What Happens To Your Xbox Games Once Servers Shut Down?

Live service gaming has had a boom over the last decade as increases in internet and networking speeds have made new kinds of online gaming possible. This has allowed players from all over the world to drop into lobbies and play matchups in games like "Overwatch," "Fortnite," and "Apex Legends." But as amazing as this technology is, there's one major drawback: they can only be played for as long as the developers continue to host servers that support them.

For those who don't know, servers are simple computers with massive storage banks that are designed to "host" online games for players to drop into. Servers aren't free though; they're expensive to build, expensive to store, expensive to run, and expensive to maintain. This means that companies that have servers for service games face a dilemma when those games no longer bring in enough revenue to justify the expense. They are often forced to shut these servers down or else reallocate to newer and more popular games.

Xbox players are currently looking at some big shutdowns. "Armored Core: Verdict Day," the Xbox 360 version of "Dark Souls 2," multiple different "F1" racing games, "Micro Machines World Series," "Rocket Arena," and "The Crew" are all games that are reportedly turning off their servers in March alone. So what happens when these game servers shut down?

Server shutdowns are handled differently by different companies and for different games. But if you want to know what's going to happen to your games when the developer finally shuts off the power, the short answer is that those games lose all of their multiplayer capability. This is going to be a bigger deal for some games than others. 

The original "Overwatch" is one of the more extreme examples. The game is no longer playable following the launch of "Overwatch 2," which has taken over all of its predecessor's servers. You can't play it without Blizzard's support even if you purchased the physical disk and own the game, making it little more than decoration. "Overwatch" isn't alone either. "Apex Legends Mobile" is another game that died in 2023 and now can no longer be played.

Games like "Dark Souls 2," however, are a little different because they are primarily focused on single-player gameplay. You will still be able to play through the campaign, you just won't be able to play in PVP or co-op mode with friends. This can still be incredibly disappointing for many fans as those online capabilities might have been their favorite aspect of those games. This is one of the biggest problems with the live service gaming model, and it's something that the video game preservation community has been worried about for a long time, and it's the same on Xbox as it is on any other platform.