In order to 'concentrate their resources' on more recent, popular games, EA have announced they are ceasing the online support for a number of older titles - the vast majority of which are the sports titles, which usually see yearly updates.
As EA has runs it's own servers, separate from networks like Xbox Live, it's decided that when the number of players on a game is less than 1% of the total people playing EA titles online, it's online support will be retired (which considering the total number of EA titles there are in existence, that's still quite a lot of players). What this means is that as of the dates below, you won't be able to play an online football match on FIFA 09, for example, leaving certain achievements forever unattainable. The games' single player and offline modes, however, remain unaffected.
It's a bit of an own goal for people who spent hundreds on Ultimate Team gold packs for FIFA 09...
Also included in the list of titles to be withdrawn are EA's various Lord of the Rings games, due to an expired licensing deal with Middle-Earth Enterprises, the people behind the game. The list of retired games are as follows:
March 1st:
- Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09 (Wii)
February 8th:
- FIFA 07 (Xbox 360, PS3)
- FIFA 08 (Xbox 360, PS3 & Wii)
- FIFA 09 (Xbox 360, PS3 & Wii), along with Ultimate Team (Xbox 360, PS3)
- FIFA Street 3 (Xbox 360, PS3)
- Fight Night Round 3 (Xbox 360, PS3)
- Madden 09 (Xbox 360, PS3 & Wii)
- Madden 10 (Wii)
- NBA Live 08 (Xbox 360, PS3)
- NBA Live 09 (Xbox 360, PS3 & Wii)
- NHL 08 (Xbox 360, PS3)
- NHL 09 (Xbox 360, PS3)
- Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09 (Xbox 360, PS3)
- UEFA Euro 2008 (Xbox 360, PS3)
- 2010 FIFA World Cup (Wii), along with the demo (but not the full game) on the Xbox 360, PS3.
January 11th:
- The Lord of the Rings, The Battle for Middle-Earth II (Xbox 360, PS3)
- The Lord of the Rings, The Battle for Middle-Earth II: The Rise of the Witch King (Xbox 360, PS3)
If you own any of the games above on the Xbox 360 or PS3, and have any of the online achievements left to get, it'd be a good idea to have a last quick blast on them, before the online switch gets flicked off forever, leaving the achievements unattainable. We can't help but wonder how EA are going to handle things, now that they're effectively charging for online play.
