XFire bought out again, team laid off.

[hool10]

Xfire has been sold by MTV / Viacom to Titan Gaming, a startup. The vast majority of the remaining staff has been laid off.

There is no official press release at this time.

As a Web Developer who has been with this company full-time for 4+ years, I'm sad to have to pack up all of the posters from my office walls, though MTV has been trying to sell us for some time now.

I received about 800 messages in the minutes after the system broadcast went out. If I don't respond to your messages, please understand that it's nothing personal.

The Xfire service itself, as far as I know, will continue. A million people a day log into the Xfire client and FOUR million unique visitors use the website each week. No one in their right mind, in this author's humble opinion, would walk away from that kind of userbase by terminating the program.

Thank you all for your support!

I have always believed in Xfire, and our community of users has played a big part in that. Together, we made Gaming History.

http://www.xfire.com/blog/artaxs/2073180/

I'll tell you right here and now that Xfire is far superior than Steam any day. Basically it does everything Steam currently does, much better, did it earlier, and Steam may ever do. The only reason why I use Steam is where all my games and friends are. I'm really truly sad to see the team out of a job and sad to see where XFire is headed now. ;(

 

[Qonfused]

I used Xfire before Valve got its shit together and made Steam what it is today. I haven't logged into Xfire in years.

 

[Acepilotf14]

You can buy and download games on Xfire from any PC?

I had no idea.

 

[hool10]

I use it to upload my Eve Online PVP videos and other stuff. My Eve Online corp needed a place for a forum once and they had a clan registration page. It provided a free forum and calendar feature with friends list built right into the overlay. Hell they even have a web browser right in the thing.

 

[tesher06]

I second what Qonfused said.

 

[Escaep]

If what is now Xfire gets screwed over by the new owners, the community will make something newer.

 

[T-6000]

Oh man, many are not going to be one bit happy with this news. I don't use XFire, but I know that it is very popular and favorable.

 

[Ridge]

I'll tell you right here and now that Xfire is far superior than Steam any day. Basically it does everything Steam currently does, much better, did it earlier, and Steam may ever do.

How good is it at purchasing and downloading games to any location as long as you are logged in?

Its been almost a year since I logged in to Xfire. My COD4 clan required it's usage. They gave me the boot in October.

 

[63]

If what is now Xfire gets screwed over by the new owners, the community will make something newer.

The community has Steam, there is no need for another Xfire clone.

 

[Lucid]

The day Steam allows us to take screenshots and record videos is the day I'll uninstall xfire, because really that's the only thing I use xfire for along with talking to some old clan mates that don't use Steam.

 

[DEATHMASTER]

Too bad for the team. Xfire is awesome. I use it simply to record my stats these days.
Since 2005 when I got it, I've played about 203.7 days (4889 hrs) of games.

 

[Tollbooth Willie]

Xfire sucks. Haven't logged in for a looooong time. Sad that these guys got laid off though.

 

[Ren.182]

I only use xfire to record my playing stats too. Steam does everything else I need really, and any games that don't use steamworks usually have their own friends lists built in.

 

[Stigmata]

And if they don't, you just launch them through Steam and use the chat overlay.

 

[Ren.182]

I mean when trying to follow people into games.

 

[StarBob]

I didn't even know it still existed. I had it back when it first came out and basically only two or three people ever logged on it. Also, when I used it, it barely did half of what Steam does now... and of course... you can't buy games for crazy cheap on xfire.

Sucks to be laid off though, but I mean... I didn't even know they were still around so they must not be doing a great job getting their name out there.

 

[Escaep]

The day Steam allows us to take screenshots and record videos is the day I'll uninstall xfire, because really that's the only thing I use xfire for along with talking to some old clan mates that don't use Steam.

As well as file transfer, and broadcasting your gameplay. Plus more of my friends play non-steam games. Theres really only one person I talk to regularly on Steam, xfire about 10-15.

Sucks to be laid off though, but I mean... I didn't even know they were still around so they must not be doing a great job getting their name out there.

Well they must be doing something right if in 2006 MTV bought them out for $102million. If you used in in its infancy and never again then thats just silly. Xfire today is extremely popular and the only drawback to it is you can't get games as cheap as Steam. But when a sale does come on Steam, you can buy it and its supported by Xfire.

