GameRanger explains why multiplayer was axed from GRID

21 Jun 2011 at 15:23:10 by Paul Younger

A couple of days ago Codemasters announced they would stop supporting the multiplayer for their racer GRID.

Today the developer of GameRanger, an application designed to continue supporting multiplayer games once the publisher has pulled support, announced that GameRanger now supports GRID for PC players still wanting to play multiplayer.

GameRanger developer Scott Kevill has his own theories as to why Codemasters pulled the support for the title after doing some digging and told IncGamers:

"It became apparent that GRID used DemonWare for its multiplayer and matchmaking service. The trouble with that is that Activision acquired DemonWare in May 2007."

"Although GRID was released May/June 2008, and the splash screen says Copyright 2007, so the contract was probably negotiated right before the acquisition. My guess is that the middleware/service was only licensed for a 3 year term. It's now June 2011, so the timing makes sense."

"I don't think it's necessarily that Activision is being evil now as DemonWare stated back at the time that they would no longer license to third party developers. This fits with CodeMasters' statement that the third-party declined the offer of an extended contract."

"Also, since the XBox 360 version would have used XBox Live for matchmaking, it wouldn't have used DemonWare for this aspect, which is why it remains up now."

The good news is that through GameRanger you can still play GRID multiplayer if you're playing the PC version. 

GameRanger has rescued many titles such as Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2008, Need for Speed: Most Wanted, and The Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle-earth series from online extinction and supports a whopping six hundred games.

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