Decking in the matrix, once again
User wwm0nkey on Resetera has revealed that thanks to a push from fans, Microsoft has revived the matchmaking service on the 2007 Shadowrun shooter on PC and Xbox 360.
The Shadowrun tabletop RPG has seen its share of video game representation over the years, but it hasn’t all been good. The 2007 multi-player shooter is seen as the biggest flop. This is mainly because it has very little to do with the tabletop game and was widely written off before it even hit the market. It didn’t help the PC version that this was when Microsoft was trying to push people to the maligned Windows Vista, and they locked it to that version of the OS and left anyone unwilling to upgrade out in the cold.
Nonetheless, the shooter has always had its fans. According to wwm0nkey, the game was considered dead until about a year ago when it was discovered it was still working. This continued until about a week ago when matchmaking fixes for older Call of Duty matchmaking were pushed out, which inadvertently borked Shadowrun. Fans reached out to Microsoft, who were quick to fix things. Things are apparently back now and faster than ever.
Bring it in, Chummer
wwm0nkey gives props to Adam Isgreen, Jason Ronald, and others on the backward compatibility team at Microsoft for getting things back into ship-shape. Considering that Microsoft probably has little financial incentive to do this, it’s an extremely solid thing to do. High-fives for everyone involved and hugs for anyone who feels comfortable.
Being a fan of the property, I have always been a bit curious about Shadowrun 2007, but I thought the ship had sailed on actually trying it. I’m not much of a multi-player shooter, but I might have to hurry to get some time into this one before I lose my chance entirely. Not sure I’ll join the unofficial Discord server. I assume there are people there, and I have social anxiety.
Shadowrun is still available as part of the backward-compatible catalog for Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S.
