Modern Warfare 2 PC won't support dedicated servers
by Griffin McElroy 
{ Oct 18th 2009 at 12:00PM } 
Even without a doctorate in PC gaming affairs, it's easy to see how this fact would upset someone (or some community) who drops a wad of cash every month on renting a private server. Also preturbed by this news are fans of modded game modes and custom maps -- both of which would be unlikely under the IWNet framework. While Bowling maintained that the new server tech would be a boon for the PC gaming community, most hardcore PC gamers aren't particularly thrilled about MW2's server hosting capabilities being brought into parity with those of the console versions of the game. (That is to say, completely eliminated.)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
HighFiveJesus @ Oct 18th 2009 11:27AM
i hope this bombs on PC.
TRON.dll @ Oct 18th 2009 11:36AM
If it does, then they'll look at the sales and see how low they were, and proceed to never release another game on PC ever again.
Special Agent Steve @ Oct 18th 2009 11:39AM
Yeah, I don't want it to fail, but I want there to be a major outcry from the PC community. I actually hope it sells a million copies on the PC- then there's more people who can complain to IW (and to kill.... online of course).
phinnvr6 @ Oct 18th 2009 11:46AM
This is unreal, no dedicated servers? Is this a joke or something? The last game was the biggest selling game of all time and they decide to pull just a fundamental feature like this? This game is done for me... for now at least. This along with the paid dlc (instead of free). I got Uncharted 2 & Demon's Souls to last me all winter anyway... Then I'll be picking up Battlefield Bad Company 2 next year for PC or PS3.
Moris @ Oct 18th 2009 12:18PM
If Left 4 Dead can have matchmaking on PC (while at the same time have modded servers, and dedicated servers) I'm sure they could do it.
jackal @ Oct 18th 2009 12:19PM
Tron,
While that might very be the case if the game flops on our platform, it would also send a clear message to both the publisher and developer that we won't put up with this kind of crap. If we pay substantially more for hardware, if patching a game is absolutely required to make it stable post-launch, if our games implement DRM schemes that prevent resale, and if we get content far later than our console counterparts do, the absolute least a developer can do is to ensure the features they just cut from the game are in place.
Privately owned servers ensure that, when IW's gets yanked offline for maintenance or goes down because they can't handle the player load they've been given, people can still play the game online. This is why some of the most touted exclusives for the Xbox 360 and PS3 were unplayable online for days (or even weeks) after they were launched. IW and Activision both know this, so their decision to remove a feature just to "streamline" online connectivity in a market that had online multiplayer years before any console did (and did just fine) is simply an anti-consumer act that is nigh retarded.
Completely removing mod support from a PC title is, also, an act of unfathomable stupidity. PC games are often bought because they provide the consumer with an opportunity to create their own content in an environment where they don't have the money or technical expertise to do otherwise. Counter Strike started off as a Half-life mod; it is still one the most played games online for any platform despite having been released a decade ago. Team Fortess? It's Quake mod that's had infinity longer legs (and arguable more success) than the very game it was spawned from. The PC port of RE4 looked worse than the PS2 version did when it was released; because of the community, updates were made to the game that not only allow it to easily compete with most current gen titles, but fixed the well documented control issues and even provided others (I'm sure you can now use a Wiimote for the PC version). We could delve into the countless weapons, characters, custom maps, custom levels, and total conversions that the modding community have made. These are all things the console ecosystem often does not provide (sometimes for copyright issues, sometimes to wring money out of wallets in order to sell you things the community could've created in a day) and it's always been a major factor in purchasing a game for one platform over another. Which, I'm sure, is why they killed MW2's modding community before it had a chance to begin; they now have the opportunity to sell us 3 maps at the low price of $10 and there's no way for us to compete with them. With IW pulling the feature from one of the year's most advertised and anticipated games in order to hock shit to us we would've made on our own, they risk giving other developer a precedent to do the same for future titles. ::claps:: Way to piss on the fans that made you a top developer, Infinity Ward.
To do all of that while charging us $60 for a game that offers substantially less than its $50 predecessor did while forcing us to use Steam so our games can't be resold after they're played and then to completely hack out any feature that would've made the game desirable to a PC gamer in the first g*ddamn place...well...there's just no point in playing or owning the PC version even if it does look and perform better.
