Update: A 2K representative provided Ars with the following statement late Tuesday night:

"2K has restored the NBA 2K14 servers and all online services. Beginning today, we are extending the support of all NBA 2K servers from 18 to 27 months following each release, giving our players more time to experience and enjoy the highest rated NBA simulation video game franchise. The opinions of our community continue to have a positive impact on our business decisions as we strive to create the best possible experience for all of our fans."

No word yet from 2K on whether those single-player save files will somehow remain playable after the servers eventually go down for good, but we'll let you know if we hear more.

Original Story

Anyone that plays online games has to accept the fact that the servers for those games will probably eventually be shut down by the centralized publisher that operates them (games with player-controlled server support notwithstanding). What most players probably don't expect is for their single-player game saves to become permanently unusable because an online server somewhere goes down.

That's what has been happening to players of NBA2K14 this past week, though. As Polygon reports, since a planned online server shutdown for the game on March 31, previously created save files in the MyCareer and MyGM modes can no longer pass a built-in server check on the PS4 and Xbox One versions of the game. That means those files are simply unusable, and all that single player progress has effectively been lost.

"This means that if you had created a MyCareer or a MyGM online save file that was once connected to our servers it too sadly has retired and is no longer available for use and it would be necessary to re-create these files as offline saves," 2K Support writes in a message to affected users, obtained by Polygon. "Sadly this may come as an inconvenience to some of you and if so we truly do understand and can feel for how upsetting this may seem as there always is a special bond that occurs between a player and their MyCareer save but all good things must come to an end and rest assured your MyCareer or MyGM went out while on top!"

The problem comes despite earlier assurances from 2K that the online save files would "turn to offline saves" following the server shutdown.

NBA2K14 players have run into problems with the game's save system before, when the game's servers went down intermittently just after Christmas of 2013. Players that created a standalone "offline" save were able to get around those problems and won't be affected by the now-permanent server outage either. The vast majority of players that went the default route of creating an online save, however, seem to have no way to retain their progress, short of starting over. A 2K representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Users are predictably unhappy with the unexpected removal of all their offline progress, which is due to an online server issue. "Was 1/3 into my tenth and final season of #NBA2K14 career mode and you shut down the servers for good? Thanks a lot, @2K, I'm done with you!" Twitter user James Walker writes. "Hard 2 believe a game that is 1.5 years old is useless already. Can't access my season now. Awful way 2 treat ur customers. #nba2k14" added Twitter user @metalupurthrsh.

On the 2K Support forums, user AussieDad075 writes about the created player he had on the cusp of being named MVP of the NBA finals before the plug was pulled unceremoniously. "Why is Mycareer saved online in the first place? Pretty poor you should at least support your previous years title until 2016."

While these kinds of single-player effects are an extreme example, the situation highlights just how fleeting the online support can be for many games these days, especially when it comes to console sports titles. Last month, Sony announced that the servers for MLB 14 The Show would be going down on June 18, roughly 13 months after the game was first released. The online servers for recent NBA2K games have only been active for 13 to 16 months after their initial release, even though servers are still active for 2008 2K release Top Spin 3.

Shutting down online support for older sports titles seems like an obvious effort to convince players to upgrade to the latest annual entry as soon as possible. But it doesn't have to be that way—EA usually maintains online servers for its marquee sports titles for about two years after release, letting players continue to play online even if they skip a year. That didn't stop EA from being the subject of a 2013 class-action lawsuit that accused the company of not maintaining game servers for a "reasonable time." That case was recently sent to arbitration by a district court judge at EA's request.

The problem is much bigger than sports games, though, as Nintendo demonstrated when it shut off online gameplay for the entirety of the Wii and Nintendo DS libraries last year. While there's a robust homebrew effort to restore that support unofficially, publishers and platform holders should really be planning ahead for this kind of eventuality from the start. If and when the original creators are no longer willing to maintain online servers, they should be willing and able to hand over the operation of those servers to the remaining fan community going forward.