Games for Windows Live is Soon Dead; Gamers Bitter-Sweet as Old Games Still Won’t Work

Games for Windows Live, one of the worst pieces of software to ever come out of Redmond, is thankfully being retired next summer. Though not officially announced by Microsoft per se, someone spotted a mention of it on the Age of Empires Online support site, reading, “Games for Windows Live will be discontinued on July 1, 2014.” 

For some reason, the discontinuation message was removed from the support page after word got out about it, so it seems that the “announcement” got out a wee bit too early. Given the recent announcement that its GFWL Marketplace is also shutting down soon, Microsoft’s closing of the rest of the service isn’t much of a surprise – but it sure is a good one.

If I seem a little bitter and you’re not quite sure why, then you obviously haven’t faced the hassle of dealing with Games for Windows Live yourself. No piece of software could better prevent you from playing your game than it, with personal burns involving Grand Theft Auto IV, BioShock 2, and DiRT 2.

That leads me to a potential issue: some games require GFWL to operate, so what happens to them after this closing? It seems like it’ll be up to the publishers / developers of these games to roll out a patch, but that’s rare for aging titles. We’re sure some companies will handle things, but it probably won’t be enough. 

Either way, good riddance, GFWL. *spits*