To all Infinity Ward and Activision employees (which I'm sure is none) who read this site, I have the following kind words for your consideration. Go fuck yourselves, your games, and I hope to see all of your future endeavors flop horrifically. We made you (Infinity Ward) what you are today and you fuckwits can't even make a clean stab to our backs as a token of appreciation; no, you've got to twist the blade slightly so we actually feel the pain. Your FPS is one of many available to a platform that spawned and still dominates the genre; no matter how anticipated, no matter how advertised, you're just one fish in a sea of many. I hope Activision runs you and your franchise into the ground just like they have to every one of their pet developers; at this point in time, you don't deserve anything else.
Special Agent Steve @ Oct 18th 2009 12:29PM
Jackal pretty much summed it up.
IW is what it is today because of PC gamers, and then they completely screw us over. I have no idea if it's Activision or IW's fault, but whoever's, this is ridiculous.
Steam:Lennoko| Whats PC Gaming? @ Oct 18th 2009 12:38PM
Jackal just summed up...everything. Well done sir.
Cheesus Crust @ Oct 18th 2009 12:46PM
I
Cheesus Crust @ Oct 18th 2009 12:47PM
Looks like Chris Grant cut my comment, I meant to say
"I
Cheesus Crust @ Oct 18th 2009 12:47PM
F this man.
JXCgunrunna @ Oct 18th 2009 12:49PM
well put jackal.
way to go IW. you say you "listen to the community" and now you do this. dont pull that bull shit. if you listened to the community, you would be figuring out how to get dedi servers right now. as of last night, IW's forums were blowing up with pissed off PC players.
Durden @ Oct 18th 2009 12:54PM
LOL @ Cheesus
Obie @ Oct 18th 2009 1:09PM
Hmm thanks Jackhal,very insightful.
Royale @ Oct 18th 2009 1:09PM
My favorite part about PC FPS (aside from the controls) is the community that spawns and grows around a server for a game. Usually when I get involved in a PC FPS online I find a couple good servers and play them hard. After a while you get to know the people on there, get involved in the forums, etc. Matchmaking has it's place, but dedicated servers have a bigger place.
Special Agent Steve @ Oct 18th 2009 1:11PM
I legitemately lol'd at Cheesus' comments.
The Baron @ Oct 18th 2009 1:14PM
Ironically all the mods and cool custom maps will probably be available on cracked pirate servers - score one for activision! Legitimate customers cracking their game anyway just to get at the superior multiplayer.
fuzzynyanko @ Oct 18th 2009 1:58PM
All hope might not be lost, though. Some people may be able to mod the game to use a private server.
Dirtyboy @ Oct 18th 2009 2:40PM
I think what IW doesn't get is that having dedicated servers is like having your own Cheers bar to go to. Being able to game in familiar place, where people know (or loathe) your name.
JimboTJones @ Oct 18th 2009 2:55PM
@ jackal
Very well said.
@ Dirtyboy
Again, very well said.
I'd equate dedicated servers on the PC to what split-screen is for console gamers. Console games are great when you want to bring over some friends and allow everyone to play together on one system.
On the other hand, PC gamers love being able to join their favorite dedicated server where they get to know the other players over time and it makes the game that much better. That was one of the things I hated about playing CoD4 on my PS3. Every game I joined had random players in it and I never felt like there was a sense of community. It really made the game grow old fast for me.
This generation of games is becoming more and more disappointing. The developers are charging more money and putting less features then ever into their games.
mahouneko @ Oct 18th 2009 3:31PM
The petition for dedicated servers can be found here:
http://www.petitiononline.com/dedis4mw/petition.html
There are currently 25600+ signatures at the time of this post.
Also, the threads related to petitioning IW for dedicated server support have been getting nuked on IW's forums.
KeenCommander @ Oct 18th 2009 3:41PM
Let's face it, if this game bombs on PC the developers are going to do what every other developer in that situation does - ignore the relevant facts as to why the game actually sold poorly and blame piracy for it. But, of course, it won't because...it's Modern Warfare 2. Even if all the hardcore games boycotted it, the game would still sell a million on the platform easily.
HighFiveJesus @ Oct 18th 2009 3:58PM
at least i can hope the sales are much worse than the first, and they figure out why.
To me, it is now just another shooter. if it goes on sale, maybe i'll get it in a few years.
Dynames_X13R @ Oct 18th 2009 4:05PM
Another +1 for Jackal.
