EA Shutting down game servers in depression

[W1nTry]

Wow... I really had no idea of the scale of which ppl were scaling back.. sweet T&T eh.

EA shuts down 25 game servers, including Madden 09

Electronic Arts is continuing to cut costs in severe ways. This time, the company is shutting down a number of servers for games both old and new. The most surprising title affected is last year's Madden 09.

By Michael Thompson | Last updated January 7, 2010 8:41 AM
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EA's financial problems from last year, it seems, are continuing to have repercussions. Even after cutting 1,500 employees in November, the publisher is still looking to reduce operating costs. As a result, the company is killing off a number of game servers on three separate dates in the coming months.

February 2 will see the largest number of game servers shut down, followed by a few more on February 9. While many of these games are a few years old and on older systems (such as FIFA 07 for PC), some of the games on the list are shockingly recent. The most surprising shutdown revelation is Madden 09 on all platforms, which will occur on April 6. Of course, no plans have been announced to turn off servers for Madden 10, but fans have got to be wondering if they're only going to be able to play that game's online mode for roughly a year before it, too, is shut down.

It makes sense to shut down many of these servers, since they cater to what are most likely a small number of gamers at a significant expense to EA. However, the shutdown of servers for titles like Madden 09 and NASCAR 09 seems like a heavy-handed attempt to force players to pick up newer entries for these series. It's a shame that EA is having such problems that it is forced to such drastic measures, but it's even more of a shame that the company is using such tactics on general consumers. Here's the full list of affected games:

April 6, 2010 Online Service Shutdown
Madden 09 for PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Wii and Xbox 360

February 9, 2010 Online Service Shutdown
FIFA 07 for PC
Madden 07 for Xbox 360
Madden 08 for PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PC, Wii and Xbox 360
NHL 08 for PC
Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 07 for PC
UEFA Champions League 07 for PC

February 2, 2010 Online Service Shutdown
Facebreaker for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3
Fantasy Football 09 for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3
FIFA 07 for PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 2
Fight Night Round 3 for PlayStation 2
March Madness 07 for Xbox 360
NBA LIVE 07 for PlayStation Portable and Xbox 360
NBA LIVE 08 for PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable and Wii
NBA LIVE 09 for Wii (Europe only)
NBA Street (2007) for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
NCAA Football for 08 PlayStation 2
NCAA Football for 09 PlayStation 2
NASCAR 08 for PlayStation 2
NASCAR 09 for PlayStation 2
NASCAR 09 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 (Europe Only)
NFL Tour for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
NHL 07 for PlayStation Portable and Xbox 360
UEFA Champions League 07 for Xbox 360

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2010/01/ea-shuts-down-25-game-servers-including-madden-09.ars

[TriniXaeno]

can't say I'll miss any of those

[Arcmanov]

Ah...but what if Insanity Whored decides to do the same to MW2 (by shutting down IWnet for something else) when their next game comes out...will you dismiss that as cavalierly as you dismissed these?  After all, you paid your money right?  So they -should- continue to run it right?

Careful now...

[TriniXaeno]

lol, yuh nastyness. I don't expect the servers to run for the rest of my life. That's setting expectations too high.

I realistically expect the servers will be up so long as it is financially feasible.

How long you think is fair for your US$59.00? Two years? Five years?

[Berzerk]

hmm wonder if battlefield 2 will be kept up with bad company on its way.

[Philosophical45]

hmm wonder if battlefield 2 will be kept up with bad company on its way.

only thing ea controls in battlefield 2 is the account and stats service.... remember this game uses dedicated servers... men still sweating bf1942 online yo..lol

[Arcmanov]

.

hmm wonder if battlefield 2 will be kept up with bad company on its way.

only thing ea controls in battlefield 2 is the account and stats service.... remember this game uses dedicated servers... men still sweating bf1942 online yo..lol

Ahhhhh...and this is exactly my POINT.  This is what happens when 'control' is taken away from the consumer.
No dedis = we (* insert dev/publisher*) do what we want, WHEN we want, and ya'll will LIKE it too.

Right now, allyuh at IW's mercy.  If and when they decide to shut down IWnet, guess what,
your 60 US investment just became a fancy coaster, or useless GB if its a Steam copy.

Now this action was taken mainly for consoles.  Thank the gods that most of the PC games we play
on dedi servers aren't directly controlled by the devs/pubs who actually produced the game, or else
a lot of 'old' games that men still sweating wouldn't work.

How long you think is fair for your US$59.00? Two years? Five years?

You shouldn't even reach to the point where you have to ASK that.

The clock is ticking.....

[Spazosaurus]

I doh business. I having fun now. More often than not, when a newer game come out, I does jump on that and the older one does get leave out. Happened with cod4 and again with waw.

All in all, you can bet that I go squeeze every last penny out of that $60 in epic sweats.

[woodyear99]

Yeah I generally don't play games that are more than 2 years old. It is crappy that online features now seem to have an expiry date more often than not though. This is a ploy to get you to buy the newest version, especially with ea sports titles where improvements are generally marginal in newer editions.

This trend will continue no doubt, developers want that extra control and it is a way to make more money. As we have discussed to death, piracy aint it a b*tch yarrr.........

[Crixx_Creww]

buh dah madden came out last year
how is it fair for men to get sort already? lolz
ah yes console men does just take de anal reamage yes

[W1nTry]

Last I checked on XBL because the hosts are the 'servers' we can sweat as long as XBL is up. So.... my 60$ stretching REAL far what about urs ARc?

[Crixx_Creww]

is the match making done by the boxes or IW

[Arcmanov]

Matchmaking on consoles is done via Xbox Live and PSN.  IWnet was created particularly for PCs so that the matchmaking
could be 'streamlined to make it more like console'.  IW's words, not mine.