OpenFeint Multiplayer iOS Platform Shutting Down, Could Break Older Games

[MacRumors]

OpenFeint, one of the first iOS leaderboard platforms, will be shutting down in one month according to the company that owns it. The problem, at least for gamers, is that older games may crash upon launch depending on how they are coded.

Developers have until December 14th to migrate away from OpenFeint, at which point it'll be offline forever. Even under normal circumstances this sort of deadline would be pretty crazy, but it's especially insane now given the massive influx of developers working around the clock to get their apps and games submitted before the cutoff to have them approved and on the App Store before the iTunes holiday freeze.

Basically, to make this cutoff, developers are going to need to drop everything they're doing, open up every old project that utilizes OpenFeint and re-code all of those API hooks to either use Game Center or whatever proprietary solution they come up with on their own. Assuming that doesn't take too long, compiling, uploading, and crossing their respective fingers might result in no downtime for their users.

GREE purchased OpenFeint for $104 million last year, perhaps a poorly thought out purchase with the service shutting down 18 months later. For newer games, Apple's GameCenter will enable most of the features that OpenFeint supported -- multiplayer support, leader boards, achievements and more.

Article Link: OpenFeint Multiplayer iOS Platform Shutting Down, Could Break Older Games

 

[bushido]

wtf ... i loved it. my game scores would actually stay in sync on multiple devices angry birds im lookin at u

 

[Matrix9180]

This comes less than a year after they told developers both OpenFeint and GREE Platform would coexist. The network still sees tons of traffic. This is just GREE sending a big **** you to game developers and gamers.

 

[D-Back]

Good riddance, open feint was absolutely terrible.

 

[komodrone]

**** off openfeint.

 

[northernbaldy]

I never really understood what it did

 

[The Bulge]

I never really understood what it did

It's for tweeting that you just finished Angry Birds level. Duh

 

[50548]

Just another reason to be wary of "cloud solutions" purporting to be "for the long haul" - good riddance.

 

[extricated]

This really cracks me up.

My apologies to those who loved it - if any of you exist.

 

[hirshnoc]

"perhaps a poorly thought out purchase with the service shutting down 18 months later."

LOL

I'm sure they knew this was gonna happen. Not...

 

[mrsir2009]

Good riddance. It was rather annoying to have to make that extra click on "No, I don't want these awesome features" whenever I got a iOS game.

 

[DavidTheExpert]

YES! This is OUTSTANDING news. I can not express in words how much I hated those damn openfeint popup messages at the beginning of nearly every single game I ever played on iOS. Good ****ing riddance!

 

[foobarbaz]

I don't expect many apps crashing. Those apps would have also crashed whenever I'm offline and thus would have been angrily deleted a long time ago.

 

[bushido]

so people actually disliked it? i thought their save in the cloud feature was great. i ignored the rest however

 

[northernbaldy]

It's for tweeting that you just finished Angry Birds level. Duh

Pointless crap then much like game center

 

[Usehername]

OpenFeint? Never heard of them.

 

[The Bulge]

Pointless crap then much like game center

Indeed

 

[ikir]

Long life to Game Center!!

 

[M. Malone]

No thanks, I don't want these awesome features.

 

[Fruit Cake]

Feeling a bit feint?

 

[sazivad]

Too bad that OpenFeint, which existed before Game Center, is now shutting down. I mean, they were the first to implement it.

Although having to click "I don't want these awesome features," instead of something like "No thanks," to dismiss the initial popup, is sort of dumb.

 

[MadeTheSwitch]

This really cracks me up.

My apologies to those who loved it - if any of you exist.

I exist! I've always liked OpenFeint, so this is really really bad news to me. It's my version of the twinkies going away. Hopefully the games I play using it will be updated.

But I have to say, it's pretty stupid to buy something for that much cash and then close it so soon afterwards. What the hell were they thinking?

 

[cclloyd]

Glad I always chose the Game Center and icloud combo instead of that.

 

[Jessica Lares]

Aww, I remember the first time I used OpenFeint. That was so long ago. Now them and Plus+ are both gone. Good memories of the iPhone 2G and the iOS App Store's first year.

 

[Truffy]

GREE purchased OpenFeint for $104 million last year, perhaps a poorly thought out purchase with the service shutting down 18 months later.

Didn't they shut it down though?

it's pretty stupid to buy something for that much cash and then close it so soon afterwards. What the hell were they thinking?

Eliminating opposition and 'clarifying' the market, perhaps?