GTA 5 unaffected by GameSpy shutdown; some Rockstar games not so lucky

Rockstar’s biggest game on the market right now, Grand Theft Auto V, will not be affected in any way by the shutdown of GameSpy’s servers at the end of May. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for some of Rockstar’s older games, including Max Payne 3, Red Dead Redemption, and Grand Theft Auto IV, some of which will see certain features soon become unavailable.

Rockstar announced today that its “teams are currently working to patch specific older titles to keep the transition as smooth as possible and minimize the impact to online-enabled play and your in-game experience.”

Most of its games will not be dramatically affected, with only leaderboards or Rockstar Social Club features being removed. While disappointing, those measures are preferable to the outright removal of multiplayer support, which is what’s happening in a handful of cases.

Those cases include the Mac version of Max Payne 3, the PlayStation 3 version of Midnight Club: Los Angeles, and all versions of Midnight Club 3: Dub Edition (including Dub Edition Remix). None of these three games will offer online multiplayer after May 31, or possibly sooner.

Meanwhile, Social Club website stat tracking and leaderboards are on their way out of Red Dead Redemption, GTA IV, and Midnight Club LA. In-game multiplayer leaderboards in the PS3 versions of Red Dead, GTA IV, and Midnight Club LA are on the chopping block as well, as are Social Club features in Beaterator and Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars on DS and PSP.

Rockstar’s support website lists the full details on the implications of the GameSpy shutdown for all of its games.

Other companies’ games are being similarly affected by the May 31 GameSpy shutdown. The PC versions of Crysis and Crysis 2 will lose their multiplayer modes on that date, as will a range of 2K Games PS3 titles, most notably Civilization Revolution and Borderlands. 2K has indicated it’s exploring ways to bring back multiplayer for those two titles, while EA has indicated it hopes to do the same with the early Battlefield games.

Chris Pereira is a freelance writer for GameSpot, and you can follow him on Twitter @TheSmokingManX
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