EA Server Shutdowns [Feb 16, 2010, 10:36 pm ET] – Share – Viewing Comments
A new EA Service Update announces plans to shut down online servers for some of their previous titles (thanks Kotaku), though the number of games affected is not as extensive as the list of games for which support was discontinued. There are only two PC games on the hit list for March 16: Lord of the Rings: Conquest and Mercenaries 2: World in Flames. They also want it known this is not undertaken lightly, saying: "As background information, the games scheduled for shutdown in March and April 2010 represent less than 0.3% of all peak online players across all EA titles. 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 99.7% of customers playing our more popular games. These decisions to retire games is never easy. The EA 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. We hope you have gotten many hours of enjoyment out of the games and we appreciate your ongoing patronage." The full list of EA's discontinued game servers follows.
March 16, 2010 Online Service Shutdown
Def Jam for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
Godfather for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
Lord of the Rings: Conquest for PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
Mercenaries 2: World in Flames for PC
Need for Speed: Carbon for PlayStation Portable
Need for Speed: ProStreet for PlayStation Portable
Simpsons for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
April 15, 2010 Online Service Shutdown
Burnout 3: Takedown for PlayStation 2
Army of Two for PlayStation 3 (Asia only)
Additionally, the shutdown of Xbox LIVE for Original Xbox consoles and games (scheduled for April 15, 2010) will retire online services for the following titles:
Battlefield 2: Modern Combat for Xbox
Burnout 3: Takedown for Xbox
Madden NFL 09 for Xbox
Previously Shut Down Online Service
Arena Football for PlayStation 2 and Xbox
Arena Football™: Road to Glory for PlayStation 2
Armies of Exigo for PC
Burnout Revenge for PlayStation 2 and Xbox
Burnout™ Dominator for PlayStation Portable
FIFA 2005 for PC, PlayStation 2 and Xbox
FIFA 06 for PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Xbox and Xbox 360
FIFA 07 for PC, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 2 and Xbox
FIFA World Cup 2006 for PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Xbox and Xbox 360
Facebreaker for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3
Fantasy Football 09 for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3
Fight Night Round 2 for PlayStation 2 and Xbox
Fight Night Round 3 for PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable and Xbox
Goldeneye: Rogue Agent for Nintendo Game Cube, PlayStation 2 and Xbox
MVP Baseball™ 2005 for PC, PlayStation 2 and Xbox
MVP™ 07 NCAA® Baseball for PlayStation 2 and Xbox
Madden NFL 05 for PC, PlayStation 2 and Xbox
Madden NFL 06 for PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Xbox and Xbox 360
Madden NFL 07 for PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Xbox and Xbox 360
Madden NFL 08 for PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Wii, Xbox and Xbox 360
Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects for PlayStation 2 and Xbox
Medal of Honor Pacific Assault™ for PC
Medal of Honor Rising Sun for PlayStation 2
NASCAR® 05: Chase for the Cup™ for PC, PlayStation 2 and Xbox
NASCAR® 06: Total Team Control for PlayStation 2 and Xbox
NASCAR® 07 for PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox and Xbox 360
NASCAR® 08 for PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
NASCAR® 09 for PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 (Europe Only)
NBA Live 05 for PC, PlayStation 2 and Xbox
NBA Live 06 for PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Xbox and Xbox 360
NBA Live 07 for PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Xbox and Xbox 360
NBA Live 08 for PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable and Wii
NBA Live 09 for Wii (Europe only)
NBA Street (2007) for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
NBA Street V3 for PlayStation 2 and Xbox
NCAA® Football 05 for PlayStation 2 and Xbox
NCAA® Football 06 for PlayStation 2 and Xbox
NCAA® Football 07 for PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable and Xbox
NCAA® Football 08 for PlayStation 2 and Xbox
NCAA® Football 09 for PlayStation 2
