EA taking more games offline

Back in January, Neowin got word that EA would be shutting down servers for many online games. This included games such as Madden '09 being discontinued this coming April 6th--a move that dissappointed many avid online gamers. Now, EA has posted a new batch of games that it will cease online support for.

Although many users have complained about EA's decision to shut down many game servers, EA feels that it's for the best. In their service update, EA claims that the games being shut down in March and April only "represent less than 0.3% of all peak online players across all EA titles." In addition, EA defends their actions with the following statement:

"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 99.7% of customers playing our more popular games. These decisions to retire games is never easy. The EA 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."

User's don't necessarily understand the cost of keeping these types of servers running. By shutting them down, EA is able to focus their money and resources on future game development and support--something most gamers would probably prefer. Here's the list:

March 16, 2010 Online Service Shutdown
Def Jam for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
Godfather for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
Lord of the Rings: Conquest for PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
Mercenaries 2: World in Flames for PC
Need for Speed: Carbon for PlayStation Portable
Need for Speed: ProStreet for PlayStation Portable
Simpsons for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360

April 15, 2010 Online Service Shutdown
Burnout 3: Takedown for PlayStation 2
Army of Two for PlayStation 3 (Asia only)

Additionally, the shutdown of Xbox LIVE for Original Xbox consoles and games (scheduled for April 15, 2010) will retire online services for the following titles:
Battlefield 2: Modern Combat for Xbox
Burnout 3: Takedown for Xbox
Madden NFL 09 for Xbox