 

[StarBob]

As well as file transfer, and broadcasting your gameplay. Plus more of my friends play non-steam games. Theres really only one person I talk to regularly on Steam, xfire about 10-15.


Well they must be doing something right if in 2006 MTV bought them out for $102million. If you used in in its infancy and never again then thats just silly. Xfire today is extremely popular and the only drawback to it is you can't get games as cheap as Steam. But when a sale does come on Steam, you can buy it and its supported by Xfire.

I don't know anyone that uses XFire anymore. It was like a big thing back in the day... "see what your friends are playing and join the game!" but I gave up on that pretty quickly. Sounds like you just got attached to it. It's like not giving up ICQ or me not giving up AIM because I talk to all of 10 people on it. Just because someone buys something doesn't mean it's good... I mean Time Warner bought AOL... and the fact that MTV bought it means even less since they latch on to anything that might keep them cutting edge. They obviously thought this would get them deeper in the gaming market but apparently it didn't so they cut it loose.

 

[Escaep]

I don't know anyone that uses XFire anymore. It was like a big thing back in the day... "see what your friends are playing and join the game!" but I gave up on that pretty quickly. Sounds like you just got attached to it. It's like not giving up ICQ or me not giving up AIM because I talk to all of 10 people on it. Just because someone buys something doesn't mean it's good... I mean Time Warner bought AOL... and the fact that MTV bought it means even less since they latch on to anything that might keep them cutting edge. They obviously thought this would get them deeper in the gaming market but apparently it didn't so they cut it loose.

It depends on the games you play. You probably play more Steam/Valve games which is why you like Steam more and its more functional to you. But for me I don't really play steam supported games anymore and most of my friends play games that don't require steam. Xfire to me is better in every aspect apart from being able to buy games and get good deals through their store. If steam were to implement file transfer, screenshot and video recording, as well as live broadcasting of your games and support almost every game out there, I'd use steam. But, it doesn't, so I use Xfire more.

 

[_-_-SELAS-_-_]

What I hate about xfire is that when you want to switch server you also have to close the game, as oppsed to steam and the friends system in BFBC2. But xfire is still nice to have around should I need it for some game in the future.

 

[Krynn72]

as well as live broadcasting of your games

What do you mean by this?

Also, I too thought xfire was dead. I always thought it was like myspace getting trounced by facebook. Last time I used it was years ago, and it had an awful user interface so I hated it even then.

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

Haven't used Xfire since it was crashing a few games of mine, also it's social functions were replaced by bnet 2.0 and Steam respectively for me, though I know it was still used by many.

 

[CyberPitz]

Haven't used Xfire since the BF2 days, and for recording video, I use FRAPS, then Steam for the obvious differences.

 

[Acepilotf14]

What do you mean by this?

Also, I too thought xfire was dead. I always thought it was like myspace getting trounced by facebook. Last time I used it was years ago, and it had an awful user interface so I hated it even then.

I think he means streaming, which can now be accomplished by a program devoted to that purpose, Procaster.

 

[Escaep]

What do you mean by this?

Say you're playing the ending to Episode 2 and you have a friend who wants to watch you, you can stream your video live over Xfire and he can watch it in near realtime. http://www.xfire.com/about_live/

I think he means streaming, which can now be accomplished by a program devoted to that purpose, Procaster.

Why download, install, and run a program that does that when its built in to xfire and works just as good? Plus with Xfire theres no limit on how you long you want to cast and you can broadcast in HD for free. Whereas with Procaster if you want HD its $350 a month.

 

[hool10]

Haven't used Xfire since the BF2 days, and for recording video, I use FRAPS, then Steam for the obvious differences.

Yeah Xfire has FRAPS built into it and doesn't make a big ass file but still maintains the quality of the video.

Steam basically has cheap games on it with Steam DRM.

 

[CyberPitz]

Your last sentence is useless to me, cause your saying it as if it's terrible. I have no problem with "Steam DRM".

And I wouldn't use Xfire just for FRAPS. That's like using Steam just to Chat.