EA to Shut Down Old Game Servers - BF2, Red Alert 3 And More

Steven Bogos

The Taco Man
Jan 17, 2013
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EA to Shut Down Old Game Servers - BF2, Red Alert 3 And More


If you ever wanted to play any of EA's backlog online, such as Battlefield 2, this is your last chance.

EA has just amended its massive list of games that will have/have already had their online services turned off [http://www.ea.com/1/service-updates], adding some pretty big-names that will go down by the end of June. Among the titles to be shut down are Battlefield 2, Battlefield 2142, Star Wars: Battlefront 2, Medal Of Honor, Red Alert 3 and Crysis 2 - a game that is a mere three years old.

Here's the full list of games that will be shuttered in June 30:

Battlefield 1942 for PC and Mac (including The Road to Rome and Secret Weapons of WW2 expansions)
Battlefield 2 for PC (including Special Forces expansion)
Battlefield 2: Modern Combat for PlayStation 2
Battlefield 2142 for PC and Mac (including Northern Strike expansion)
Battlefield Vietnam for PC
Bejeweled (r) 2 for the Wii
Bulletstorm for PlayStation 3
Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars for PC and Mac (including Kane's Wrath expansion)
Command & Conquer: Generals for PC and Mac (including Zero Hour expansion)
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 for PC and Mac
Crysis 2 for PC
Crysis for PC
Crysis Wars for PC
Dracula - Undead Awakening for the Wii
Dragon Sakura for Nintendo DS
EA Sports 06 for PC
F1 2002 for PC
FIFA Soccer 08 (KOR) for the Wii
FIFA Soccer 08 for Nintendo DS
FIFA Soccer 09 for Nintendo DS
FIFA Soccer 10 for Nintendo DS
FIFA Street 3 for Nintendo DS
Full Spectrum Warrior: Ten Hammers for PlayStation 2
Global Operations for PC
GREEN DAY: ROCK BAND for the Wii
James Bond: Nightfire for PC
Madden NFL 08 for Nintendo DS
Madden NFL 09 for Nintendo DS
Master of Orion III for PC
Medal of Honor: Allied Assault for PC and Mac (including Breakthrough and Spearhead expansions)
MySims Party for Wii
MySims Racing for Nintendo DS
MySims SkyHeroes for the Wii and DS
NASCAR Sim Racing for PC
NASCAR Thunder 2003 for PC
NASCAR Thunder 2004 for PC
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 for PC
Need for Speed: ProStreet for Nintendo DS
Need for Speed: Undercover for Nintendo DS
Neverwinter Nights 2 for PC and Mac
Neverwinter Nights for PC, Mac and Linux (including Hordes of the Underdark and Shadows of Undrentide expansions)
SimCity Creator for Wii
Skate It for Nintendo DS
Sneezies for the Wii
Spore Creatures for Nintendo DS
Spore Hero Arena for Nintendo DS
Star Wars: Battlefront for PC and PlayStation 2
Star Wars: Battlefront II for PC and PlayStation 2
THE BEATLES: ROCK BAND for the Wii
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 for Nintendo DS

It's a shame considering some of these games, in particular Battlefield 2 and Red Alert 3, really live and die by their multiplayer - without it, they are pretty hollow.

Source: EA [http://www.ea.com/1/service-updates]

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Khymerion

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Apr 10, 2012
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This is further sign that the age of always online gaming is not the right way. Seems really sad to see NWN and NWN2 go on top of so many other very amazing games.
 

josemlopes

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Jun 9, 2008
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Holy shit, some of those games are still quite active, what about the mods for Battlefield 2 like Project Reality and Forgotten Hope 2? Do they die with it?

And didnt Battlefront 2 get someone else to take care of the servers recently?
 

MCerberus

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Jun 26, 2013
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Every single one of the good Battlefields are being shut down on the same day NWN dies.
 

Worgen

Follower of the Glorious Sun Butt.
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Apr 1, 2009
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Whatever, just wash your hands.
Master of Orion 3? Didn't that come out in.... 2003? Holyshit, I thought it was much older than that.
 

Nowhere Man

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Mar 10, 2013
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Ah, no wonder Origin was giving away Battlefield 1942 for free. I guess I should play it already to see how it's like before they shut down that server.

So they're closing down Star Wars: Battlefront 2 as well!? D: Dammit EA!!! Does anyone know if people will make their own servers? I don'y quite know how that works.
 

Callate

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Dec 5, 2008
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So, of course they're going to release the code to allow people to create their own servers so they can show their loyalty to long-established franchises and the fans who have allowed them to endure.

Ha ha ha ha ha.

...Enjoy Battlefield 4...

Oh, and if anyone still thinks trying to make the latest SimCity online-only is trivial and people should get over it...? Yeah. This right here.
 

Barbas

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Oct 28, 2013
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Red Alert 3 sticks out there...it's still relatively active, isn't it? As earlier posters have also pointed out, Battlefield 2 is pretty popular and active as well. It's a shame whenever one of these lists is drawn up.
 

Nowhere Man

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Mar 10, 2013
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Callate said:
So, of course they're going to release the code to allow people to create their own servers so they can show their loyalty to long-established franchises and the fans who have allowed them to endure.

Ha ha ha ha ha.

...Enjoy Battlefield 4...

Oh, and if anyone still thinks trying to make the latest SimCity online-only is trivial and people should get over it...? Yeah. This right here.
Is that how it works? Cuz now I'm really sad :(
 

anthony87

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Aug 13, 2009
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Well shit...and here I've been thinking about picking up Battlefield 2142 after my friend gushing about it so many times.
 

