EAhas been a major name in the world of gaming for decades now, and despite its ongoing success in the industry, it has also gained a reputation for shut-downs. Whether it be studios or games, this trend fromEAis continuing into the new year with a handful of titles getting the axe in January.
This isn’t the first round of games to receive news of a shut-down recently. Entries to popular franchises, likeFIFA 22,NBA Live 18, and three differentBattlefieldgames areEA titles being taken down in November. This list of games was a surprise, but EA isn’t stopping there. Now, it has been confirmed that EA will be shutting down nine more titles in January, starting the year off on a strange foot.
January 2025 Marks the End of an Era For These Titles
January 16 Kicks Off EA’s Impending Shut-Downs
The first EA game set to be taken to the chopping block in 2025 isRory McIlroy PGA Tour. Released back in 2015,Rory McIlroy PGA Touris one of the many titles that continues EA’s ongoing tradition of licensed sports games. As one of the only EA golf games available on modern consoles, this is a particularly big blow to lovers of the sport. Despite the shut-down,Rory McIlroy PGA Tourwill still be playable offlineonce the game’s servers shut down on January 16.
RoryMcIlroy PGA Touris the first game in the series since 1999 to not feature Tiger Woods as the feature golfer.
January 24 Puts an End to a Mobile Game’s 12-Year Legacy
One particular cancelation that has garnered vocal disappointment from its fans isThe Simpsons: Tapped Out. Since the announcement of its impending shut-down, a die-hard fan known as Erik Rampenen has started a petition that has amassed an impressive 22,000 signatures at the time of this writing. The petition cites the game’s active player base as enough reason to deterEA from shutting down the game’s servers on January 24, but as of now, EA has yet to address the online petition.
The Simpsons: Tapped Outwas delisted on October 31, and in-game microtransactions have been disabled.
January 29 Brings Seven EA Titles to the Grave
The date of January 29 sees the largest number of shut-downs by far, with seven games reaching their dreaded end. The common trend among these titles is that they are all close to, or even more than, a decade old, which is likely the cause for these shut-downs. This continuing trend of games being ended continues an unfortunate pattern for EA. More EA games faced a string ofshut-downs back in Mayof this year. Some titles that got the axe were quite shocking, too. For example,The Lord of the Rings: Heroes of Middle-earthwas part of the May cancelations, despite barely being a year old at the time.
Furthermore, these shut-downs may not be exclusively mobile games, but there is definitely a high percentage of mobile titles represented in these continuing lists. Whether it be due to age or low player counts, it is unfortunately likely that EA will still continue to force a variety of its titles into a shut-down. As of now, it’s unclear what other EA titles will be added to the growing list of games doomed to this fate.November seemed like a rough time for EA fans, but it appears that January will be even more of a tough turn for some.
