Halo: Combat Evolved multiplayer will survive in the face of Gamespy shutdown

Halo: Combat Evolved will not see its online multiplayer affected by the shutdown of GameSpy's servers thanks to online service GameRanger.

GameRanger is a free-to-download service that provides server support to games that have none. Support for both the first Halo, its demo and multiplayer-centric Halo: Custom Edition will continue through this service, as well as additional features including friends lists and messaging.

The Halo community is also seeking alternatives in the face of GameSpy's demise, with users at the Halo Fixes forums preparing for the shutdown with the help of Bungie. The game developer will be releasing a 1.0.10 of Halo PC and Halo CE soon which will provide a workaround for the game's lobby which would otherwise disappear.

A number of titles from Electronic Arts, Activision, Epic Games and Bohemia Interactive, among others, will also survive the GameSpy shutdown, it was recently confirmed.

GameSpy Technology, the Glu Mobile-owned service that provides multiplayer functionality for dozens of games on consoles, computers and mobile devices, will shut down as of May 31, it was announced earlier this year.

"Effective May 31, 2014, GameSpy will cease providing all hosting services for all games still using GameSpy," read a statement at the time. "Thanks for a great ride!" The company had already stopped licensing out its services to publishers as of Jan. 1, 2013.

GameSpy Technology has existed in some form since 1997, when it debuted as a listing service for Quake server IP addresses. It is a separate entity from the gaming site GameSpy, which was shut down by its parent company, Ziff Davis, in February 2013.