EA is marking the 15th anniversary of Battlefield 1943, Bad Company and its sequel, and Mirror’s Edge by pulling all of those titles from digital storefronts.
The company explained that all four games will be removed from sale starting April 28, 2023, in “preparation for the retirement of the online services for these titles,” which will happen on December 8, 2023.
“For Bad Company 1 & 2 and Mirror’s Edge, you can still continue playing them and use their respective offline features, such as the single player campaign,” wrote the company.
“While these titles hold a special place in our heart, we’re now looking forward to creating new memories alongside you as we shift our focus towards our current and future Battlefield experiences.”
EA had already announced plans to ditch online support for a number of older titles including Mirror’s Edge, with the company previously indicating it would shut down the title’s online features in January 2023.
When announcing the shutdown in October last year, the publisher said the decision to axe certain features is “never easy,” but indicated that every title has a shelf life.
“As games are replaced with newer titles, the number of players still enjoying the games that have been live for some time dwindles to a level–typically fewer than 1 percent 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 the online services for these games up and running,” wrote the company at the time.
Withdrawing support for certain features and actively pulling titles from sales, however, are two different propositions, and the latter runs the risk of irking those who’re concerned about the current state of game preservation.
Update: EA has now removed any mention of Mirror’s Edge from its blog post, suggesting the game is safe for the time being. The publisher, however, still intends to put Battlefield 1943 and both Bad Company titles on the proverbial chopping block.