EA Ending Support of Four Free-to-Play PC Games

Electronic Arts has announced that it's no longer supporting four of its free-to-play games for PC and will be closing them down entirely.

EA revealed the closing of these PC games on its official website, and the titles in question are Need for Speed World, FIFA World, Battlefield Play4Free and Battlefield Heroes. To no surprise, these games are pretty much whittled-down, free-to-play spin-offs based on other existing EA games. Support for all four of these games will officially end on July 14. As they are all free-to-play and each significantly push microtransactions to be purchased with real life money, EA recommends that players should spend use up whatever in-game currencies or things that they bought  in these games before they are gone for good. As of now, EA has disabled the microtransaction capacities of all four games. Need for Speed World launched in July 2010, with Battlefield Heroes and Play4Free launching in June 2009 and April 2011, respectively. FIFA World launched just a year ago in May 2014.

Here's what EA representatives had to say about these closings:

Some of our other PC free-to-play games are not as popular as they once were. So we find ourselves announcing the tough decision today that we are stopping development and winding down support for four PC free-to-play titles: Battlefield Heroes, Battlefield Play4Free, Need for Speed World and FIFA World. These games will be live for another 90 days, after which they will go offline.

In more than five years since most of these titles launched, how we play games has changed dramatically.  These were pioneering experiences, and we’re humbled that, over the years, so many of you joined us to enjoy the games and the community.   While we say farewell to these free-to-play titles in the next few months, we are always exploring new concepts and ways to bring great games to more players around the world.

Luckily, the Lightsaber-filled MMORPG, Star Wars: The Old Republic, is still being supported by EA, despite its massive declines in player populations since it first launched in 2011, as the decision to remove its monthly subscription fee has helped bolster its fan base.