14 DAY TRIAL // The gaming industry had it really rough in 2009. Initially, it was believed that video game publishers and developers wouldn't be affected by the economic crisis, but as the year came to an end, gaming companies started to show a significant drop in profit, and alarmed by a possible disaster, a lot of publishers took drastic actions to cut their losses. And the first resource to be considered expendable was the human one, as many studios were forced to fire a lot of their employees, while others were shut down entirely. One major publisher that didn't hold back at all when it came to letting people go was Electronic Arts.
Aside from lesser cut backs made gradually, at the end of 2009, EA fired a massive 1,500 employees in one go and shut down Star Wars: Battlefront developer, Pandemic Studios. Further cuts were made, and now, instead of a change in pace, the new year brings even more things to the ground and into their graves. EA has announced that several of its online services will be shut down, and while some concern reasonably aged titles, the shutdown of Madden 09 for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 come as quite a shock.
"Servers for the games listed below will be shut down on the indicated dates," posted EA on their official website. "You may continue to play the games online up until these dates, but certain community programs may begin to close down prior to the shutdown dates." The execution date is February 2, 2010 and the entire list of games that have been offered their “last meal” is posted below, and it's quite a long one, so take your time and see if there's any you're familiar with.
February 2, 2010 Online Service Shutdown
UEFA Champions League 07 PC and x360 Facebreaker x360 and PS3 Fantasy Football 09 x360 and PS3 FIFA 07 PSP, PS2, PC Fight Night Round 3 PS2 Madden 08 Wii Madden 08 PC Madden 09 Xbox1 Madden 09 Wii and PSP March Madness 07 x360 NBA 07 PSP, x360 NBA 08 PS2, PSP, Wii NBA 09 Wii - Europe only NBA Street (2007) PS3 and x360 NCAA Football 08 PS2 NCAA Football 09 PS2 NASCAR 08 PS2 NASCAR 09 PS2 NASCAR 09 PS3 and x360 - Europe Only NFL Tour PS3 and x360 NHL 07 PSP and x360 NHL 08 PC Tiger Woods 07 PC Madden 09 x360 and PS3 Madden 07 Xbox 360.