Rage may ditch dedicated servers too

By Tom Bramwell Published 6 November, 2009

id waiting to see how MW2 gets on.

id Software tech supremo John Carmack has said that Rage may follow Modern Warfare 2's lead by ditching dedicated server support on the PC.

"It's not cast in stone yet, but at this point no, we don't think we will have dedicated servers," he told Variety.

"The great thing is we won't have to be a pioneer on that," he added. "We'll see how it works out for everyone else."

At the moment it's not working out super-brilliantly for Activision and Infinity Ward in PR terms. The decision to ditch dedicated servers saw PC gamers petitioning the duo to reconsider (184,000 signatures and counting).

Activision is sticking to its guns, however, with president Mike Griffith defending the decision in yesterday's earnings call.

Elsewhere in Rage news, Carmack told Variety that a 2010 release for the PC, Mac, PS3 and Xbox 360 shooter/racer was "looking realistic". Whatever happened to "when it's done"?

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell 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!

  • M4RV #1 2 years ago

    Woww... Didn't really see that coming.

    [/irony]

    Follow the leader, bitches...!!! Another blow to the superior ultra epic master race and no, I am not happy with that.
    Edited by 3 at 06/11/09 @ 09:58

  • menage #2 2 years ago

    Id used to be the leader, go figure.

  • M4RV #3 2 years ago

    I was actually under the impression that "Doom 3" was a great game, when it was first released... Not groundbreaking, but great nonetheless.

  • Meho #4 2 years ago

    Et tu, Brutus???

  • M4RV #5 2 years ago

    Everyone loves "The Predator" apparently...

  • Schiraman #6 2 years ago

    Worrying.

    Hope they change their mind before it comes out, as I certainly won't be buying it otherwise.

  • Nukemasta #7 2 years ago

    RUUUUUUUUN GET TO DA CHOPA! always brings a laugh on the l4d no mercy campaign

  • steviepunk #8 2 years ago

    "They haven't made a good game since Quake 3 anyway. "
    Haven't they only released 1 game since Quake 3?

    Guess it's all goig to depend on what multiplayer involves. If it's just drop in/drop out style coop then dedicated servers would not be required. However if there is any form of death match or stand alone multiplayer rounds, then a dedicated server should be a must

  • Bremenacht #9 2 years ago

    No-one wants to pay for servers anymore.

    Activision guy says that having no servers "improves that consumer experience overall by a significant margin"

    So that's alright then.

  • VicViper #10 2 years ago

    well... When it rains it pours in PC land.

  • hiddenranbir #11 2 years ago

    Rage will be shit anyway.

  • mkreku #12 2 years ago

    Hmm, this doesn't bother me as much. I would not buy Rage for the multiplayer anyhow. It looks like an interesting single player game though.

  • redneon Verified Programmer, SUMO Digital #13 2 years ago

    The vast majority of games are peer-to-peer these days, anyway. Granted, that's because of the shift to consoles as the primary network platform but it's the reason there's no need for dedicated servers anymore.

  • Skurmedel #14 2 years ago

    Noooooo!

  • OnyxLilninja #15 2 years ago

    what. the. fuck. ? Carmack is a tech genius, if anyone could pull off a working, low latency p2p system it would be him. But but but... jesus (carmack is jesus) surely he understands that there is more to the issue than just technology. We NEED dedicated servers so communities can form in a server, so that you know you can go somewhere well moderated and build up relationships with the other players. That's just impossible with matchmaking, you get left with a series of shallow fleeting encounters with strangers. Console players will never understand that as all they know is the shallow experience.

    This is the stupidification of gaming in the pursuit of profits from the legions of casual gamers. Core gamers that supported and created these companies are being ass-fucked and left behind. All bow down to your new Wii Fit playing overlords.

  • smoison #16 2 years ago

    So ID confirms RAGE is a consol game being ported to PC and will probably be mostly single player.

  • Ringot #17 2 years ago

    Yeah isn't this going to be a largely single player rpg type thing anyway with co-op thrown in rather than levels of corridors gubbins?

  • Synthesis #18 2 years ago

    id are wise, but they also need to make money, they'll do whatever works well and makes the most money.

    Rage is more of a console friendly game than anything they've ever produced before anyway, it's nothing like Quake or Doom - games that were designed and built for the PC exclusively.

