> excuses

Exactly!

If you ever want a clear demonstration of the phrase "litany of excuses", all you have to do is post online calling for a game company to provide any kind of post-sale support or user-friendly EOL plan for their game.

1. "Game companies don't make any money, so they can't provide any development support after the sale, which barely pays for initial development!"

2. "Game companies are under immense time pressure so they can't waste time on EOL plans or developing the server to be eventually severable and releasable!"

3. "Game companies cannot release the server binaries because of vague licensing reasons!"

4. "Game companies cannot release the server source code because of other vague licensing reasons and secret sauce IP!"

5. "Game companies cannot release the server source code because of cheating!"

6. "Game companies might not even have the server source code when it's time to EOL the online service! You can't expect them to save a backup!"

7. "The game company might shut down and that means they have to just suddenly pull the plug!"

8. "Servers are expensive and complicated to run, and surely the community wouldn't be able to do it!"

9. "The server source might not compile anymore, and surely the community wouldn't be able to fix it!"

You'll hear variations of these excuses and others whenever you suggest these guys lift even a finger to non-disruptively turn down their game.