12 votes

EA is pulling the plug on old Need for Speed games today

5 comments

  1. [2]
    meatrocket
    (edited )
    Link
    …Carbon’s servers were still up? Seeing these services stop isn’t surprising, given the newest of these is a decade old. That being said, Need for Speed seems to be in a perpetual state of...

    …Carbon’s servers were still up?

    Seeing these services stop isn’t surprising, given the newest of these is a decade old. That being said, Need for Speed seems to be in a perpetual state of identity crisis, so it’s a little sad to see the life support unplugged for some of the older games. (Except Undercover, that game was a dumpster fire.)

    4 votes
    1. Octofox
      Link Parent
      In an ideal world. Old games would have their server software released to the public so the community can keep running those servers for as long as they want. But of course their are massive...

      In an ideal world. Old games would have their server software released to the public so the community can keep running those servers for as long as they want. But of course their are massive copyright barriers for that.

      3 votes
  2. [3]
    JXM
    Link
    The title now reads, “ EA changes mind on delisting Need for Speed games, puts them on sale on Steam instead”. Looks like EA reversed the decision:

    The title now reads, “ EA changes mind on delisting Need for Speed games, puts them on sale on Steam instead”.

    Looks like EA reversed the decision:

    Okay, this is a little strange. Instead of removing the games, EA has put three of them—Shift, Shift 2, and Undercover—on sale on Steam, as part of a two-week EA Racing Sale. (The other two games slated for delisting, Carbon and The Run, aren't available on Steam.) The sale is set to run until June 13.

    Feedback on the decision to remove the games with effectively no notice was largely negative, so it's not entirely surprising that EA would decide to walk it back. What makes the situation odd is that it did so without actually telling anyone. There's no update to the sunset message, no separate announcement on the Need for Speed subreddit, nothing on social media—it's just EA announcing a delisting, and then doing a sale instead. It's almost enough to make me wonder whether someone clicked the wrong button and decided it would be easier to just roll with it for a couple weeks.

    4 votes
    1. [2]
      Deimos
      (edited )
      Link Parent
      And now it has yet another update, going back to de-listing:

      And now it has yet another update, going back to de-listing:

      Unfortunately, it seems that it was all a mistake. A few hours after they were put on sale, all three games have been removed: The Steam pages are still there, but the purchase links are no longer accessible. EA has not yet commented on the situation, but I'll update with further details if it does.

      5 votes
      1. JXM
        Link Parent
        What a roller coaster ride.

        What a roller coaster ride.

        4 votes