History Main / DefunctOnlineVideoGames

* ''VideoGame/{{Gigantic}}'' (2017-2018): Relaunched in 2024 as ''Gigantic: Rampage Edition''.

It's also worth noting that this trope is a major reason why {{UsefulNotes/DRM}} is controversial in the gamer community: DRM often requires connection to a server to verify the software as an anti-piracy measure. Thus, if the developers stop maintaining their DRM servers, you can be prevented from playing a game you bought perfectly legally. While the more benign variants of this will require it only once upon the initial install, even that can later make an otherwise offline game unplayable if a re-install of any sort is needed. For simplicity, though, this page will stick to games whose major or only component was the online mode.

** [[/index]]''Ensemble Girls!!'' (2016-2018): Updated version with UsefulNotes/{{Live2D}} models. Ultimately replaced with ''Ensemble Girls!! ~Memories~'' in 2018, allowing players to read the stories from the updated version.[[index]]

* ''VideoGame/TRONEvolution'' (2010-2019): Although an offline single-player game, Creator/{{Disney}}'s license of the [=SecuROM=] [[UsefulNotes/DigitalRightsManagement DRM]] software expired in 2019, rendering the game unplayable without hacking.

* ''VideoGame/MarioKartWii'' (2008-2014): Employing the fanmade Wiimmfi server as a replacement infrastructure for the aforementionned Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. Technically, Wiimmfi can be used to play any Wii game online, but as demonstrated by [[https://wiimmfi.de/stats/game Wiimmfi's live game stats page]], only ''Mario Kart Wii''[='=]s community has truly leveraged it to maintain a healthy player base that would continue to last for over a decade.[[note]]Though ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl'' and its {{game mod}}s may be as popular as ''Mario Kart Wii'' among Wii games, their [[TournamentPlay competitive players]] prefer to cut the Wiimmfi middleman in favor of peer-to-peer netplay with the Dolphin [[UsefulNotes/{{emulation}} emulator]] for PC on the basis of its 1-on-1 gameplay compared to 12 racers in a lobby, while contemporary casual ''Brawl'' online play is basically non-existent.[[/note]]

** ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheRays'' (2017-2024)

* ''VideoGame/{{Scribblenauts}}'' has two installments that were released on the Platform/WiiU and the Platform/Nintendo3DS, both of which had online markets, where items created in the game's item creator could be sold and traded, that went offline when Nintendo Network went defunct in April 2024. However, the port for Platform/Steam, as well as the later port for the Platform/NintendoSwitch, are still online to this day.

* ''VideoGame/{{Scribblenauts}}'' has two installments that were released on the Platform/WiiU and the Platform/Nintendo3DS, both of which had online item-sharing markets that went offline when Nintendo Network went defunct in April 2024. However, the ports for the Platform/PlayStation4 and the Platform/XboxOne, as well as the later ports for the Platform/NintendoSwitch and for mobile, are still online to this day.

* ''VideoGame/{{Scribblenauts}}'' has two installments that were released on the Platform/WiiU and the Platform/Nintendo3DS, both of which had online item-sharing markets that went offline when Nintendo Network went defunct in April 2024. However, the ports for the Platform/PlayStation4 and the Platform/XboxOne, as well as the future ports for the Platform/NintendoSwitch and for mobile, are still online to this day.

* ''VideoGame/{{Scribblenauts}}'' has two installments that were released on the Platform/WiiU, both of which had online item-sharing markets that went offline when Nintendo Network went defunct in April 2024. However, the ports for the Platform/PlayStation4 and the Platform/XboxOne, as well as the future ports for the Platform/NintendoSwitch and for mobile, are still online to this day.

* [[/index]] ''Website/{{Sploder}}'' (2007-2020)[[note]]Though the [[https://sploder.com website itself]] is still up, because the site's features relied on MediaNotes/AdobeFlash to work, it ultimately died out when Flash had its online functionality shut down.[[/note]][[index]]

* Nintendo Network: Online functionality for the Platform/Nintendo3DS and Platform/WiiU (2011/2012-2024)[[labelnote:note1]]''{{Franchise/Pokemon}} Bank'' is the only app on the 3DS to retain online functionality after the Nintendo Network shutdown, in order for it to connect to ''Home'', its modern replacement.[[/labelnote]][[labelnote:note2]]The fan-made [[https://pretendo.network Pretendo]] service restores online multiplayer for games such as ''VideoGame/Splatoon1'' and ''VideoGame/SuperMarioMaker''.[[/labelnote]]

* [[/index]]''[[WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs Seven Dwarfs: The Queen's Return]]'' (2013-2014)[[index]]

* ''[[Anime/SenkiZesshouSymphogear Symphogear XDU]]'' (2017 - 2024): The English/International servers were only up for 5 months (Feb-May 2020), while the game will terminate its Japanese server on January 31st 2024.

* ''VideoGame/{{Pangya}}'' (2004-2016): An extreme case in that both the English and domestic South Korean servers shut down in 2016; as of 2022, the Thai server is the game's last official server.

* ''VideoGame/{{SINoALICE}}'' (2017-2024): The Taiwanese server ended on November 10, 2022 while the Global server followed suit on November 15, 2023. The Japanese server was the last to go on January 15, 2024 but will continue as the post-ending app ''"The Story That Was Once [=SINoALICE=]"'' for players who cleared the final chapter of its GrandFinale before then which will preserve majority of their account data for viewing purposes.

* ''VideoGame/AgeOfEmpiresOnline'' (2011-2014): The game was revived by fans in 2017 in the form of ''Project Celeste'', which was made using the game's publicly-released dev kit and re-released under a non-commercial license from Microsoft themselves. Not only does it contain all the content that was released for the game, it even includes bug fixes, game balances, and new content, including the Roman civilization that was originally being developed before the shutdown.

* ''VideoGame/MarioKartWii'' (2008-2014): Employing the fanmade Wiimmfi server as a replacement infrastructure for the aforementionned Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. Technically, Wiimmfi can be used to play any Wii game online, but as demonstrated by [[https://wiimmfi.de/stats/game its live game stats page]], only ''Mario Kart Wii''[='=]s community has truly leveraged it to maintain a healthy player base that would continue to last for over a decade.[[note]]Though ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl'' and its {{game mod}}s may be as popular as ''Mario Kart Wii'' among Wii games, their [[TournamentPlay competitive players]] prefer to cut the Wiimmfi middleman in favor of peer-to-peer netplay with the Dolphin [[UsefulNotes/{{emulation}} emulator]] for PC on the basis of its 1-on-1 gameplay compared to 12 racers in a lobby, while contemporary casual ''Brawl'' online play is basically non-existent.[[/note]]

* ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros35'' (2020-2021): Its shutdown on March 31, 2021, was planned and announced immediately from its Day 1 launch on October 1, 2020, to fit with the time frame of [[MilestoneCelebration the 35th anniversary]] of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1''. The "Continued Interest" fan server has been developed in response, with the sole caveat that it requires a hacked Platform/NintendoSwitch (the game itself can be played on an emulator, but still a hacked Switch is required to dump the necessary files), which Creator/{{Nintendo}} are fiercely ban-happy against...

* ''VideoGame/TheSimsOnline'' (2001-2009): Has the FanRemake ''[=FreeSO=]'', launched in 2017 and still ongoing as of 2022.