EA Shutting Down Online Support for 50 Games

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In April, GameSpy made an announcement that they were shutting down all hosted services for all games, on all platforms, on May 31, 2014. Since the announcement, Electronic Arts stated it was trying to find a solution to keep all EA games running on GameSpy, but it hasn’t experienced any success. Due to “technical difficulties” and “consumer experience,” EA is deciding to pull all 50 games, and it includes titles running on PC, MAC, PlayStation 2, Playstation 3, Wii, and the Nintendo DS.

Here is a list of all of the games set for the June 30th online service shutdown:

  1. Battlefield 1942 for PC and Mac (including The Road to Rome and Secret Weapons of WW2 expansions)
  2. Battlefield 2 for PC (including Special Forces expansion)
  3. Battlefield 2: Modern Combat for PlayStation 2
  4. Battlefield 2142 for PC and Mac (including Northern Strike expansion)
  5. Battlefield Vietnam for PC
  6. Bejeweled (r) 2 for the Wii
  7. Bulletstorm for PlayStation 3
  8. Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars for PC and Mac (including Kane’s Wrath expansion)
  9. Command & Conquer: Generals for PC and Mac (including Zero Hour expansion)
  10. Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 for PC and Mac
  11. Crysis 2 for PC
  12. Crysis for PC
  13. Crysis Wars for PC
  14. Dracula – Undead Awakening for the Wii
  15. Dragon Sakura for Nintendo DS
  16. EA Sports 06 for PC
  17. F1 2002 for PC
  18. FIFA Soccer 08 (KOR) for the Wii
  19. FIFA Soccer 08 for Nintendo DS
  20. FIFA Soccer 09 for Nintendo DS
  21. FIFA Soccer 10 for Nintendo DS
  22. FIFA Street 3 for Nintendo DS
  23. Full Spectrum Warrior: Ten Hammers for PlayStation 2
  24. Global Operations for PC
  25. GREEN DAY: ROCK BAND for the Wii
  26. James Bond: Nightfire for PC
  27. Madden NFL 08 for Nintendo DS
  28. Madden NFL 09 for Nintendo DS
  29. Master of Orion III for PC
  30. Medal of Honor: Allied Assault for PC and Mac (including Breakthrough and Spearhead expansions)
  31. MySims Party for Wii
  32. MySims Racing for Nintendo DS
  33. MySims SkyHeroes for the Wii and DS
  34. NASCAR Sim Racing for PC
  35. NASCAR Thunder 2003 for PC
  36. NASCAR Thunder 2004 for PC
  37. Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 for PC
  38. Need for Speed: ProStreet for Nintendo DS
  39. Need for Speed: Undercover for Nintendo DS
  40. Neverwinter Nights 2 for PC and Mac
  41. Neverwinter Nights for PC, Mac and Linux (including Hordes of the Underdark and Shadows of Undrentide expansions)
  42. SimCity Creator for Wii
  43. Skate It for Nintendo DS
  44. Sneezies for the WiiSpore
  45. Creatures for Nintendo DS
  46. Spore Hero Arena for Nintendo DS
  47. Star Wars: Battlefront for PC and PlayStation 2
  48. Star Wars: Battlefront II for PC and PlayStation 2
  49. THE BEATLES: ROCK BAND for the Wii
  50. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 for Nintendo DS

EA further explained the reason for the shut down, “As games get replaced with newer titles, the number of players still enjoying the older games dwindles to a level — typically fewer than 1% 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. 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.”

How do you feel about this change from one of the major game industries? Do you think it’s hypocritical of Electronic Arts to pull a stunt like this or do you think it’s necessary?