GameSpy denies shutting online servers without warning

On Monday, we brought news that a selection of games had found their GameSpy provided multiplayer matchmaking suddenly taken offline. Neverwinter Nights 1 & 2, Microsoft Flight Simulator X, SWAT 4, Sniper Elite, Hidden and Dangerous 2, Wings of War and Star Wars: Battlefront were all affected, with Sniper Elite devs Rebellion writing that “this decision by Glu was not taken in consultation with us and was beyond our control.”
On their Facebook page, GameSpy have posted a statement in which they say… well, completely the opposite.
“Reports that GameSpy Technologies ‘shutdown servers without warning’ are simply inaccurate,” the middleware provider claims. “Each publisher contracting with GameSpy Technologies elects at its sole discretion whether or not to maintain support for its titles.”
“A number of our publisher partners elected to allow their contracts for GameSpy Technologies’ services to lapse by not continuing to pay for these services,” they continue. “In some cases this lapsing ranges back as much as four years. GameSpy Technologies has continued to provide months, and in some cases years, of service support for free. However we cannot be expected to provide a service free of charge to publishers who choose not to renew their service agreements and in some cases remain delinquent in delivering payment for past services.”
“In each case reported in the press where there was a discontinuation of GameSpy Technologies’ services, the applicable publisher was well aware that they had not made the required payments under their agreements with GameSpy Technologies.”
And an analogy to finish: “For the sake of clarity – the situation is identical to fans attributing fault to the hosting company of a popular website for ceasing hosting services, when the website owner refuses to pay its hosting bill.”
Clarity is certainly not what we have here as, while the other affected studios have remained silent, the remarks by the GLU mobile owned service are a stark contrast to Rebellion’s claims. According to them, “we have been talking to them since to try and get the servers turned back on. We have been informed that in order to do so would cost us tens of thousands of pounds a year – far in excess of how much we were paying previously.”