NCAA® March Madness 06 for PlayStation 2 and Xbox
NCAA® March Madness™ 2005 for PlayStation 2 and Xbox
NCAA® March Madness® 07 for PlayStation 2, Xbox and Xbox 360
NFL Head Coach for PC, PlayStation 2, Xbox
NFL Street 2: Unleashed for PlayStation 2 and Xbox
NFL Street 3 for PlayStation 2
NFL Tour for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
NHL® 05 for PC, PlayStation 2 and Xbox
NHL® 06 for PC, PlayStation 2 and Xbox
NHL® 07 for PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Xbox and Xbox 360
NHL® 08 for PC
NHL® 08 for PlayStation 2
Need for Speed: Underground for PlayStation 2
Need for Speed: Underground 2 for PC, PlayStation 2 and Xbox
Need for Speed: Most Wanted for PlayStation Portable and Xbox
Tiger Woods PGA TOUR® 05 for PC, PlayStation 2 and Xbox
Tiger Woods PGA TOUR® 06 for PC, PlayStation 2, Xbox and Xbox 360
Tiger Woods PGA TOUR® 07 for PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable and Xbox
Tiger Woods PGA TOUR® 08 for PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable
TimeSplitters 3: Future Perfect for Xbox and PlayStation 2
Total Club Manager 06 for PlayStation 2
UEFA Champions League™ 2004-2005 for PC, PlayStation 2 and Xbox
UEFA Champions League™ 2006-2007 for PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable
UEFA Champions League™ 07 for PC and Xbox 360
Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 08- The Daily Tournament feature is currently out of service for an indefinite period of time, but Play Now and Session Matches remain active.
I bought BF Modern Combat to round out my BF collection, it was 8.00, and it is actually very fun. Looking online....only 120 people online right now. 
(whoops, reading closer, looks like xbox only...whew...I can continue my fun)
oh well. I just don't think there is enough overhead to justify some of these decisions....
/edit: I have Godfather on the 360 - there isn't an online function on that game is there? What am I missing? Are they removing the free DLC or something? Lame!
(whoops, reading closer, looks like xbox only...whew...I can continue my fun)oh well. I just don't think there is enough overhead to justify some of these decisions....
/edit: I have Godfather on the 360 - there isn't an online function on that game is there? What am I missing? Are they removing the free DLC or something? Lame!
JohnnyRotten wrote on Feb 17, 2010, 18:50:At least EA's sports games like Tiger Woods and Madden can still be played online using the "Join IP/Host" function. With games like Mercenaries 2, EA totally crippled online play because it designed the game to require authentication from a master server.
No more online games for Madden/PC anymore.
NKD wrote on Feb 17, 2010, 15:14:So, some of these games are old or at least older. Plenty of older games are still played online. Just because a game is old doesn't mean that it should be crippled so that it can no longer be played online.
All of these games are old, obsolete, or unpopular.
The players of these games no doubt already own several other, newer, titles published by EA that they are already playing.No, they don't necessarily. I like to play Mercenaries 2 co-op on occasion, and I don't have any newer EA games nor do I want any if Battlefield BC2 is any indication. And with the EA sports games like NBA Live and Madden, there are no newer versions available for the PC.
How is ending support for some game going to encourage their customers to buy more of their products?You buy the sequel or another similar game if you want to keep playing online.
If anything, it would have the opposite effect.It would only have the opposite effect if buyers held it against EA. Historically they haven't in numbers great enough to force EA to stop the practice.
http://teknogods.com/
its not perfect but it work reasonable well for me on lan
stuff electronic assholes
its not perfect but it work reasonable well for me on lan
stuff electronic assholes
NKD wrote on Feb 17, 2010, 15:14:
All of these games are old, obsolete, or unpopular. The players of these games no doubt already own several other, newer, titles published by EA that they are already playing.
Madden 08 for PC is the last Madden for the PC. No more online games for Madden/PC anymore.
I've Got The News Blues wrote on Feb 17, 2010, 14:47:
EA is doing it to force buyers of these games to buy other EA games if they want to play online. It's not malice; it's business.
