EA shutting down online services for more older games

EA is shutting down online services for another round of older games, as it does so like to do, including Burnout Revenge, January 2011 release Spare Parts, and EA Sports MMA--one of the first games to use EA's Online Pass scheme.

11

As it does so like to do, Electronics Arts is shutting down for the online portions of another round of games it deems under-played. Servers will be going offline soon for games including Burnout Revenge, January 2011 release Spare Parts, and EA Sports MMA, one of the first titles to use EA's Online Pass scheme.

Eleven console games are going down on April 13, listed by EA (via MCV):

  • BOOM BLOX Bash Party for Wii

  • Burnout Revenge for Xbox 360

  • EA Create for PC, PlayStation 3, Wii and Xbox 360

  • EA Sports Active 2.0 for PlayStation 3, Wii and Xbox 360

  • EA Sports Active NFL Training Camp for Wii

  • FIFA 10 for PlayStation Portable and Wii

  • The Godfather II for PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360

  • MMA for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360

  • Need for Speed ProStreet for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360

  • The Saboteur (loss of The Midnight Club access) for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360

  • Spare Parts for PlayStation 3 Xbox 360

"As games get replaced with newer titles, the number of players still enjoying the older games dwindles to a level -- 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," is the boilerplate reason EA gives for its online shutdowns.

A small round of mobile online closures are also coming on March 31, including Battlefield 3: Aftershock, which only launched this February but was pulled from the App Store within weeks for being a bit rubbish. Here's the mobile stuff going offline:

  • Battlefield 3: Aftershock for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch

  • Fantasi Safari for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch

  • Ghost Harvest for iPhone

From The Chatty
  • reply
    March 19, 2012 6:00 AM

    Alice O'Connor posted a new article, EA shutting down online services for more older games.

    EA is shutting down online services for another round of older games, as it does so like to do, including Burnout Revenge, January 2011 release Spare Parts, and EA Sports MMA--one of the first games to use EA's Online Pass scheme.

    • reply
      March 19, 2012 6:09 AM

      Post 6 months from now: EA shuts down ME3 multiplayer, replaces it with DLC that automatically sets galactic readiness at 100% and allows Wrex to be a romance option for male Shepard.

    • reply
      March 19, 2012 7:15 AM

      I'm not sure I like this plan. It devalues the game I purchased from you even more. This is why we all liked the ability to run the server off our own systems EA. If you shut down your server you need a way for the consumer to continue to do so on his own. Get to fucking work EA.

      • reply
        March 19, 2012 8:45 AM

        When you install the game, and sometimes before you are allowed to login to online services you agree to a terms and conditions document that says they can make the decision to terminate online services at any time with a certain amount of notice prior to do doing so. Somewhere in that document I believe there's also a section that says you agree to accept the product as-is when you install it.

        • reply
          March 19, 2012 8:57 AM

          The presence of a clause in an EULA doesn't mean it will stand up in a court of law. I heard about the FTC complaint about Mass Effect 3; I think we need more FTC complaints about more shady practices like these, because the megapublishers will ride this as hard as they can, since most consumers don't care that they're being swindled.

      • reply
        March 19, 2012 9:04 AM

        [deleted]

      • reply
        March 19, 2012 2:27 PM

        EA doesn't give a fuck about whether you can keep playing the game you already paid them for. As far as they're concerned, they'd be better off if they could just vaporize your copy so that you'd have to buy another one of their games.

    • reply
      March 19, 2012 9:06 AM

      Develop posted an interesting EA forums comment: "Wait, I am slightly confused because you went way out of the way to justify your Online Pass crap as being there to support the online servers (since those dirty second-hand purchasers didn't invest in supporting those servers). Now you are telling me that you are going to shut down the online service for a game that started the joke that is your Online Pass service."

      I do remember EA justifying their Online Pass program as being a way to provide revenue to maintain servers, back when EA Sports MMA and Tiger Woods were launched with it. But no, EA was only trying to punish GameStop, and were going to shut down the servers when they dropped below 1% of total customer population.

    • reply
      March 19, 2012 9:46 AM

      they need to remove achievements that are multiplayer based then...

      • reply
        March 19, 2012 1:09 PM

        Microsoft has a clause that achievements are supposed to be obtainable by anyone. I'm not sure if there is a time-frame on this, but obviously these multi-player achievements are no longer obtainable by 'anyone' after they shut their servers down.

    • reply
      March 19, 2012 9:47 AM

      [deleted]

      • reply
        March 19, 2012 11:01 AM

        There was a Joystiq commenter who bought MMA a month ago; now he can't play it online after April. This is EA saying that if a game isn't huge like Battlefield, Mass Effect, Madden or SW:TOR, then its online component is going to get shut down when it goes under 1%, regardless of how soon that is (for MMA, under 2 years; for Spare Parts, under 16 months).

      • reply
        March 19, 2012 1:07 PM

        EA is literally preventing you from playing online portions of some of their games. I don't know if that's hypothetical anymore.
        Remember back when people used to be able to set up their own servers? Some publishers still allow that. I remember there being discussions here on the Shack when...I believe it was Bad Company 2...allowed you to rent a server from them or their approved server resellers, and it was actually seen as a victory for the consumer.

        • reply
          March 19, 2012 2:24 PM

          Yeah, that was after MW2 killed off dedicated servers entirely on PC. Therefore, locked-down rent-only servers looked appealing in comparison.

          There are almost no non-indie titles allowing community-hosted dedicated servers, and if they do, it's usually unranked-only. This is because publishers now want as much control over the game experience as possible.

      • reply
        March 20, 2012 8:08 AM

        If they shut down 10 games with less than 1% of people playing them online they just potentially pissed off just under 10% of their online player base. Sure, shut down the dedicated servers to save money but release a patch so those players can continue to play on their own. Little things like this build brand loyalty. I just had a LAN party at my house 2 weeks ago and we actually played a lot of older games since they are cheaper to purchase since everyone might not own the same games. I know to not even consider EA games to purchase now because they might be usable at a later time.

    • reply
      March 19, 2012 2:11 PM

      NOT BURNOUT REVENGE!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

      • reply
        March 19, 2012 2:27 PM

        has there been a newer burnout since revenge?

      • reply
        March 19, 2012 7:26 PM

        I love burnout revenge more than any other racing game, I'm pretty upset to see them take down the servers. I'd help keep a server afloat if given the option. If anyone wants to get some good races going send me a message

    • reply
      March 19, 2012 4:24 PM

      EA also deliberately provide a shitty service for games that they WANT to get under 1%...

      People get pissed off with the shitty servers, unable to connect a lot of the time and lack of updates and fixes... then leave, as the numbers drop, EA watches the countdown. They probably have closing down parties.

Hello, Meet Lola