Outdated EA titles will lose multiplayer support on Tuesday, February 2. Thirty-seven editions of twenty games are set to lose multiplayer, larger than 2009’s, when online support was ended for seventeen editions in April.
Games such as the 2008 release Madden NFL 09 will be canceled. The title was quickly followed by August 2009’s Madden NFL 10 and EA is making space for future titles.
“You may continue to play the games online up until these dates,” according to EA.”But certain community programs may begin to close down prior to the shutdown dates.”
The decision to close down older games is not universal for all platforms. NBA 07 servers will keep running for PlayStation 3 even after EA shuts down the Xbox 360 and PSP’s. Meanwhile, the whole world faces an end to multiplayer NASCAR 09 on PlayStation 2 but only Europe loses the joys of racing around oval tracks on 360 and PS3 too.
EA warns of server shutdown on its game boxes: “EA may retire online features after 30 days notice posted on www.ea.com.” Season-based sports games are prime targets for shut downs.