Eye of Judgement online play terminated

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 1 July, 2010

A minute's silence, please.

Sony has decided to discontinue online support for 2007 PlayStation 3 title Eye of Judgement.

The PlayStation Eye/trading card hybrid will see its last online game on 30th September this year.

Offline play will, of course, remain available.

"We at Sony Computer Entertainment Europe sincerely thank you for your continued support of The Eye of Judgement," said a moderator on the official European PlayStation forums.

"The online battle service for this product will terminate on 30 September 2010. Offline play will remain available even after the conclusion of online service."

Eye of Judgement was released in Europe in October 2007, a year after the release of the PS3 itself.

Using the PlayStation Eye, trading cards are scanned into the game and used to spawn units of battle.

Head over to Ellie's review from way back in 2007 to find out why Eye of Judgement isn't bad at all.

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (31) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • NorUraeus #1 2 years ago

    Used to love this game, however after losing games due to timeouts due to the PS Eye not being able to recognize the cards once outside daylight was gone I got put off by it.

  • YobRenoops #2 2 years ago

    Aaah I should really make a move on those trophies while I can. Maybe they should give anyone the trophies for free once the servers are down...

  • Sharzam #3 2 years ago

    Cant say i know a huge amount about this game, but its a worrying thought that a game on current generation console can have its multiplayer turned off. I can understand if they needed a dedicated servers just for the 1 game and no one played it but surely it isnt a problem with todays clouds to keep current systems alive.

    Or go the PC route and just let the community keep it alive without need for developer servers , hell i played sacrifice multiplayer last year.

  • DFawkes #4 2 years ago

    As much as I enjoy Eye of Judgement, I could never get into online play because there was too much faffing about. At least it was a fair system, with the CPU shuffling your cards, but I couldn't get used to just having my own cards on the playmat - as a huge TCG fan I like seeing everything on the board as it is.

    Shame they're killing it though, it was a great way to play against people from all over the world.

  • ryandsimmons #5 2 years ago

    I actually bought this about 3 months ago. The game itself was great, but the fact that you can't get the cards was a killer. SO I took it straight back. If they'd dropped the requirement to have "proper" cards and patched the game so you could print out your own I'm sure people would still be buying and playing today. But making the game tied to cards that don't exist anymore was always going to kill the lifespan.

  • Retroid #6 2 years ago

    ... and here we see the downside to dedicated servers for some games. :(

  • CaoSlayer #7 2 years ago

    The game became obsolete with the psp version.

    It is utterly impossible to find a desk, I tried.

  • PBz0r #8 2 years ago

    I can't believe they're killing this game just now the PS Eye camera, being an integral part of PlayStation Move, is getting a bigger marketing push than anyone expected two years ago. They'll need interesting titles at launch, so why not give this another whirl? Do they have so little faith in the concept by now?

  • Arwin #9 2 years ago

    Yes, that's my only current surprise as well, that the PS Eye is going to be out there for more people, so interest in this game could go up. I never even thought it would have a server component, to be honest - but the voice chat in this game was some of the best ever, that's for sure. And that was, ironically, using PS Eyes as well instead of the official headsets.

    But who knows they have something planned to take it's place in the market.

  • laharl80 #10 2 years ago

    Sony should of done something like this with Yu-Gi-Oh.
    That would sell millions.

  • AaronTurner #11 2 years ago

    MS really need to make some kind of card game where you can download packs with ms points etc. Make an live arcade game or something!

  • smelly #12 2 years ago

    What are the EULAs like when you sign up for a game like this?

    Afterall, once you've invested in the game and cards, etc to play online.. To then have that online taken away from you renders the game useless (if you've only bought for online play)..

    Wondering why there arent more lawsuits about stuff when servers for online games get shut down (especially mmorpgs!)

  • Amblin #13 2 years ago

    The digital age! Wonder and marvel at it's amazing powers! Nothing will be forgotten we will be able to store information forever....until we decide it costs too much and we shut it down.

    Sony, EA the list of companies terminating games is evergrowing. Dedicated servers FTL.

    But hey! soon you can buy the new and improved gimmick game for the latest console accessory. Trust us! buy it and we won't shut down online play after 12 months! Honest!

    (Whole industry is losing the plot in my opinion. if the companies don't want to host the games, give the community the chance to and use the battle.net system for reference).

    EA in particular. Shame on you. Sony is toadying up to your evil ways. Entertainment providers? When it suits them. Something to bear in mind for cloud gaming....

  • IneptPercy #14 2 years ago

    And this is why its better to pay for a service, if its paid for they keep it running.

  • DonnieDarko333 #15 2 years ago

    Make that 30 seconds...

  • 1Dgaf #16 2 years ago

    I bought this secondhand last year with the camera and 280 cards for £40-ish. Never actually played it online - I assumed I'd be able to whenever I wanted.

  • Beano #17 2 years ago

    "Sony, EA the list of companies terminating games is evergrowing. Dedicated servers FTL. "

    Funny how quicky people forget about MS shutting down Halo 2 and all other Xbox online games.

    That said - it IS a shame that a 3 year old game is being shut down allready. Not a good message to send to consumers.

    I don't think dedecated servers has anything to do with it - EoJ was not running on dediceted servers afaik.

  • Buran #18 2 years ago

    @Retroid: not entirely true. A game that supports dedicated servers that can be private ones -as in most of PC games- can survive without any official support. Also 2p2 console games with matchmaking system can fade if the central service is disables -as currently with Halo and Halo 2, and maybe Moder Warfare 2 in the future.

