Electronic Arts (EA) has announced its decision to shutdown around 50 gaming titles from different franchises of the publisher. This shutdown might affect hundreds of players who are still hooked to some of the EA classics like Battlefield 2 and Crysis 2. EA will start this process from 30 June onwards.
EA announced its decision to go ahead with the shutdown as it claimed drop in people playing the game. It also acknowledged that it was not easy for the company to take this decision since these games were the result of developers putting in their heart and soul.
"The decisions to retire older EA games are never easy. The development teams and operational staff pour their hearts into these games almost as much as the customers playing them and it is hard to see one retired," said EA in a post on its official website.
"But as games get replaced with newer titles, the number of players still enjoying the older games dwindles to a level - typically fewer than 1 percent of all peak online players across all EA titles - where it's no longer feasible to continue the behind-the-scenes work involved with keeping these games up and running," EA added.
EA also said that instead of focusing on these older games, it will now give its engineering and IT staffs more leeway to keep its focus on its other popular video games.
EA will be shutting down the online services of Lord of Ultima on 12 May 2014 and World Series of YAHTZEE (free for iOS)'s online services will also be shutdown on 1 October 2014.
Below is the full list of video games whose online services will be shutdown on 30 June (EA Website):
- Battlefield 1942 for PC and Mac (including The Road to Rome and Secret Weapons of WW2 expansions)
- Battlefield 2 for PC (including Special Forces expansion)
- Battlefield 2: Modern Combat for PlayStation 2
- Battlefield 2142 for PC and Mac (including Northern Strike expansion)
- Battlefield Vietnam for PC
- Bejeweled (r) 2 for the Wii
- Bulletstorm for PlayStation 3
- Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars for PC and Mac (including Kane's Wrath expansion)
- Command & Conquer: Generals for PC and Mac (including Zero Hour expansion)
- Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 for PC and Mac
- Crysis 2 for PC
- Crysis for PC
- Crysis Wars for PC
- Dracula - Undead Awakening for the Wii
- Dragon Sakura for Nintendo DS
- EA Sports 06 for PC
- F1 2002 for PC
- FIFA Soccer 08 (KOR) for the Wii
- FIFA Soccer 08 for Nintendo DS
- FIFA Soccer 09 for Nintendo DS
- FIFA Soccer 10 for Nintendo DS
- FIFA Street 3 for Nintendo DS
- Full Spectrum Warrior: Ten Hammers for PlayStation 2
- Global Operations for PC
- GREEN DAY: ROCK BAND for the Wii
- James Bond: Nightfire for PC
- Madden NFL 08 for Nintendo DS
- Madden NFL 09 for Nintendo DS
- Master of Orion 3 for PC
- Medal of Honor: Allied Assault for PC and Mac (including Breakthrough and Spearhead expansions)
- MySims Party for Wii
- MySims Racing for Nintendo DS
- MySims SkyHeroes for the Wii and DS
- NASCAR Sim Racing for PC
- NASCAR Thunder 2003 for PC
- NASCAR Thunder 2004 for PC
- Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 for PC
- Need for Speed: ProStreet for Nintendo DS
- Need for Speed: Undercover for Nintendo DS
- Neverwinter Nights 2 for PC and Mac
- Neverwinter Nights for PC, Mac and Linux (including Hordes of the Underdark and Shadows of Undrentide expansions)
- SimCity Creator for Wii
- Skate It for Nintendo DS
- Sneezies for the Wii
- Spore Creatures for Nintendo DS
- Spore Hero Arena for Nintendo DS
- Star Wars: Battlefront for PC and PlayStation 2
- Star Wars: Battlefront 2 for PC and PlayStation 2
- THE BEATLES: ROCK BAND for the Wii
- Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 for Nintendo DS
(Ed:AJ)
