EA Lists 50 Titles Affected by GameSpy Shutdown

Many of you will remember that GameSpy recently announced it will be closing its doors for good on the 31^st May. This has given Electronic Arts the perfect opportunity for a good old fashioned spring clean of the games from their back catalogue.

Let’s face it, EA does have a reputation of being rather ruthless where game servers are concerned and have provided a list of 50 games that will stay offline when GameSpy’s servers are finally switched off at the end of June .

The bad news, the list may contain some of your favourites such as Crysis, Battlefield 2 and the Command & Conquer games.

The official press release states:

“The decisions to retire older EA games are never easy. The development teams and operational staff pour their hearts into these games almost as much as the customers playing them and it is hard to see one retired.

But as games get replaced with newer titles, the number of players still enjoying the older games dwindles to a level — typically fewer than 1% of all peak online players across all EA titles — where it’s no longer feasible to continue the behind-the-scenes work involved with keeping these 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.”

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

Game Over Man, GAME OVER!

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 3 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 2 for PC and PlayStation 2
THE BEATLES: ROCK BAND for the Wii
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 for Nintendo DS

The reality for gamers is that a not-inconsiderable chunk of EA’s back catalogue will permanently lose multiplayer capability. What will probably be surprising to EA however, is that the decision seems to have split the gaming community in half.

On one side of the fence, people are saying these are old games that nobody plays anymore, so what’s the fuss about? On the other hand, purists will fiercely defend games that they have invested a considerable amount of time and money in. Understandably.

Where do you stand on this decision to cull games from their back catalogue?

Let us know by commenting below.