February 15, 2013 is a date that the most passionate of Halo fans should remember. Specifically those who still engage in online skirmishes with the PC version of Halo 2. Because that's the day in which the servers finally go down.
The news comes from 343 Industries, via Halo Waypoint:
We’ve been monitoring the population for months, and it’s been peaking consistently at approximately 20 players or less. Those that own this game can continue to enjoy Multiplayer over LAN after that date; however our network services will be turned off at that time. We love you, Halo 2 PC, and you will live forever in our hearts.
Are there seriously people still playing a six year old port of an Xbox 1 game? Why yes, as evidenced by this thread, some are none too pleased. Here's just one response to the news:
Are 343i trying to get us to hate them? First they make it impossible to find dlc maps in reach, then ruin halo with halo 4 in so many ways, on top of that there making it impossible to play with people online. Instead of pissing people off they could have lent to the servers to someone like gearbox but instead they decide that the only options on online gaming is halo 3, reach, halo 4 and just for added insult I keep hearing rumors that they were going to pull the plug on halo 3 so that means being forced to play the terrible halo reach/4!
Also of course I'm going to be mad about this since I sometimes like playing halo 2 online, it was my way if getting back into halo because Microsoft was greedy, wanted more money, wanted to force people into buying the 360. Now I'm sorry if this seem's like attacking at 343i but I feel like 343i have directly attacked me, many others that still play halo 2!
It's a safe bet that people will be keep playing the game online, up until the very bitter end, just like when multiplayer support was yanked for the console version of Halo 2, on the 360.
