| tarheel91 said: Err, correct my if I'm wrong, but don't most Steam games have dedicated servers run by users? If that's the case, they shouldn't have to deal with too much server upkeep beyond download/cloud servers, right? |
Multiplayer servers actually have little to do with Steam/XBL/PSN. In all three cases, the platform holder must host servers to keep track of user information (achievements, games you buy, etc.) but they do NOT host servers to allow for online play (barring exceptions like Sony's own Warhawk, since they made the game). When it comes to playing games online, either the company that made the game hosts dedicated servers (like EA does for their sports titles) or they use a P2P network which uses the machine of the player creating the match as a host in lieu of a server (ala Gears of War). PC games are special in that they often allow private entities to host dedicated servers in addition to those hosted by the company that created the game, but that is unrelated to whether or not they work with Steam.