All of these games are old, obsolete, or unpopular. The players of these games no doubt already own several other, newer, titles published by EA that they are already playing.
How is ending support for some game going to encourage their customers to buy more of their products? If anything, it would have the opposite effect.
Your argument might have some merit if the players of these games only played that one game and refused to buy more games because they already owned one game.
Do you have a single fact to back that up?
NKD wrote on Feb 17, 2010, 14:27:EA is doing it to force buyers of these games to buy other EA games if they want to play online. It's not malice; it's business.
Then why are they shutting them down if it isn't costing them money to run them? You expect me to believe EA is shutting down support for these games just because they want to upset their customers for no reason other than pure malice?
It's obviously costing them somethingThe cost is trivial (or would be trivial if EA ran an efficient operation). Gamespy is the proof of this as its master server network serves all of its supported games. Pulling the plug on an obscure game wouldn't save Gamespy any money because the resources used by that game on the network are so slight. That is why it continues to support games long after their publishers and developers have abandoned them or folded.
This comment was edited on Feb 17, 2010, 14:54.
I've Got The News Blues wrote on Feb 17, 2010, 13:26:
Bullshit. Running a master server for these games doesn't take any additional resources since it can share the master server farm of EA's other games. The fact that these games aren't very popular proves just how little resources supporting these additional games would take. If these games had used Gamespy instead of EA's internal network they would still have multiplayer support like BF1942 and NFS:HP2.
Then why are they shutting them down if it isn't costing them money to run them? You expect me to believe EA is shutting down support for these games just because they want to upset their customers for no reason other than pure malice?
It's obviously costing them something, or they wouldn't be shutting them down. No one is giving me an alternative explanation here, so I'm going to go with the reason that EA gives.
Do you have a single fact to back that up?
BobBob wrote on Feb 17, 2010, 02:08:For Lord of the Rings Conquest EA did release the dedicated server software. Mercenaries 2 players are the ones who are really getting screwed because you can't play multiplayer even in a LAN without authenticating to the EA master server.
If they had released dedicated server binaries to the public, this would hardly be an issue.
This comment was edited on Feb 17, 2010, 13:47.
NKD wrote on Feb 16, 2010, 22:57:Bullshit. Running a master server for these games doesn't take any additional resources since it can share the master server farm of EA's other games. The fact that these games aren't very popular proves just how little resources supporting these additional games would take. If these games had used Gamespy instead of EA's internal network they would still have multiplayer support like BF1942 and NFS:HP2.
Meh. They can't be obligated to support these games for eternity, and if the 0.3% figure is accurate, I can't see any argument for wasting manpower on them.
The real tragedy here is that Mercenaries 2 can't be played in co-op or multiplayer mode even in a LAN without the online authentication. If that is shutdown, so go its multiplayer modes.
Aw man! Where am I going to find people to play Def Jam with now?!
"...and now with sports. The Cointen Spinky Whompers flumped the Floing Boing Welfencloppers, 70-fluff to 40-flabe. At the tone, the time will be 26 railroad."
Moog wrote on Feb 17, 2010, 06:01:
Mercs2 never support LAN mode - to play co-op you had to be signed into their online service. So, once they remove this, Mercs2 becomes a single player game only.
Google "Mercs 2 emulator". As usual, it's the pirates who are providing the best customer service.
I just don't see EA shutting down game servers simply to spite their customers. For the sports games you could make some argument that they are trying to increase sales for the new versions, but fans of those series buy the newest versions anyway.
It's really hard to buy that argument when the shutdown could be what motivates consumers anyways. People are used to this behavior from the software industry(Quickbooks, Windows, etc), it's called sunsetting. The industry has conditioned the consumer, not the other way around. It is a fallacy to claim it's for any other reason than their own revenue stream. The Madden games especially are almost interchangeable on a three year basis, little distinguishes them other than roster updates and a few gimmick features.
