: Bound in Blood
Call of Juarez 3: The Cartel
Far Cry
Far Cry 2
Far Cry Blood Dragon
Flashback Origins
Ghost Recon
Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2
HAWX
HAWX 2
Heroes of Might & Magic 5
I Am Alive
Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes
Might & Magic Duel of Champions
Might & Magic Showdown (& Paint Workshop)
Might & Magic X Legacy
Prince of Persia Forgotten Sands
Rainbow Six - Raven Shield
Rainbow Six Lockdown
Rainbow Six Vegas
Rainbow Six Vegas 2
Rayman Legends
Rayman Origins
Scrabble 2007
Scrabble 2009
Settlers 3
Settlers 4
Settlers 6 Rise of an Empire
Settlers 7 Paths to a Kingdom
Settlers Heritage of Kings
Shaun White Skateboarding
Shaun White Snowboarding
Silent Hunter 3
Silent Hunter4 U-Boat Missions
Silent Hunter4 Wolves of the Pacific
Splinter Cell Chaos Theory
Splinter Cell Conviction
Splinter Cell Double Agent
Adventures of Tintin
Tom Clancy's EndWar
Toy Soldiers: War Chest
World in Conflict

That's a lot of games! I wish World in Conflict would get a sequel. I
almost expected to see Anno 2070 on the list too lol

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Thu, 28 Apr 2022 23:35:36 -0500, eph <email@domain.invalid> wrote:

On 2022-04-27 00:06:22 +0000, Spalls Hurgenson said:

[cut for brevity]

[cut more for extra brevitiness]

That's a lot of games! I wish World in Conflict would get a sequel. I
almost expected to see Anno 2070 on the list too lol

World of Conflict did get a sequel, of sorts, in the form of the
"Soviet Assault" stand-alone expansion.

I remember enjoying WoC when I played it in 2007, but I've never been
inspired to go back and play it again. It was a solid RTS with a
fairly interesting setting but my interest in that genre has greatly
declined over the years. I'm not sure I'd play a sequel, but I do wish
there was a resurgence of fortress-America style games, where the
continental US is the battleground for modern warfare. For a while, in
the 2000s, there were a rising number of these sort of games; "Freedom Fighters" was the best of them but even some of the Call of Duty
games briefly got in the act. But sci-fi and zombies re-established
their dominance, and now that genre is a rare breed.

"World in Conflict" was devleoped by "Massive Entertainment", who also
made the excellent "Ground Control" RTS games and later the
less-entertaining "Tom Clancy: The Division" titles. Although the
latter games did have you waging war in American cities and subburbs,
which was fun.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

On Thu, 28 Apr 2022 23:35:36 -0500, eph <email@domain.invalid> wrote:

On 2022-04-27 00:06:22 +0000, Spalls Hurgenson said:

[cut for brevity]

[cut more for extra brevitiness]

That's a lot of games! I wish World in Conflict would get a sequel. I >almost expected to see Anno 2070 on the list too lol

World of Conflict did get a sequel, of sorts, in the form of the
"Soviet Assault" stand-alone expansion.

I remember enjoying WoC when I played it in 2007, but I've never been inspired to go back and play it again. It was a solid RTS with a
fairly interesting setting but my interest in that genre has greatly
declined over the years. I'm not sure I'd play a sequel, but I do wish
there was a resurgence of fortress-America style games, where the
continental US is the battleground for modern warfare. For a while, in
the 2000s, there were a rising number of these sort of games; "Freedom Fighters" was the best of them but even some of the Call of Duty
games briefly got in the act. But sci-fi and zombies re-established
their dominance, and now that genre is a rare breed.

"World in Conflict" was devleoped by "Massive Entertainment", who also
made the excellent "Ground Control" RTS games and later the
less-entertaining "Tom Clancy: The Division" titles. Although the
latter games did have you waging war in American cities and subburbs,
which was fun.

I enjoyed them, but they were hard!
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