When it was announced that the MAG servers would be closing down on the 28th of January 2014, I thought that stores would be sent a notice to remove the game from their shelves. After all, what good is a multiplayer game that’s closing down in six months?
But no, it’s still available, for $30 no less at some stores, according to a post on GAF. And – yes – it’s still available online through various retailers, such as Game and Amazon, who don’t mention that this game is just a few months from death without respawn.
It’ll be interesting to see how long the game stays on shelves for – I can see some places trying to flog it well after the servers have shut down and all that is left is a lonely, shell of a game.
It’s certainly an interesting situation, that isn’t really found with other forms of media and poses a great question: what happens when online-only games stop being supported?
I just hope no one buys it in the January sales.
yiddo
They should be made more aware of what’s going to happen I suppose, but then if they are made more aware by the place they are buying it from then they will most likely not buy it. Vicious circle really.
In an ideal world it should be taken off the shelf completely.
psychobudgie
Can I have a cheeky fiver on MAG being the PS+ offering for December :P
cheekyMcB
Not the first time this has happened of course. Just more likely to be the case this generation as more online titles are released.
For example many PS2 & PSP games. I regularly see Eyetoy Chat being sold despite the servers being off for many many years.
More gamers need to request LAN modes in games. At least them you can either host locally or with the likes of Xlink (www.teamxlink.co.uk)to play across the internet.
Starman
Got MAG on release and it never went above 20,000 players on at any time, after a year there was barely enough for a match.
hazelam
i once saw a copy of Everquest online adventures for the PS2 on sale in game months after SOE had shut down the eu servers.
colmshan1990
My sister bought it a month ago for €10.
Purely for the bundled headset mind. Neither of us have actually played the game
cam_manutd
What about Metal Gear Online in Japan? I wonder how that went down?
kxtcd950
What’s worse is that Socom:Confrontation has had it’s Cold Front DLC removed from the store ahead of the servers being switched off for the game. If my PS3 dies between now and January, I can’t redownload content I’ve already paid for.
And yes, it’s not a popular game, but a bunch of friends play it every Friday night and I quite like to join in for a runaround…
colmshan1990
Is it not still in your download list?
Usually when something is removed from the store you can still find it by navigating your downloads…
kxtcd950
No, it’s gone completely; there’s downloads either side of it, but it’s conspicuous by it’s absence. We’ve had 8 people confirm that it’s totally gone, like we’ve never purchased it.
David Carlson
I loved MAG and Zipper, why does Sony do this.
bunimomike
Tef and I bought HAWX not long back but the servers are gone so no co-op. Meh. :-\