Therumancer

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Nov 28, 2007
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The one that gets me is them dropping "Neverwinter Nights" and "Neverwinter Nights 2" given that they both have fairly active communities with people even having built their own little pseudo-MMOs using it. Not my cup of tea, but I know a lot of people who are hugely into that (having met a lot of them playing Cryptic's Neverwinter).

To be honest I hope there is some juicy backlash, legal or extralegal (as much as I hate to imply people should engage in criminal behavior, the fact remains when the system fails you only have so many options). I doubt there will be though.

As I've said on many occasions I think any game with an online component should be backed by a trust sufficient to ensure the operation of the servers and the game for an indefinite period of time. A trust basically being a giant pile of money (not hard to get given the amount they spend on advertising alone) which can only have part of it's interest drawn upon. A lot of rich folks establish trusts for their irresponsible kids so they won't go bankrupt while they are young and stupid. In this case the idea of the trust would be to generate enough money to ensure the servers stay up and there is someone to maintain them evermore, so even if a company goes bankrupt or otherwise disappears the game and any virtual property attached to it continue to exist.

That said, lawmakers aren't currently savvy enough to see the problems, or care. Corporations likewise aren't going to do anything simply for the benefit of others. So far nothing especially large, with a substantial investment of money by the players, has yet to go offline. Of course the end of Disney's MMO properties (Pixie Hollow, Pirates, Toontown) last year we started to see some attention being paid as a lot of parents who had kids playing "Pixie Hollow" in particular had dished out a decent amount of money and liked the safe game environment and girl-centric theme got upset. Previously the only other reaction which was even a blip was "Lego Universe Online" for similar reasons. That's said these kiddie games don't have the intentionally huge investment, or fanatical player base of some others. When say some of Cryptic's games go down it might be the beginning of the first real battle given the fanaticism of trekkies in Star Trek Online and the absurd amounts of money some people have put into it and Neverwinter (Both Champions and Neverwinter have drawn substantial investment from PnP RPG addicts). Of course it will be a while before that line is drawn with those games or others, and we'll see what happens.

In short until you see something akin to actual public rallies, or more purpose-defined cyber attacks like the Lulzsec assault on PSN, or perhaps even actual attacks on corporate figures in the industry (once you start costing people thousands of dollars, even if it's measured in internet spaceships, you get to the point of actual violence, people have been shot over far smaller investments), I doubt anything will happen.

In short until something happens that is likely to get some real crazy to pop nothing is going to change. Internet vitriol doesn't really go anywhere, and corporations have already shown that "sane and rational" responses from parents groups and such aren't going to help (looking again at Pixie Hollow), they and the government need to be scared enough to make changes since they aren't going to do anything because it's right. None of the titles on this list seem to have a large "free to play" investment, and were pretty much one time fee (plus DLC) transactions with servers attached. Most titles have seen people go on to newer installments in the franchise, and in the case of the exceptions like Neverwinter nobody really put much money into them, just a lot of time.

Apologies if this sounds jaded, but all I can say is I'm both a pessimist and a realist, it just doesn't have a happy ending, and as much as I utterly loathe it your not going to see changes happen unless we start seeing bigger bastards than the game industry itself going after them. The internet crusaders, and Jim Sterlings of this world can only do so much.... and at least so far the game industry hasn't yet squeezed the crazy tube hard enough to get the kind of backlash that would change anything. The most it has done is paved the way by showing more reasonable groups can't accomplish squat in trying to dialogue with them.
 

epicdwarf

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Apr 9, 2014
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FUCKING HELL!!!! I just bought the goddamn BF2 bundle on steam!! Can someone please tell me if players can still set up their own severs for BF2?
 

DoctorM

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Nov 30, 2010
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Okay, confuse me if I'm wrong, but that means my BF2 game is now just a coaster?
I'd like to be clear so when I NEVER BUY ANOTHER EA GAME I'll be sure why.

I didn't buy BF3 because it seemed unnecessary.
I'm just about finished upgrading my PC to make spec for BF4 and other new games and now I'm no longer even considering BF4.

Anyone capable of starting a class-action lawsuit of this, because I'm in.
 

ShakerSilver

Professional Procrastinator
Nov 13, 2009
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Really? Zero Hour and C&C3 too? God dammit EA, even when the series is dead you still find new ways to make even deader.
Not to mention them killing off Battlefront and the only Battlefield games worth playing.

Oh well. RIP in peace Battlefield 2142.
 

V da Mighty Taco

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Apr 9, 2011
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Nowhere Man said:
Ah, no wonder Origin was giving away Battlefield 1942 for free. I guess I should play it already to see how it's like before they shut down that server.

So they're closing down Star Wars: Battlefront 2 as well!? D: Dammit EA!!! Does anyone know if people will make their own servers? I don'y quite know how that works.
Same here. Battlefront 2 is still a personal favorite of mine and I'd hate to be unable to experience the online more, since I didn't have internet back in the PS2 days and only had the PC version for about a year or two max. :(

Hopefully a community-made workaround can be cobbled up for it. 64 player Battlefront 2 ftw!
 

ricree

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Mar 8, 2014
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Ultratwinkie said:
Blaine Houle said:
This is further sign that the age of always online gaming is not the right way. Seems really sad to see NWN and NWN2 go on top of so many other very amazing games.
They are shutting down the multiplayer side. not the single player. Take a 5 second search before you proclaim DRM did it. Which this isn't even tied to because these games are older than always online DRM.
NWN a rather mediocre singleplayer game, mostly worth noting for its excellent toolset and strong multiplayer community. (though the second expansion was fairly decent)

As for DRM, he isn't claiming that this is a factor here. Rather, he's pointing out that EA's willingness to toss aside even well loved games once they've aged a bit is a strong reason to be wary of modern releases that require an internet connection.