EA to shutdown servers for various sports titles

EA is shutting down the online portion of several of its sports titles this January.

The most notable game is FIFA 11, released in autumn 2010, for which both online play and Ultimate Team functionality will be shut off.

Also due to be cut off are NFL 11, NBA Jam and FIFA Manager 11.

“The decisions to retire older EA games are never easy,” a statement released by the publisher explained.

“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 – fewer than one per cent 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 per cent of customers playing our more popular games. We hope you have gotten many hours of enjoyment out of the games and we appreciate your ongoing patronage.”

Here’s the complete list of titles due:

January 19th
Trenches II – iPad, iPhone and iPod touch

January 14th
The Sims 2 – PC/Mac and TheSims2.com

January 11th
FIFA Soccer 11 – PC, PS3, Wii and Xbox 360
FIFA Soccer 11 Ultimate Team – PS3 and Xbox 360
Madden NFL 11 – PS3, Wii and Xbox 360
Madden NFL 11 Ultimate Team – PS3 and Xbox 360
NBA JAM – PS3 and Xbox 360
NBA LIVE 10 – PS3 and Xbox 360
NCAA Football 11 – PS3 and Xbox 360
NHL 11 – PS3 and Xbox 360
NHL 11 Ultimate Team – PS3 and Xbox 360

January 3rd
FIFA Manager 11 – PC