The ever-pious Relic have fulfilled their pledge to deliver Dawn of War 2 from Games for Windows Live. The game and its two expansions are now grounded in Steam’s multiplayer platform, and will retain leaderboards and achievements on the studio’s own servers.
As with any work done in service of the forever-emperor, however, there is some measure of sacrifice.
All trace of Games for Windows Live in Dawn of War 2 was burned away in an update yesterday. Relic’s Battle Servers will now handle the game’s multiplayer networking.
Relic have divided up previously shared leaderboards and achievements for the main game and its first expansion, Chaos Rising.
What we’ve lost in the purifying flame is the ability to direct connect, play over LAN, or pause in multiplayer.
Relic reported back in June that Dawn of War’s Referee mode wasn’t working under its new server structure, and have now accepted that loss too.
But it’s a far better alternative than no multiplayer at all – the future threatened by the decidedly unsteady GFWL. Despite Microsoft’s public protestations that they’ll continue to support Games for Windows Live, their own Twisted Pixel recently shifted Ms. Splosion Man over to Steamworks. Not terribly reassuring, is it?
Cheers, VG247.