I don't think anyone has a problem with them shutting down some old PS2 dedicated server. That list includes titles from 2009 though and there's no way anyone can defend that with a straight face.
Playing: Baldur's Gate 3, Cyberpunk 2077, Sea of Stars
Watching: Dark Winds, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Our Flag Means Death
Watching: Dark Winds, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Our Flag Means Death
Stormsinger wrote on Feb 17, 2010, 00:23:
The manpower for keeping a server running is pretty damned close to zero. When I left Simutronics, we were still running a server for the original Cyberstrike game, which had maybe a dozen players by that time (total, not simultaneous). Basically, running it meant starting the shell script after a power failure. Same was true for all but our newest games...there really isn't any cost to continue running one, outside of replacing hardware that dies (a rare and cheap event).
If their servers take much more than that to run, especially on games several years old that see no updates, then their programmers and admins are completely incompetent.
Well, every company does things differently. We have no idea what kind of infrastructure they have setup for their games. It could be as simple as wanting to free up some hardware for some other game servers, or some older hardware being put down.
I just don't see EA shutting down game servers simply to spite their customers. For the sports games you could make some argument that they are trying to increase sales for the new versions, but fans of those series buy the newest versions anyway.
But for most of these games there is no reason EA would shut them down unless they were costing them money. Note that most of these are for old platforms like PS2 and Xbox where the playerbase is nil, or PC game titles that were never well-received on the PC to begin with.
I'm just not seeing the evil motivation here. If it took no resources as you say, why else would they be shutting them down?
Do you have a single fact to back that up?
/edit: I don't think .3% is a valid #. Take out Madden 10 (and I can't believe they are shutting down Madden 09) and any TOP game in player count, and your .3% becomes much larger.
If you read closely they are only shutting down Madden 09 for the original XBOX. For one I was pleased it was even released as it is the last commercial XBOX game. This coincides with the exact date Microsoft is shutting down XBOX 1 Live support.
Not worried about the Battlefield series personally, BF2 servers are still up and running years after 2142 which are also still running. I have no doubt BC2 servers will be up for at least 5 years, long after most of us have moved onto BF3. The yearly sports editions crap EA pulls is pure bullshit though and I stopped buying the Madden and NHL series because of it.
Playing: Baldur's Gate 3, Cyberpunk 2077, Sea of Stars
Watching: Dark Winds, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Our Flag Means Death
Watching: Dark Winds, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Our Flag Means Death
LOC wrote on Feb 17, 2010, 08:24:And... this is exactly the reason I made the post.necrosis wrote on Feb 17, 2010, 07:32:Except Bad Company 2 has dedicated servers, just not dedicated servers run by the general public.
Gaming companies and people wonder why we raise a stink when we can not run our own servers (MW2, Bad Company 2), have to deal with publisher logins, and social networks.
It is amazing really.
A lot of those console games are still in the store. It is offensive that they have shut down the multiplayer servers while still selling the games without any warning on the box.
The rule of thumb is definitely don't by ANYTHING with an EA label on it.
The rule of thumb is definitely don't by ANYTHING with an EA label on it.
Regardless of your stance on the issue - this is bad news. It is a move to FORCE you to buy new games even if you don't want them and are happy with what you have.
/edit: I don't think .3% is a valid #. Take out Madden 10 (and I can't believe they are shutting down Madden 09) and any TOP game in player count, and your .3% becomes much larger.
/edit: I don't think .3% is a valid #. Take out Madden 10 (and I can't believe they are shutting down Madden 09) and any TOP game in player count, and your .3% becomes much larger.
The PC Warrior wrote on Feb 16, 2010, 22:55:
pretty big fucking list for something not undertaken lightly.
The bulk of that list represents games that were already shutdown. A good percentage of those were a few weeks/months ago as I recall seeing the Blues posting about it.
As near as I can see, it's 12 games total for this one and a good chunk of those are XBox (classic), PS2, and PSP games.
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