Former Blizzard Devs’ RTS Loses Online Multiplayer After Server Buyout
▼ Summary
– Frost Giant Studios announced that Stormgate will lose its online multiplayer support next month because its server partner, Hathora, is winding down its service.
– Hathora, a company that provided game server infrastructure, was purchased by an AI company (Fireworks AI) and is discontinuing its gaming services.
– The server shutdown is a significant setback for Stormgate, a game whose early access release has received mostly negative reviews and low player counts.
– Frost Giant Studios confirmed it used AI tools during Stormgate’s development for tasks like early ideation and upscaling art, but emphasized that final assets were created by artists.
– The article frames Hathora’s pivot from game servers to AI as a symbolic example of the industry’s shift toward AI, often at the expense of other sectors.
The relentless push of AI into every sector has claimed another unexpected casualty. A specialized game server provider, after being acquired by an AI firm, is shutting down its services, directly stripping online multiplayer functionality from a high-profile real-time strategy title. This move highlights a growing tension between traditional game development infrastructure and the new priorities of the tech industry.
Frost Giant Studios, founded by former Blizzard developers, has announced that Stormgate will lose its online multiplayer support. The issue stems from their server partner, Hathora, which was recently purchased by an artificial intelligence company. Hathora is terminating its game server orchestration service at the end of April. In a statement on Discord, Frost Giant explained the game will be patched for offline play, but online modes will become unavailable. The studio hopes to restore multiplayer in a future update, but that work depends on securing a new infrastructure partner, leaving the game’s community in limbo.
This development deals another blow to Stormgate’s community, which showed strong initial support through a successful $2.4 million Kickstarter campaign. However, the game’s early access release has struggled to meet expectations. Recent player sentiment on Steam is mostly negative, and the title has failed to reach a peak of 100 concurrent players so far this year. The loss of core online functionality so soon after launch presents a significant new hurdle.
Frost Giant has previously been transparent about its limited, assistive use of AI tools during development, primarily for early ideation and technical tasks like enhancing portrait resolutions. The studio emphasized that final assets were created by artists and that no developers were replaced. Ironically, the direct cause of this multiplayer outage is another company’s full pivot to the AI space. Hathora also provided servers for other games including Splitgate 2 and Spectre Divide. Its founders now believe the company can have the greatest impact under its new owner, Fireworks AI.
The situation serves as a stark case study. A company that built its business supporting the infrastructure of live-service games is now abandoning that sector to chase the artificial intelligence boom. For the developers and players left behind, the consequences are immediate and tangible, underscoring how broader technological shifts can abruptly alter the landscape for specific creative projects.
(Source: Aftermath.site)
