EA shutting down online servers for 49 games starting next month

[norkusa]

I realize they can't keep them up for ever but this is bullshit. A lot of these games are barely a year old:

http://kotaku.com/gaming/executioner...mes-285403.php



My favorite post from the Kotaku comments pretty much sums up EA's position perfectly:

"You should buy our new ____ sports game!"
"I should? Why?"
"Because it features online play, so you can play with your friends!"
"But I have last years version, and I can play online with it."
"Not anymore!" *flicks a switch*
"You son of a..."
"Thank you for choosing EA!"

[Promophile]

this is EA after all, the company that payed billions to have exclusive rights to NFL games when 2K gave them a little competition. I would be suprised if this DIDN'T happen.

[ProgrammingAce]

Not to mention they were the ones who told Microsoft they wouldn't use XBL unless they were allowed to run their own servers (which no other company does, btw).

[Cirrus]

This wouldn't apply for Burnout Revenge for the Xbox 360, would it?

[BHvrd]

This is a surprising list for sure. Especially the playstation portable ones as there aren't many alternatives.

Good way to piss people off so they won't buy your products in the future. I swear who makes these god damn dumb ass decisions.

If they expect people will buy the new versions cause the old are offline, screw them, that's one crappy underhanded move.

-1 consumer here.

When it comes to the way companies are treating gamers nowadays, i'm not taking it anymore. Screw them, their micro purchase bullshit, and their heavy handed grasp.

I'm pissed.

[roushimsx]

Wow, that's pretty shitty. I guess that's one way to "encourage" people to update to the latest version of a game series, even if it's inferior to the previous year's (which is sadly more common than it should be).

Still, there's no other choice than EA when it comes to Arena Football games, so if you wanna play online, you're fucked.

[ProgrammingAce]

Not to mention they were the ones who told Microsoft they wouldn't use XBL unless they were allowed to run their own servers (which no other company does, btw).

I should amend that, obviously the 2 MMORPG's run their own servers.

And no, Burnout Revenge on the 360 isn't affected.

This kinda sucks for games who had online achievement points, eh?

[Bronty-2]

I think its pretty much all because the wii is kicking ass too... EA didn't bet heavily on wii so their financial results are shitty right now. Wall street was widely expecting some cost cutting measures from EA this week to get things turned around, and I guess these online servers are part of that cost cutting.

Still sucks, of course lol

[Nesmaster]

So does this mean the achievement points in Tiger 06 will forever be unattainable after the shutdown? Since you have to play online to unlock them... Oh well the game already has glitched/unattainable achievements anyways...

Edit: Oh and the online game achievement in NBA Live 06. Achievement whores hurry before they're unattainable. :P

[7th lutz]

This isn't a shock. Ea has a monoply on some sports licenses like nascar and the Nfl for making games. The newest nascar game doesn't have career mode unlike Nascar 2007.

I stopped buying ea games a couple years ago. It was not because ea bought out companys, it was because ea put little effort into their exclusive game licenses like the nascar series.

[MarioMania]

Now I know why the Burnout 1 & 2 came out for the Gamecube..After #2 EA had the rights

[Porksta]

Isn't it required that all 360 games have 1000 achievement points? So these shutdowns eliminate the points, so can't MS prevent this?

[dylan0228]

Yeah, every store selling new copies of these games should have to pull them off there shelves. It would be considered "False Advertising" to market these games with Xbox Live support when it will no longer exist. I have a feeling there will be alot more to this story regarding the 360 versions. Come on Microsoft, step up to the challenge!!!

[Garry Silljo]

This is why I think they shouldn't have online only achievements. Even if I bought some of these on day one, if I don't have the time to play these online right away, I'm just SOL. Players should be able to obtain achievements at their leisure.

[dylan0228]

That`s why I think Microsoft might try to fix this issue. If this does happen, the online achievements should be automatically awarded to the player at the very least. I`d rather have the opportunity to attain them myself of course. It always seems like the people who invest the most money into there games are the ones who suffer the most.

[Hep038]

I think its pretty much all because the wii is kicking ass too... EA didn't bet heavily on wii so their financial results are shitty right now. Wall street was widely expecting some cost cutting measures from EA this week to get things turned around, and I guess these online servers are part of that cost cutting.

Still sucks, of course lol

So because the Wii is selling so well EA is shutting down servers to old games? That is the biggest Nintendo spin I have ever seen. From what I have read on DP hooking up to play online with the Wii is a joke. I think your statement is more wish full thinking than anything else. I am sure most of DP members would love for Nintendo to put EA and Sony out of business. I think your post is proof.

[XYXZYZ]

Gee, I sure hope this crafty, brilliant move makes their stock value go up! Their shareholders deserve it, and as an EA consumer I'm proud to be a part of it.

Seriosuly, I think video game consumers nowadays want to be screwed. They love it, they can't wait for EA to bend them over, grease it down, and ease it in like a gentleman.

[ProgrammingAce]

So because the Wii is selling so well EA is shutting down servers to old games? That is the biggest Nintendo spin I have ever seen. From what I have read on DP hooking up to play online with the Wii is a joke. I think your statement is more wish full thinking than anything else. I am sure most of DP members would love for Nintendo to put EA and Sony out of business. I think your post is proof.

Actually, he's right...

EA hasn't thrown their support behind the Wii, it's success caught them by surprise. As such, their profits this quarter aren't what they had expected them to be. In order to correct this, EA has to cut costs and increase sales. Servers cost money, so they're cutting back (or reallocating) their XBL servers. Since older games no longer have online play, people (sheeple) will buy newer versions. Two birds with one stone.

Mind you, i'm the furthest thing from a Nintendo fanboy there can be...

[studvicious]

So because the Wii is selling so well EA is shutting down servers to old games? That is the biggest Nintendo spin I have ever seen. From what I have read on DP hooking up to play online with the Wii is a joke. I think your statement is more wish full thinking than anything else. I am sure most of DP members would love for Nintendo to put EA and Sony out of business. I think your post is proof.

How is this spin?? He was just talking about how EA said that they messed up by not fully embracing the Wii and their profits really showed it. And one way to try to recoup some of those profits is to cut back on things (servers). But nobody knows if one was actually related to the other. But I'm sure that one way or another they needed to find that money somewhere.

And I'm not sure about Sony, but I would LOVE to see ANYONE take out EA.

[SegaAges]

Man would I hate to be a server admin for those games. Hopefully the server admins deal with all the games and not just a slim few, or else there could be a few jobs lost too just to cut corners.

I don't know, I am just hoping there are no people getting fired to cut costs.