A real-time strategy game with heavy inspiration from StarCraft just lost its multiplayer and online capabilities, thanks to artificial intelligence. It’s not Skynet, so don’t start looking for John Connor or anything like that, but as you likely know, AI has impacted the video game industry in several ways, both good and bad. While it certainly has its benefits, most of the press surrounding AI in video games is negative, and this news is no exception. When an AI juggernaut comes along and quietly disables the online capabilities of an entire game with millions of dollars behind it, it’s not good for anyone.
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On April 1, 2026, Hathora revealed that Frost Giant Studios’ StarCraft-like RTS, Stormgate, will lose its online multiplayer capabilities at the beginning of May. The announcement came as a result of Hathora’s joining of Fireworks AI. Stormgate was released in Summer 2025, and while it’s not the best-reviewed RTS on the market, that’s not the real issue here. What’s at stake is that a game developer had a deal with a server company, Hathora, which then made another deal with an AI company. The result is that Stormgate can no longer be considered an online game, requiring Frost Giant Studios to patch it so it remains playable offline.
Stormgate Lost Its Servers to Fireworks AI
If you’ve never played Stormgate, you’re honestly not missing much. The game failed to meet expectations despite raising almost $2.8 million through a Kickstarter campaign. That amount, and more than $36.2 from private funding and other investors, went into the game’s creation, but as of writing, it has 89 Mostly Negative and 5,520 Mixed reviews on Steam. That’s not great, but again, the game’s worthiness of play isn’t at issue here — it’s the fact that an AI company can swoop in, merge with an online service like Hathora, and with the stroke of a pen, remove the online capability of a game that absolutely depends on it.
In Hathora’s announcement, the company touted its support for Stormgate, indicating that it “powered server infrastructure for live titles,” but made no mention that this support was coming to an end. Regardless, that’s what’s happened, and it’s left Frost Giant Studios scrambling. The studio posted on Steam, “Our game server orchestration partner, Hathora, has been purchased by an AI company, and they are winding down their service at the end of April [May 5th, according to Hathora’s announcement]. … Stormgate will be patched so that it can be played offline, but online modes will not be available at that point.”
Stormgate’s Server Loss Could Be the Beginning of the End …
I’m not trying to spell doom and say the “End is Nigh” or anything like that, but this kind of thing keeps happening, and it’s unlikely to stop anytime soon. The cost of RAM and many other PC components is on the rise because of AI companies, so it’s unlikely that one indie-published RTS will be the only game to lose out because of a massive company’s acquisitions. The writing’s on the wall, and AI is here to stay, so it may be time for devs to come up with new publishing and maintenance strategies to ensure they don’t fall victim to future mergers and acquisitions that endanger continued access to their games.
What do you think about an AI company causing a game to go offline? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
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