What will happen when the servers turn off? Well, the online multiplayer won't work? That is no different to any other multiplayer game then?
They have stated only the multiplayer uses cloud computing so the singleplayer will be unaffected. It is exactly the same for any other game that has a multiplayer mode.
As for server costs, things have moved on. When MS says each building runs on a 'server', they are simply referring to an elastic VM. It's not wasting any resources. They already have a massive pool of servers which dynamically load balance based on demand (Azure). The servers will spool up when they are needed and be reassigned to other purposes when they aren't. The issue of wasting money on unused rackspace is a thing of the past.
Personally, I can't wait to see more games adopt this technology.
XBL: NathObeaN | PSN: NathObeaN | Steam: NathObeaN
