Releasing server-side code would be a non-starter for lots of companies. For one, many of them don't actually own all of the code they use to implement the game server. There's lots of proprietary middleware in use in online games.

Perhaps a workaround is to just have 1 server online indefinitely. Technically the online services are still functional - the match queue times would just be very, very large.

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Ukv 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> There's lots of proprietary middleware in use in online games

If bills like this pass, there'd be financial pressure on middleware providers to allow distribution at end-of-life (or for their component to be easily severed) else they'd lose out on all customers selling games in California/EU/etc.

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jnovek 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Release a spec. Release a binary distribution. I’m sure they could find a way to make it happen if it was in the studios’ interest.

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XorNot 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Its not pressure to release the source code. Its that they need to release the server so anyone can run it.

From Day 1 any Doom client could be a multiplayer server and this is how it worked for almost all games - Descent, Quake, C&C etc...

	▲	Manuel_D 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Right, but presumably the Doom and Quake server code was written by id Technologies themselves. That's not the case with a lot of modern multiplayer games. They license middleware like Photon Engine and don't have the rights to redistribute the server software, even in binary format. I guess they could just strip our the parts of the server code that they don't have the rights to redistribute, but then it wouldn't be functional.