The list of Games for Windows Live games grows ever-smaller, which is a good thing, as—if their brief (and subsequently deleted) support update last year was correct—it'll be closing in July. Capcom had previously revealed plans to transition Street Fighter IV and Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition, and, for the preposterously initialled SSFIVAE at least, have now announced when that switch will take place.
"As Ultra Street Fighter IV is coming out soon for Steam, we are looking to transition our current GFWL users over to Steamworks in order to provide the optimal level of support across the board for PC Street Fighter fans," writes Capcom community manager Peter "ComboFiend" Rosas. "We've been working behind the scenes to ensure that this change will be as seamless as possible, but for users who still wish to continue using GFWL, the game will still function as normal for the foreseeable future."
For users who don't still wish to continue using the service, you'll be able to transition to Steamworks from this Friday, 30 May. If you own SSFIVAE through Steam, you'll be prompted to transition from that date, with the client automatically transferring save files. Those with a retail copy of the game will be able to activate their CD Key through Steam. Unfortunately for the latter group, any DLC they'd bought through GFW Live will be lost. "Both paid and free DLC for the GFWL version will not be transferred over in this process," writes Rosas, "but Steam should not be affected."
As for Capcom's other GfW Live games, including Dead Rising 2 and Resident Evil 5, Capcom gave us the following statement: "While we do not have any information regarding changes to the GFWL service, all of our applicable titles continue to support the features and will function normally."
That does call into question exactly what will happen on the expected GfW Live shut-off date. We'll continue to pester Microsoft for a statement on the fate of the service.
