EA Announces Online Multiplayer Shutdown for Almost Thirty Games
The bulk of the games are EA Sports titles from 2009 and earlier, though 'The Lord of the Rings' games are also being shut down due to the expiration of a licensing deal.
EA insists that "the EA Sports games scheduled for shutdown in February and March 2011 represent roughly 1% of all peak online players across all EA titles."
It goes on to claim that "Despite some people's perception, there is a lot of behind-the-scenes work involved with keeping these older games up and running. We would rather our hard-working engineering and IT staff focus on keeping a positive experience for the other 99% of customers playing our more popular games."
Are any of the games you still play in line for the chop? Here's the hitlist:
Mar 1, 2011 Online Service ShutdownFeb 8, 2011 Online Service Shutdown
- Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 09 for Wii
Jan 17, 2011 Online Service Shutdown
- FIFA 07 for Xbox 360
- FIFA 08 for PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii
- FIFA 09 for PC, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii
- FIFA 09 Ultimate Team for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
- FIFA Street 3 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
- EA SPORTS FIFA Manager 10 for PC
- EA SPORTS Fight Night Round 3 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
- Madden 09 for PlayStation Portable (all regions), PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii
- Madden 10 for PlayStation Portable (all regions), PlayStation 2 and Wii
- NBA LIVE 08 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
- NBA LIVE 09 for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii
- NCAA Basketball 08 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
- NCAA Basketball 09 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
- NCAA Football 07 for Xbox 360
- NCAA Football 08 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
- NCAA Football 09 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
- NCAA Football 10 for PlayStation 2
- NFL Head Coach 09 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
- NHL 08 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
- NHL 09 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
- Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 09 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
- UEFA EURO 2008 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
- 2010 FIFA World Cup for PlayStation Portable and Wii
- 2010 FIFA World Cup Demo for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
Jan 11, 2011 Online Service Shutdown
- The Sims Carnival
Dec 31, 2010 Online Service Shutdown
- The Lord of the Rings, The Battle for Middle-earth II for Xbox 360
- The Lord of the Rings, The Battle for Middle-earth II, The Rise of the Witch-king for Xbox 360
- The Lord of the Rings, The Battle for Middle-earth for PC
- The Lord of the Rings, The Battle for Middle-earth II for PC
- The Lord of the Rings, The Battle for Middle-earth II, The Rise of the Witch-king for PC
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sneak
replyI'm curious if you'd still be able to play head-to-head with a friend online (i.e. does this only apply to ranked matches, match making, stat tracking, etc?). If not, that's pretty lame even though I haven't played anything in the list for years. Maybe you feel like playing an older version of FIFA for nostalgia, or a friend of yours doesn't shell out $60 every year because he's not much of a soccer fan.
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IIRC all of these games run online through EA.com, so there is no independent matchmaking service.
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I'm pretty sure you are correct. This is pretty lame- I have Tiger Woods 09 for the 360 and if a friend picked up a $4 used copy at GameStop I'd like to be able to play online with him since we both already pay for Live. Why does EA insist on the game also requiring their own network to get involved in gameplay?
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They pitched it as they wanted to control the quality of the hosting, but really it's to get you to set up an account, farm your play / game info, control forced advertising, and arguably force you into buying the new editions every 2 years or sooner.
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