Breaking news: EA shuts down online support for BfME1

Hello there, you're either not logged in, or you may want to register in order to benefit from some of our advanced features!

Tuesday, April 1st, 2008

This is just in, EA is shutting down their servers, and thus online gameplay for what they consider to be “legacy games”. This means, that all games by EALA released prior to 2006 will no longer have official online play.

This includes games such as Red Alert 2, Command & Conquer: Generals, and ofcourse the original Battle for Middle Earth. EA motivated the decision by quoting the large volume of games they support online, and that certain games need to be prioritized due to the fact that no profit can be gained from games that sell “For under 15 dollars”.

Several community sites are expected to launch campaigns to counter this decision. We at MEC do not yet have such a topic, but make sure to let everyone know what you feel by commenting to the article.

Read the full news message for a press release.

Redwood City, Calif., – April 1st, 2008 – Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS) today announced that it has cut funds to all EALA RTS games released prior to 2006. This includes Command & Conquer: Red Alert, Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2, Command & Conquer: Generals, and the Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle Earth. EA has developed games based exclusively on New Line’s Academy Award winning theatrical productions of The Lord of the Rings, as depicted by Peter Jackson. Newer games, such as The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle Earth II and Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars and its recently released expansion pack ‘Kane’s Wrath’ will receive ongoing online support.

“We realise a lot of our fans aren’t going to be happy about this decision, but it was either this or reduce the amount of support we are giving to our current, more prioritised games,” said Mike Verdu, Senior Producer of The Lord of the Rings, The Battle for Middle-earth at EA.

Electronic Arts Los Angeles is currently working on Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3, the critically acclaimed sequel to Westwood’s Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2.

For more information about The Lord of the Rings™, The Battle for Middle-earth™ II please visit: http://www.bfme2.ea.com. For information about all of EA’s games, please visit EA’s press site at http://www.info.ea.com.

| 23 comments | Add your comments

Comments:

SoraStrife:
Nice April Fools day joke Freek, its halfway believable :O

_Freek:
Yea, I was hoping my LotRO post was going to throw you guys off ;)

SoraStrife:
lol, it wouldve, had it not been for the fact you cite no sources :@

Mendes:
meh lol

Mithrandir7:
So this is april fools? :P

SoraStrife:
pretty much mith :P

_Freek:

Quote:

Originally Posted by SoraStrife

lol, it wouldve, had it not been for the fact you cite no sources :@

I had considered making a fake EA website page to link to, but didnt feel like going that far.

Nobody discovered the "april fools" tag that appears on the full post on the website yet :P

Teregond:
this is yet just another example of EA's failing ability to do something really usefull with the Lord of the Rings. Peter Jackson himself is displeased I really think its time for a better company to get the Movie rights and actually put some effort into a game.

SoraStrife:
again Tere, this was an April Fools joke, BFME1 is still online

HMMcKamikaze:
I checked just to make sure, and no, it isn't. :(

_Freek:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Teregond

this is yet just another example of EA's failing ability to do something really usefull with the Lord of the Rings. Peter Jackson himself is displeased I really think its time for a better company to get the Movie rights and actually put some effort into a game.

Hihi.

payne:
They did that a long time ago... :p

Well, they let us play online--but the support is non-existent. :D

zach:
lol, i was mad, darn you Freek. I have just went back the BFME after getting tired of BFME 2 and was like wtf. :(

TokyoBlade:
Worst April Fools Joke I've ever seen tbh :P

_Freek:

Quote:

Originally Posted by TokyoBlade

Worst April Fools Joke I've ever seen tbh :P

You're fired.

Black King Of Numenor:
u suck freek

_Freek:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Black King Of Numenor

u suck freek

I already fired you...

And banned you...

I'll just kill myself.

On that note:
http://www.btb-online.com/breaking-n...for-bfme1.html

Black King Of Numenor:
fake. go kill urself, gogogo.

Lotrbiggestfan:
haha i fell for it until sora pointed it out lol

Lelegy:
You also had me going, I was going through the process of sueing EA before I read Sora's post :o

Arkymedes:
i just BOUGHT it and was reading this news DURING the game installation... and was.. wtf?

phew... what a relief..

_Freek:
Yes... in some ways its sad that this is actually beleivable. EA has shut down for Tiberian Sun a few years ago, but its still supported by the community trough their own servers.

Lotrbiggestfan:
How many people still play anyways lol?

Tags: april fool's

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 1st, 2008 at 10:23 am and is filed under Battle for Middle Earth . You can trackback this article from your own site.

Polls Archive

Your ad could be here, right now.

Comments:

How would you rate the Conquest demo?