The 1996 release of
id Software's video game
Quake, one of the first 3D multiplayer action games to allow play over the
Internet, furthered the concept of players creating and releasing "
mods" or modifications of games. Mark Surfas saw the need for hosting and distribution of these mods and created PlanetQuake, a
Quake-related hosting and news site. the Planet Network (also known as the GameSpy Network), a collection of "Planet" websites devoted to popular video games (such as Planet Quake,
Planet Half-Life and Planet Unreal) as well as the
genre-related websites, 3DActionPlanet, RPGPlanet, SportPlanet and StrategyPlanet; ForumPlanet, the network's extensive message board system; and FilePlanet, which was one of the largest video game file download sites. It also included
platform-specific sites (e.g., Planet PS2, Planet Xbox, Planet Nintendo and Planet Dreamcast), but these were consolidated into GameSpy.com; only Classic Gaming remains separate. ForumPlanet and FilePlanet were services offered by GameSpy, and were not part of the Planet Network. In 2000, GameSpy received additional investment funding from the
Ziff Davis publishing division
ZDNet.com and from Guillemot Corporation. GameSpy shut down its RadioSpy division, backing away from the online music market which was dominated by
peer-to-peer applications such as
Napster and
Gnutella. In 2001, GameSpy's corporate technology business grew to include
software development kits and
middleware for video game consoles, such as Sony's
PlayStation 2, Sega's
Dreamcast and Microsoft's
Xbox. In March 2007,
IGN and GameSpy Industries merged, and was briefly known as IGN/GameSpy before formalizing their corporate name as IGN Entertainment. Also in 2000, GameSpy turned GameSpy3D into
GameSpy Arcade and purchased
RogerWilco,
MPlayer.com and various assets from HearMe; the MPlayer service was shut down and the RogerWilco technology is improved and incorporated into GameSpy Arcade. GameSpy Arcade was the company's flagship matchmaking software, allowing users to find servers for different online video games (whether they be free or purchased) and connect the user to game servers of that game. GameSpy also published the
Roger Wilco voice chat software, primarily meant for communication and co-ordination in team-oriented games, where users join a server to chat with other users on the server using voice communication. This software rivaled the other major voice chat software
Ventrilo and
Teamspeak. The company's "Powered by GameSpy" technology enabled online functionality in over 300 PC and console games. to its stable supported platforms. In March 2007, GameSpy added the
Wii as another supported platform.
Shutdown GameSpy Industries (the entity responsible for GameSpy multiplayer services) was bought from IGN Entertainment by Glu Mobile in August 2012, and proceeded in December to raise integration costs and shut down servers for many older games, including
Fairytale Fights,
Star Wars: Battlefront,
Sniper Elite,
Microsoft Flight Simulator X,
Saints Row 2, and
Neverwinter Nights, with no warning to developers or players, much to the outrage of communities of those games. GameSpy Technologies remained operational as a separate entity since. In February 2013, following the acquisition of IGN Entertainment by
Ziff Davis, IGN's "secondary" sites were shut down, ending GameSpy's editorial operations.
Electronic Arts, in particular, announced 24 PC games, including titles such as
Battlefield 2, the
Crysis series,
Saints Row 2 and the
Star Wars: Battlefront series, would be affected by the end of GameSpy service. Fan-created
mods restored online functionality with alternative servers. One such mod for the PC version of
Halo was officially incorporated into a patch for the game released by
Bungie in May 2014, and
Disney helped developers create a similar mod for
Battlefront II (2005) in 2017. 10 days prior to the
Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection shutdown, a fan continuation of the project was created named Wiimmfi. By contrast, in 2017, Electronic Arts demanded the takedown of modified versions of
Battlefield 2 and
Battlefield 2142 on alternate servers, distributed by a group known as "Revive Network", as infringement of their copyrights. ==
The GameSpy Debriefings==