  • DaemonSpawn #19 2 years ago

    I will buy it anyway, because Rage isn't for multiplayer as far as I can see from previews. And for those who tell about no good games from id since Quake 3 - DOOM 3 is one of my favourite shooters. It's atmospheric, it looks and sounds great, design is perfect and polish is unmatched. So my next PC will be assembled personally for Rage next fall.

    And again - do people really THAT much care about dedicated server and mods, especially in mostly single-player games?

  • raion #20 2 years ago

    "And again - do people really THAT much care about dedicated server and mods, especially in mostly single-player games?"

    well, in a mostly single-player game, no, servers aren't that big of an issue (although I'll never forgive Bungie for dropping net game in Oni), but modding. modding should always be there. look around, if you see ancient gamest still going on, that's mostly due to mods.

  • DaemonSpawn #21 2 years ago

    2 raion
    look around, if you see ancient gamest still going on, that's mostly due to mods.
    I look around and see almost all high profile games make most sales on consoles, where are no mods. I see Dead Space with DLCs which are some reskinned weapons ans bumped damage. I see DLC lifting level cap in Fallout 3. All that stuff could be added by anyone using mod-kit, but there're no mod-kits on consoles, and these DLCs generate some good profit for publishers. Most developers aren't interested in mod community and longivity of their single-player games - they are interested im maximizing sales a year or slightly more after launch and then making sequel to sell some more. If people willplay some freeware mods, they're less likely to buy sequel or dumb DLC.

  • hiddenranbir #22 2 years ago

    Dedicated servers these days are awesome 64-bit, which offer great performance.

    Throwing back to p2p when not everyone have 64-bit machines, surely this must mean something! :(

  • TitusCrow #23 2 years ago

    mind over matter - no one minds this from ID because they no longer matter.. if its only some co- op team based play in this game ( which seems to be RPG world based single player type stuff ) then P2P isnt SO bad. Still nowhere near as good a performance as servers but for 2-3 people its ok.
    If however they are intending to do anything quake style / deathmatch based then this decision is astonishing. Made on only monitary ideals and not on gaming ones. So if this is so - fuck him and I'll Dl the game to see the single player and then forget it ( if it gets decent reviews! )

  • Rack #24 2 years ago

    Is it me, or is this REALLY clever marketing? I mean reading this strengthened my resolve to not by MW2 because of the idea it may damage the idea of dedicated servers elsewhere, but that would inevitably make me more likely to buy Rage for my multiplayer fix later, especially if before launch they get to announce they are going with dedicated servers anyway. Given the negative feedback so far it seems strange iD would be thinking "yeah, that's a good idea"

  • cw- #25 2 years ago

    Fuck sake ... but then, like someone already said, iD haven't made a good MP game since Quake 3. Only looking at Rage for the SP myself.

  • YourMessageHere #26 2 years ago

    OK, I can sort of see why this might appear sensible to IW, given how much they have invested in MW2 on consoles where dedicated servers don't occur. It's not sensible, it's fucking stupid, but I can understand how they might think it is. But Rage is PC exclusive, right? What the balls makes it better for iD to run thousands of their own servers to matchmake rather than code a small application that allows others to cover those costs? I mean really, what is the advantage for them? Why would this be attractive?

  • jambo74 #27 2 years ago

    Cherrio Dedicated Servers

  • TheGuvernor #28 2 years ago


    BOLLOX - another stab in the back from a former pc powerhouse.
    What are these exec wankers smoking in the boardroom?
    Dedicated to non dedicated servers?

    Make sure you go to the DICE & VALVE community boards & give 'em a big up for keeping it real.

    Hey, maybe this is just a seasonal virus - like a digital piggie plague that turns former genius developers into money grabbing piggies with no loylalty or ethics?!

  • sarcasmoidosis #29 2 years ago

    Problem is that MW2 is doing this and it'll sell bundles even if they neuter you along the way. So, the final figures will show that "the PC community was OK with P2P".

    Never really used dedicated servers as my CoD4 days were as a "random" and I haven't touched any shooter since then. But... it's a betrayal from Carmack. Damn him and his megatexturing!!

  • Quixz #30 2 years ago

    Bad idea ID, RAGE will fail with such silly decisions..

  • IWestyI #31 2 years ago

    Bah, we need dedicated servers!

    Sign the petitions!

    http://mode rnwarfarenetwork.blogspot.com/