Yes, but it’s still a major challenge.
I’m responding to the claim that ”It's not a challenge” and that the game developers can just ”release the server for free”. It might be doable, but not easy. Especially when there’s a lot of time pressure involved.
I’ve been involved in creating an on-premise version of a cloud server. We decided the best approach was just to make it a separate thing with barebones functionality. Just ensuring the client side software could connect to this on-premise solution without crashing was hard work enough.
The thing is that making an on-premise product takes deliberate effort. It’s rarely ”just ship an exe file” (or even ”just ship a docker compose file”)
I believe if this is passed game studios will resort to the same approach my team did - just ship a barebones version of the server side software.
They probably don’t test the entire server architecture locally. Maybe only a fragment of it, with the rest of the environment either mocked, or against a shared dev environment hosted in the cloud.
Server side software is rarely ”just an exe”. It involves databases, cron jobs, message queuing, and other internal tooling or cloud infrastructure. All of these must be in place properly for the software to function.
I’m just reacting to the idea that ”releasing server side software for free” is trivial. It’s not. It requires deliberate effort from the engineers.
I’m speaking from experience maintaining server side software. I haven’t watched Pirate Software.
you release the server for free
That’s easier said than done. The server side software might rely on proprietary software. Releasing the server side software can be a legal licensing nightmare.
Also, the software might make many assumptions about the internal infrastructure setup. For example, it might assume that it has access to a hard coded S3 path. It’s actually a lot of effort to ensure a software can be run on anyone’s computer.
HL2 still holds up after 10+ playthroughs.
Last time I played it was when the commentary track was added. Played 80% of the game in one sitting because I was so hooked.
Ain’t nothing but a heartache
People build their identities around their cars because society is making sure that you feel confined without a car.
The transition is still undergoing. Takes a while to switch.
Chat, is this real?
All hope lies in Gloomwood then