Early in 2023, Electronic Arts will stop providing online services for four more of its titles. It appears that online services for older games have been being shut down by Electronic Arts and other businesses in recent years, and that trend is unlikely to end very soon.
The online services for Army of Two: The Devil’s Cartel and Army of Two: The 40th Day will be discontinued by EA on October 20. On November 9, all online services for Mercenaries 2: World in Flames, Command & Conquer: Tiberium Wars, Command & Conquer: Kane’s Wrath, and Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 will be terminated. Onrush’s servers will be shut down at the end of November, and the game’s online features will be discontinued on November 30.
The following date for fans to save is January 19, 2023, after these shutdowns. Gatling Gears, the original Mirror’s Edge, NBA Jam: On Fire Edition, and Shank 2 will all lose their online services on that day. Achievement hunters might want to put it at the top of their list while they can as two NBA Jam achievements will reportedly become hard to get at this point.
Although it’s doubtful that these games’ server closures would seriously affect gamers, this is still a depressing development. Additionally, it should be noted that several of these games provide other online services other than online multiplayer. Fans won’t lose access to any online multiplayer modes, but they will lose access to the online leaderboards, for instance, in the 2008 game Mirror’s Edge.
Whether or not any of these server shutdowns correspond with the game’s delisting is unknown at this time. Many of EA’s games have already been taken off the market, however this is mostly owing to sports and racing game licenses that have expired. Fans shouldn’t necessarily fear that these games will be delisted because it’s doubtful that would be the case, but it’s still something to keep an eye on for anyone who wants to play these games but hasn’t yet gotten around to it.
As most gamers have switched to more recent platforms, online service closures for older PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 titles are expected to continue in the coming months. For the time being, fans of EA’s games can arrange their gaming sessions in accordance with the aforementioned removal dates.
