Microsoft added and then removed a blurb on the official Xbox Support website indicating that Games for Windows Live will be discontinued starting July 1st of next year. This follows suit with the recent closing of the Games for Windows Marketplace shutting down this week, too.
While we're all glad that GFWL will be closing its doors, with it comes another problem: only a few games are migrating to Steamworks (e.g., BioShock 2, Batman: Arkham City) while the rest haven't migrated yet and no announcements have been made about the migration.
What this means is that when Games for Windows Live support ends next year, any game that hasn't had its DRM removed or replaced with a more up-to-date or current system, will have features that will no longer be accessible by anyone.
In simple terms, single-player games that require a login authentication to the GFWL servers will no longer be playable, just as games that require multiplayer login authentication through GFWL will no longer be accessible. This isn't hyperbole or some pessimistic anti-DRM talk, this is reality and reality kicks in starting July 1st, 2014.
Gamers had a small taste of what this feels like when Darkspore's DRM went down and gamers were unable to access or play the game anymore. Thankfully EA was nice enough to fix the problem.
While the information was originally available on the Xbox Support site, it was later edited. You can view the original post indicating the closing of the GFWL servers below.
Citar