14 DAY TRIAL // Mortal Kombat will remain online after GameSpy closes, according to NetherRealm Studios’ Ed Boon.
GameSpy, the massive provider of online multiplayer and matchmaking middleware for various video games, will shut down at the end of the month, leaving many games up in the air when it comes to multiplayer action.
The good news that Mortal Kombat will retain its online component came via Twitter, where Ed Boon wrote that “MK9 will continue to run online,” while refraining from specifying who exactly will continue hosting the game’s servers.
GameSpy provides online services to a large number of games, on computers and consoles worldwide. The company announced that it will shut down on May 31, ceasing to provide any and all hosting services for all the games.
The company stopped licensing its services to companies quite some time ago, publishers no longer being able to acquire GameSpy licenses as of January 1, 2013.
That gave ample time for publishers to find ways to transition the online functionality of their games, with many of them making the jump to Steam.
Such is also the case of 2K Games, the publisher announcing last month that Borderlands and some games in the Civilization series will be temporarily taken offline in order to make the jump to Steamworks, starting on May 31.