Microsoft is closing down its internet games on Windows
The team decided with "heavy hearts" to shut down Hearts and other titles.
- I've been covering technology and mobile for 12 years, first as a telecommunications reporter and assistant editor at ZDNet in Australia, then as CNET's West Coast head of breaking news, and now in the Thought Leadership team.
Microsoft Internet Games are soon to be no more.
Farewell, Microsoft Internet Games. The tech giant is shutting down the internet games Hearts, Spades, Checkers, Backgammon and Reversi, as well as MSN Go on various versions of Windows including XP, ME and 7. The games will disappear from Windows XP and Windows ME on July 31 but won't fade from Windows 7 until Jan. 22, as reported earlier by The Next Web.
"It is with heavy hearts that we have made the difficult decision," the Windows gaming team said this month. "However, the time has come for us, along with our hardware and software partners, to invest our resources towards more recent technologies."
Microsoft has been focused on developing and launching its xCloud Xbox streaming service, which will become available in October. The service will let you play on devices like phones and tablets , and will work with all 3,500 games in the Xbox One library as well as the 1,900 titles still in development.
"Project xCloud is us putting Xboxes in our data centers and allowing people to access those," Xbox chief Phil Spencer said during E3 last month. "We scratched our heads and said 'wait a minute, we have tens of millions of people who already have an Xbox One at home, what if they could turn their local Xbox into their own version of xCloud, so they can stream out of their home?'"