In any case, I only take solace in the fact that they had enough dignity to let us know beforehand. I pre-ordered FEAR 2 waaay in advance. Not one, but two copies were waiting for my brother and I the day it came out. Monolith pulled the same crap with dedicated servers but hid it from their PC gamer fans. The original FEAR mutliplayer is why I now enjoy online FPS; Call of Duty 4 continued that trend. Anyone who has played FEAR 2 MP knows how abysmal it is on the PC; I can only imagine the same for Modern Warfare 2. There is a very strong chance I will be cancelling my preorder of MW2.
Oh hey, it's Team Fortress 2! You've been such a good friend...
Ubercharged @ Oct 18th 2009 4:41PM
Guess who just preordered left 4 dead 2?
giantenemycrab @ Oct 18th 2009 5:08PM
I think Jeff Gerstmann summed it up best. He said that MW2 is clearly an Xbox 360 game that's also being ported over to other platforms. Lack of dedicated servers doesn't really surprise me. That being said, I was going to get MW2 then Borderlands, but now I'm going with Borderlands and waiting for MW2 to go on sale or something.
Metkis @ Oct 18th 2009 5:17PM
I'm going to call it right now: Most Pirated Game award will go to MW2.
wages of sin @ Oct 18th 2009 6:26PM
Childish.
RKN @ Oct 18th 2009 8:44PM
This is THE longest chain of 3 star posts on Joystiq!
See what you did Activision/IW!?
alinos @ Oct 18th 2009 9:06PM
whats more of a kick in the balls is the fact that if it wasnt for the suspected delay we may well not have been told we were getting this service(unplayable MP outside of the states) until launch day
i cancelled my preorder when it was announced yesterday joystiw was a tad slow on the uptake here
they decide to charge a premium okay ill live with that, they then take away all the features that make the online what it is, so im now essentially playing the premium price for what a 6 hour SP campaign
Matchmaking is terrible, the best art about dedicated servers are that even if your not in a clan they will regularly have the same crowd on the one server it is much more fun to play with the same group of people over and over again than a random called kill456 who just wants to shout racial BS over the mic
the article doesnt cover it here but it has also been said we only get 16 player games because of the P2P orientation
and if outside the states were gonna get terrible pings which will annoy us and annoy everyone else in the game so the host will just kick us, kill the host while using UAV jam and he gets pissed KICKED, the whole advantage to the servers is the community that uses that server decides the rules
Plus theres VAC instead of PB there both as bad as each other but i prefer PB in my view it kicks actually hacks not just the year old code mods that VAC has
so so far weve taken 3 steps back
next thing you know you go to play the game and it comes up with the controller layout of a 360 Controller but i have no right trigger on my keyboard+mouse
alinos @ Oct 18th 2009 9:17PM
sry for the double post but one thing i forgot to add
this means NO clan Server(obviously)
NO Clan matches
NO competitive tournaments
^^unless IW organises them which would be highly unlikely
SolidSnakeX @ Oct 19th 2009 5:52AM
I hope the campers and lag switch users days are numbered! If not I quit! You hear me Infinity Ward if you don't improve the enjoyment of earning your way up in this game by playing fair COD is over! I'm so damn close to mastering COD-4 but I have yet to pass Hard Core Team Death Match MVP people are cheating in COD4 And yet Sony and Infinity Ward haven't done shit with the cheaters!...People who cheat your days are numbered!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Bastards!!!!!
zeh @ Oct 19th 2009 12:42PM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUpZVnceJx4
lol
Filthy Assistant @ Oct 19th 2009 3:51PM
PC gamers are the biggest whiney babies ever, for as much as they love to proclaim they're superior.
danthaman15 @ Oct 18th 2009 11:28AM
Well that sucks...oh well, it'll still be fun as hell.
Frivolous @ Oct 18th 2009 12:11PM
Yeah, kinda the same mentality as Fat Princess. Game will be fun as hell, but finding a good server will be a crap shoot..
Monica Dickey @ Oct 18th 2009 2:51PM
Yeah just hopefully whenever the host leaves the game it won't have to restart on PC.. That's like the most annoying part of no dedicated servers on consoles.
If they can eliminate the need for that and make custom server setups doable I think the backlash will be reduced.
Anonymack @ Oct 18th 2009 4:33PM
I'm not being sarcastic, but can someone explain the significance to me in layman's terms? I'm debating whether or not to get this for PC or 360, and this might be a deciding factor.
BananaBoat @ Oct 18th 2009 4:58PM
@Anonymack -
Dedicated servers are generally on very high speed internet connections. Non-dedicated servers are on your home connection.
