EA has posted an update detailing the shutdown of several of its game servers in the coming months (as reported by Gamesindustry.biz), which include the last few iterations of the publisher's NBA, NHL, FIFA and Madden series, as well as the Xbox 360 version of Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II.
The publisher explained that it's licence agreement with Middle-earth Enterprises had run out, necessitating the closure of the online portion of the title. The PC version of the game closed its online doors on december 31.
Explaining the shut-down of its various sports titles, the company explained:
"The EA SPORTS™ games scheduled for shutdown in February and March 2011 represent roughly 1% of all peak online players across all EA titles. Despite some people's perception, there is a lot of behind-the-scenes work involved with keeping these older games up and running. We would rather our hard-working engineering and IT staff focus on keeping a positive experience for the other 99% of customers playing our more popular games."
The full list of affected titles is below.
Mar 1, 2011 Online Service Shutdown
Tiger Woods PGA TOUR® 09 for Wii
Feb 8, 2011 Online Service Shutdown
FIFA 07 for Xbox 360
FIFA 08 for PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii
FIFA 09 for PC, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii
FIFA 09 Ultimate Team for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
FIFA Street 3 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
EA SPORTS™ FIFA Manager 10 for PC
EA SPORTS™ Fight Night Round 3 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
Madden 09 for PlayStation Portable (all regions), PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii
Madden 10 for PlayStation Portable (all regions), PlayStation 2 and Wii
NBA LIVE 08 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
NBA LIVE 09 for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii
NCAA® Basketball 08 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
NCAA® Basketball 09 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
NCAA® Football 07 for Xbox 360
NCAA® Football 08 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
NCAA® Football 09 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
NCAA® Football 10 for PlayStation 2
NFL Head Coach 09 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
NHL® 08 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
NHL® 09 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
Tiger Woods PGA TOUR® 09 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
UEFA EURO 2008™ for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
2010 FIFA World Cup™ for PlayStation Portable and Wii
2010 FIFA World Cup™ Demo for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
Jan 17, 2011 Online Service Shutdown
The Sims Carnival
Jan 11, 2011 Online Service Shutdown
The Lord of the Rings™, The Battle for Middle-earth™ II for Xbox 360
The Lord of the Rings™, The Battle for Middle-earth™ II, The Rise of the Witch-king™ for Xbox 360