Build the game from the outset with an end of life plan in mind, like releasing the server code to the public to let others host it. It's not difficult.
What if the server is just some container for AWS, some virtual machine or a proprietary 3rd party program they can't release? What if the server requires special hardware and a gazillion GB of RAM and an enterprise-grade database server, like I would assume MMORPGs do?
Or what about all the libraries and tools that the server uses that were never meant or licensed for public release?
You assume incorrectly. Private servers for mmos have already been around for decades, even ones where the main game was actively running when the private server launched.
Games aren't super bandwidth heavy, most of the data is on the client machine, the server typically just coordinates locations and such, which is why latency is more important for gaming.
I mean, what's the alternative? Forcing companies to keep game servers open forever?
Curious to see how that'll turn out.
Build the game from the outset with an end of life plan in mind, like releasing the server code to the public to let others host it. It's not difficult.
Isn't it?
What if the server is just some container for AWS, some virtual machine or a proprietary 3rd party program they can't release? What if the server requires special hardware and a gazillion GB of RAM and an enterprise-grade database server, like I would assume MMORPGs do?
Or what about all the libraries and tools that the server uses that were never meant or licensed for public release?
You assume incorrectly. Private servers for mmos have already been around for decades, even ones where the main game was actively running when the private server launched.
Games aren't super bandwidth heavy, most of the data is on the client machine, the server typically just coordinates locations and such, which is why latency is more important for gaming.
This isn't the 90s anymore. Anything that's not calculated server-side will be cheated.
Forget the server, just send a patch that removes the online requirement that, inexplicably, some single player only games still fucking have.