Beloved Xbox Game is Going Dark, Servers Turned Off and More to Come

There's something remarkably sad about a game turning off its servers for the final time, as thousands of players experiences are condemned to live on only in their memories.

It's an unfortunate fact that live service games may all be subject to the same fate one day, which is why the Stop Killing Games movement became so popular in recent months, as players seek to retain access to games they have paid for, even after the dedicated servers have been switched off.

Well, for the time being, it's something that we're going to have to continue to contend with, at least until consumer protection laws get stronger and it becomes difficult for publishers to do so.

Now, seven more games are about to be added to that list, with more potentially on the way before long.

Codemasters

Beloved Racing Games Shut Off For the Final Time

As first reported by PureXbox, seven games are set to turn off their servers between now and the end of the year, including from a beloved racing series and one of the biggest sports releases of the last few years.

The full list of games on the chopping block is as follows:

• Dirt 3 (November 8)
• Dirt Showdown (November 8)
• GRID 2 (November 8)
• GRID Autosport (November 8)
• PUBG: Battlegrounds for Xbox One & PS4 (November 13)
• NBA 2K24 (December 31)
• Pac-Man Mega Tunnel Battle: Chomp Champs (December 31)

Now the first thing to note is that if you're a PUBG fan, you're not going to totally use access to the game if you're still playing on PS4 or Xbox One. The game is being upgraded to a current-gen version, which you'll still be able to play on your older consoles via Smart Delivery, even if it is no longer available natively.

The Dirt and GRID games in the list are some of the better racing releases of the Xbox 360 era and, though the multiplayer servers are far from popular these days, it's a shame to see them go permanently.

NBA 2K24 might have been a microtransaction riddled release, but it was a stellar sports game if you're into it, and the playground multiplayer was one of the standout ways to play, though most have now moved on to the more recent versions.

Outside of those, Battlestar Galactica Deadlock is being removed from the Xbox store (as well as every other digital storefront) after a dispute related to the game's publisher.