14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has recently announced that the classic Internet games that shipped as part of Windows XP, Windows ME, and Windows 7 would be discontinued and they would no longer work.
There are six different titles that are being retired, namely Internet Backgammon, Internet Checkers, Internet Spades, Internet Hearts, Internet Reversi, and MSN Go.
As per Microsoft’s schedule, Windows XP and Windows ME users are the first ones to lose support for Internet games, as the aforementioned titles will go dark on July 31.
Few users likely impacted
All games, however, will continue to work on Windows 7 until early 2020, as they are projected to be discontinued on January 22. This is one week after Windows 7 itself reaches the end of support.
“We truly appreciate all the time and passion you’ve put into Microsoft Internet Games. This has been a great community. However, the time has come for us, along with our hardware and software partners, to invest our resources towards more recent technologies so that we can continue to deliver great new experiences,” the Windows Gaming team says in a post.
“Current players may enjoy the games until the dates above, when game services will cease, and the games listed will no longer be playable.”
Internet games being retired shouldn’t affect too many users, as Windows XP and Windows ME have already been discontinued. According to third-party data, Windows XP has a market share of around 2 percent, and it’s mostly used on computers without network access for security reasons, so these games wouldn’t run here anyway.
Windows 7, on the other hand, remains the second most-used Windows version out there, but given the games are projected to be retired on this platform after its end of support, the market share is likely to drop substantially in the coming months too.