In laymans terms, think 100 megabits per second (dedicated) versus somewhere between 3-10 (average) megabits per second for non-dedicated.
Dedicated servers allow for much higher player counts, lower pings, and less of an opportunity for the host player to cheat. This is a complete loss for PC gamers.
(Not to mention that you can ban someone from a dedicated server. And have clan servers and....generally, do all the things that PC clans have been doing for years)
JimboTJones @ Oct 18th 2009 8:31PM
@ Anonymack
On top of what BananaBoat already said, dedicated servers allow for communities to be established in gaming that non-dedicated servers don't. To quote DirtyBoy's earlier comment: "I think what IW doesn't get is that having dedicated servers is like having your own Cheers bar to go to. Being able to game in familiar place, where people know (or loathe) your name."
Basically, where you have dedicated servers, you will have an established player-base. People will save their favorite servers on their lists and play in the ones that best fit with their preferences for player limits, rule types, map lists, etc. You will often get people that play exclusively on one or two servers and, for the most part, everyone gets to know everyone else. You no longer just join a random game with random players but one where you know the majority of the other people. That sets up an interesting dynamic where you can gain both friends and nemesi and overall just gives a great sense of community that you don't get with a matchmaking system.
Think about how school would be if everyday you were randomly assigned a school to go to. You might recognize a person here or there but, for the most part, you wouldn't know anyone else. That's the difference between dedicated servers and non-dedicated servers/matchmaking systems.
Taiko Drum Grandmaster @ Oct 18th 2009 11:31AM
If they were dropping dedicated support for cross-platform...It would make the blow softer, but they're not, just dropping it for matchmaking. I'm all for matchmaking, but give us an option for dedicated. I feel desensitized to the PC community being shit on, and that makes me sad.
Whatever, I'm still buying it. I'll just move onto something else faster than I'd like.
Special Agent Steve @ Oct 18th 2009 11:37AM
Exactly how I feel. PC gamers don't even get a pre-order bundle- NONE! There's not hardcore or prestige editions of the game, we lose dedicated servers (which is the best thing about online PC gaming) and we even pay MORE than the usual.
I'm pretty pissed. They basically killed the PC version to make it less than the console versions. WTF
Sly @ Oct 18th 2009 11:46AM
"They basically killed the PC version to make it less than the console versions. WTF"
and raised the price by $10.
solution: everyone who hasn't should buy team fortress 2. :)
Special Agent Steve @ Oct 18th 2009 12:14PM
TF2 is easily one the greatest multiplayer games on PC. I never tire of it, especially because Valve keeps pumping out major updates like new weapons. MW2 should learn from TF2, and recognize that it's a major success.
Taiko Drum Grandmaster @ Oct 18th 2009 12:30PM
I've bought TF2 5 times. :D
360 Orange Box, PC Orange Box, Retail TF 2, Sale TF2, another 360 Orange Box.
My friends are poor, and seem to have alot of birthdays. lol
Smoke_me_a_Kipper @ Oct 18th 2009 12:45PM
Buddy, My birthday is Oct 31st.
Olicon @ Oct 19th 2009 12:40AM
We're just the old crowd on our way out. Sadly, PC gamers are no longer the dominating force in FPS gaming as it was.
It's a sad day. Those prediction about gaming becoming mainstream ruining it for everyone is slowly coming true. The dev can now afford to cut back on important features because the console crowds will always lap it up.
Oh well, there'll always be Valve and Bliz to save the day.
JimboTJones @ Oct 19th 2009 9:32AM
@ Olicon
Valve? Yes. Blizzard? No. Don't forget that Blizzard is owned by Activision just like IW and we've already seen them cut out LAN support for Starcraft 2. One of the most used features of the original game and it's gone.
So, yeah, I'd say Valve is one of the few remaining (large) developers out there for the PC. There are some other smaller ones like Stardock and GSC Game World but Valve's the only big one that comes to my head right now.
Taiko Drum Grandmaster @ Oct 19th 2009 10:17AM
Yeah, Blizzard is screwing itself with SC II. No LAN and this...One campaign a game BS.
Levi @ Oct 18th 2009 11:34AM
this is so freaking stupid. Console gaming has officially taken over PC gaming in a bad way. Dedicated servers and modding are two things that the PC community always has for bragging rights over the console versions. I wouldn't have played Counter-Strike for almost 10 years if they didn't have the plethora of dedicated servers with user made maps and server-side mods.