Game Preservation Crisis: What Happens When Online-Only Games Shut Down?

Is the death of the disc among us?

As more games rely on online servers, the shutdown of these services has become a growing issue. When online-only games are discontinued, entire virtual worlds are lost, raising concerns about digital preservation and the impact on players and the gaming community.

Nostalgia is powerful. Sometimes all you want to do is load up an old game and relive days gone by, yet for an increasing number of titles that is now becoming harder to do.

As someone who has invested a serious amount of time and money into the games over the years, it is gut wrenching to not be able to see the silver team I built back on FIFA 13 or access my 'Playmaking Shot-Creator' archetype on NBA2k20. Physical game media is dying and so are the servers that keep them alive.

It's not an isolated case either. Live-service titles like Apex Legends Mobile have also vanished into the deep unknown. Unlike physical media, these online-only games leave no playable record once servers go dark. For fans, entire experiences, hundreds of hours of progress, memories, and worlds are erased overnight.

Preservationists are raising the alarm. Groups like the Video Game History Foundation warn that gaming's cultural memory is being lost and are working hard archiving the winding history of video games.

Modders and community servers often attempt to resurrect these games in legal grey zones, a last-ditch effort to keep them alive.

Some studios are beginning to listen.

Blizzard's revival of World of Warcraft Classic proves there's demand for preserving past game states. But for many smaller or less popular games, there's no such luxury. Once a live-service game shuts down, players are left with little more than screenshots and YouTube clips.

As games become increasingly digital and service-based, one question looms larger than ever: when a game dies, who gets to remember it?

Hopefully playable discs make a comeback like vinyl records.