Electronic Arts will officially end online services for four of its racing games tomorrow, November 8th. This move continues EA's recent efforts to retire older titles, following the shutdown of Need for Speed: Rivals earlier this October.
The games impacted by this shutdown are Dirt 3, Dirt Showdown, Grid 2, and Grid Autosport. All were developed by Codemasters and initially released between 2011 and 2014, mostly on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.
In addition to these four titles, two more games might be added to the list, though EA has not yet officially announced them.
"These four games that EA is shutting down tomorrow could be joined by two others that previously weren’t announced."
Earlier this year, EA began focusing on retiring older games' online components. The October closure of Need for Speed: Rivals marked a notable step in this process, which now extends to these four racing games.
Although the servers are going offline, the games themselves will remain functional offline, missing only the online multiplayer feature. This is disappointing for fans hoping to revisit these titles with online play.
"The move, while not a surprising one, is still a bummer for those who may have looked to revisit these games in the future."
Summary: EA is ending online services for four classic racing games, impacting multiplayer play but keeping offline modes, with potential for more closures soon.