Preservation is a major concern among many gamers; as physical copies deteriorate and digital storefronts like the Wii U and 3DS eShops are taken down, even casual players are taking note of the brewing conservation crisis. That said, while older titles typically take top preservation priority, newer games are equally at risk of falling prey to termination. Case in point, PlayStation subsidiary Guerrilla Games recently announced that the online components of Killzone: Mercenary, Killzone: Shadow Fall, and RIGS: Mechanized Combat League will be shut down on August 12, 2022.While the developer stresses that the offline portions of these games will remain playable, this announcement highlights an oft-ignored aspect of game preservation. Multiplayer components of primarily single-player experiences are often tossed aside as a result of underwhelming player counts or poor reception, but they are nevertheless aspects of significant video game series that, in many cases, can no longer be played at all. Killzone: Shadow Fall’s multiplayer was barely playable nearly a decade after release, but Killzone: Mercenary was a well-regarded outing on the PlayStation Vita, the partial cessation of which should be cause for concern.Yet, the Killzone franchise is far from the only once-beloved video game series slowly being dismantled as time marches on. Ubisoft recently announced that online services for several games in the Far Cry and Assassin’s Creed series are soon to be discontinued, and that DLC offerings for these older titles will no longer be downloadable. While most of the games getting the ax have already been remastered or remade in some capacity, it’s still a shame to see any version of a once-great game come to an end.
Of course, when it comes to video game preservation, Nintendo seems to have adopted the least agreeable stance among major publishers. Constantly canceling old services and pursuing legal action against distributors of ROMs and emulation software, access to certain aspects of Nintendo’s history has become increasingly elusive over the years. Plus, much like Guerrilla Games’ more recent Killzone titles, Nintendo often shutters online services for older multiplayer games with little warning, with the online features of almost all Wii and Nintendo DS games having disappeared some time ago.
Guerrilla Games’ announcement, on top of being disheartening to Killzone fans, flies in the face of Sony’s recent preservation efforts. PlayStation formed an official preservation team in April of this year, but, if trends such as these continue, it seems as if their efforts won’t be particularly comprehensive.
