alt Hacker NewsReleasing server-side code would be a non-starter for lots of companies. For one, many of them don't actually own all of the code they use to implement the game server. There's lots of proprietary middleware in use in online games.
Perhaps a workaround is to just have 1 server online indefinitely. Technically the online services are still functional - the match queue times would just be very, very large.
Replies
Release a spec. Release a binary distribution. I’m sure they could find a way to make it happen if it was in the studios’ interest.
Its not pressure to release the source code. Its that they need to release the server so anyone can run it.
From Day 1 any Doom client could be a multiplayer server and this is how it worked for almost all games - Descent, Quake, C&C etc...
[dead]
> There's lots of proprietary middleware in use in online games
If bills like this pass, there'd be financial pressure on middleware providers to allow distribution at end-of-life (or for their component to be easily severed) else they'd lose out on all customers selling games in California/EU/etc.