EA-Land Becoming No Man's Land in August

Publisher Electronic Arts has announced that it will be shutting down its non-linear online playplace EA-Land (PC) of August 1.

Initially known as The Sims Online and launched in late 2002, the Maxis-developed title was rebranded with a new name, new servers, and new features earlier this year.

"The lifetime of the game has drawn to an end, and now we will be focusing on new ideas and other innovative concepts in the games arena," reads a post on the company's blog.

"We'd like to thank everyone who has taken part in this online community as a unique experience in the virtual world."

Though the game became free-to-play when it was relaunched as EA-Land, optional subscriptions were available. Subscription billing is set to end soon, and any current subscribers will receive either $15 off at the online EA Store or a three month subscription to the POGO casual games portal.