AndroidAppleApps

OpenFeint game network shutting down, will possibly take some apps with it

openfeint logo e1353363807268 - for some reason we don't have an alt tag here

OpenFeint, the popular Android and iOS multiplayer social gaming platform, is being shut down by GREE, the company that purchased it earlier this year.

Since GREE bought OpenFeint, the service has basically stagnated – and with the introduction of more Game Center features (for iOS) and the death of a number of  like-minded services, OpenFeint simply didn’t have the strength to keep fighting.

But what’s most unfortunate about this is the fact that there are many, many games that rely on the service for their leaderboards and multiplayer functionality. According to TouchArcade, the fact that the service will be offline within one month is likely to cause the breaking of some, if not all, of those games, and developers are working hard and fast before the holidays to get OpenFeint out of their apps so they continue working for users.

Basically, to make this cutoff, developers are going to need to drop everything they’re doing, open up every old project that utilizes OpenFeint and re-code all of those API hooks to either use Game Center or whatever proprietary solution they come up with on their own. Assuming that doesn’t take too long, compiling, uploading, and crossing their respective fingers might result in no downtime for their users.

I personally have many games on my iOS devices (and a few on my Samsung Galaxy Nexus) that use OpenFeint. Hopefully, developers can get the OpenFeint code out of their apps in time for the holiday freezes that Apple does or iDevice owners will have a very upsetting holiday.

How many games do you have that rely on OpenFeint?

[TouchArcade via Mac Rumors]
Pocketables does not accept targeted advertising, phony guest posts, paid reviews, etc. Help us keep this way with support on Patreon!
Become a patron at Patreon!

Calob Horton

Calob Horton is an associate editor at Pocketables. He loves all technology, no matter which company it comes from. This unbiased view of the tech world allows him to choose the products that best fit his personal needs and tastes: a Microsoft Surface Pro, a Samsung Galaxy Note 3, and a third-gen iPad.Google+ | Twitter | More posts by Calob | Subscribe to Calob's posts

Avatar of Calob Horton