    So, dedicated servers had no drawbacks in open platforms as PC: as long as the option to ride your private server exist, a online game can exist forever (as Halo and Halo 2, which online currently only exist in PC). And in closed platforms, a game can fade no matter if has dedicated servers or a p2p system, due the publisher can turn off the net anytime He want.

  • Connobi #19 2 years ago

    Shame - was really hoping this was the start of things to come. This genre had so much possibility - imagine a star trek game like this, or superheroes, or an army game. It could have been so sweet :o(

  • sfp_noodle #20 2 years ago

    This could be down to the fact that -

    a) No-one is playing it online - I tried it at the beginning of the year and the community was dead

    b) Even if the community was alive and well, why oh why is it absolutely impossible to find card decks? There's some floating around on ebay, but seller's are charging ridiculous prices for the so called 'rare' ones.

    Who knows? Maybe a sequel will come along and all will be well once more
    Edited by 1 at 01/07/10 @ 22:03

  • super_monty #21 2 years ago

    I have just bought 2 packs of cards with every intention to go back and play this with friends on my friends list and you can still get a game on Friday night.

    I am very unhappy with this, this gen games being turned off already, it just doesn't seem right.

    I want to start seeing a guarentee on the packing advising how long the severs will be on line......and they want is to pay for playstion + kiss my ass Sony.

    @ IneptPercy everyone who bought this game paid for the online service in the cost of the origional purchase price and the ongoing high price for cards.

  • RandomTerrain #22 2 years ago

    I think an option to digitally download the cards off of the store would have helped to keep this game alive. Why didn't they consider this?

  • devilmyarse #23 2 years ago

    First Calling All Cars, now this? Is this the reason we don't pay for PSN? Why the hell are the multiplayer functions getting turned off? Calling All Cars is now completely pointless, and so will this. Looks like I'm going to try and flip it before people cotton on to the fact that it's not going to have it's multiplayer for much longer (IE the entire point of the fucking game).

  • Thedni #24 2 years ago

    Tis a shame, that said the last few times I've tried to play this I've spent an hour or so messing with the lights inorder to get the camera to work. I'd love to see more augmented reality games like this in the future though.

    Edit: Proof reading ftw.
    Edited by 1 at 01/07/10 @ 23:40

  • Grayvern #25 2 years ago

    Its a shame both that I never got into it and that it's online is going.

    The only other proper computer TCG is magic the gathering online, but that's hamstrung by digital only cards and the fact it runs and looks 10 years old.
    Edited by 1 at 02/07/10 @ 03:27

  • Kremlik Verified Co-Founder, Crash To Desktop #26 2 years ago

    Guys I'll think you'll find it's Wizards that actally pulled the plug as they stopped making the cards a while ago, plus the eye couldn't tell between real and fake cards so only real TCG players actally bought them, so again Wizards weren't making much profit from it - if they had it would have gone on for years.

    Between this and Battleforge I dought we'll see another twist on the TCG market for a while - stright ports seem to make more money look at Duels, ppl ARE buying it's DLC methord better
    Edited by 1 at 02/07/10 @ 08:55

  • SpaceMidget75 Verified Senior Software Developer, Minerva Computer Services #27 2 years ago

    "Funny how quicky people forget about MS shutting down Halo 2 and all other Xbox online games. "

    Not trying to stick up for MS but i think you've got a cheek lumping them in with EA and (with this particular case) Sony.

    That was a last gen console and not a very big selling one at that. Not only that but they also gave something back to all the Halo 2 players for being so dedicated.

  • Arwin #28 2 years ago

    In the future maybe they can consider building in a feature that allows you to play a game with someone on your friends list. That should be easy to do without any server interference (other than what PSN provides already of course) and can be peer-to-peer 100% for the rest. It's just two players and not lag critical either so should be easy. Hopefully they'll come up with something new to fill the gap (though I admit I played this 20-30 hours short after launch, but then almost never again)

    As for Microsoft, they have almost no dedicated servers for anything in the first place. Even their flagship first party titles use a peer-to-peer solution or one where a player's Xbox is basically the 'server' (host - hence also the need for so called 'host migration'). So yeah, they rarely have to turn off a server, and yeah, that has its advantages for games like these, and yeah, that's also why their games typically support fewer players than the competition on the platform that is considered to be 'weaker' in the online department. ;)

    But one reason why Microsoft could more easily keep up supporting a game like EoJ, is that match-making in terms of player skill can be done through a standardized, always available Live service, rather than a service dedicated for match-making in a particular game. So that's definitely a big plus.
    Edited by 1 at 02/07/10 @ 11:39

  • devilmyarse #29 2 years ago

    @Arwin. Sony, actually do something that acts in the best interest of their customers? You gotta be kidding me. Don't get me wrong, I like my PS3 and it has a good library of exclusive titles (about fucking time too) but there are some glaring flaws in the platform (lack of voice chat, no way to form groups of players, no way to party up before going into a game, unless that specific game supports it, trials for only certain games etc). I don't understand why the PS3 can't just allow ad-hoc/p2p connections to your friends without requiring a server. What exactly do these servers do anyway? I was under the impression that both the PS3 and 360 use P2P for multiplayer anyway?

  • SEVQA #30 2 years ago

    Ah I forgot I even have this game in my draw! I think I really only got it for the eyetoy and I'm sure I've used the card placement thing as a dish cloth. I do remeber it was difficult to get it to work correctly though on occasion showed signes of augmented reality brilliance with the monsters standing on the cards you held up to the camera and the like.
    Edited by 1 at 02/07/10 @ 13:44

  • super_monty #31 2 years ago

    I have been playing this all day, it really does work well no problems and loads of people on-line.
    EOJ was always a top sunday afternoon game.