Game publisher EA is retiring Battlefield: Bad Company titles from online stores on April 28. The decision will affect Battlefield 1943, Battlefield: Bad Company, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, and Mirror’s Edge.
The move for EA retiring Battlefield games will remove the titles from stores such as the PlayStation Store, Xbox Games Store, and Steam.
The single-player elements of the games will still be playable. Battlefield 1943, an online multiplier game for PS3 and Xbox 360 will no longer be available after December 28, when the digital services for the games will shut down.
Developer DICE stated that these game titles have a special place in their heart, and the company is looking forward to creating new memories. DICE will focus on developing new and future Battlefield experiences.
Battlefield: Bad Company is one of the most popular and oldest games to be retired. The game was launched in June 2008.
DICE is now developing the next generation of games in the Battlefield franchise, after the bad performance of 2021’s Battlefield 2042. The delays in the release of 2042 triggered major changes at DICE and EA.
Season of Retirings
As EA is retiring Battlefield: Bad Company from online stores is another reminder of the short-lived presence of games in online storefronts. At the moment, it is a period of delisting. In 2022, EA retired a number of servers, including the Command & Conquer series and Onrush.
Nintendo is also planning to pull out the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS eShops in the coming days. In February, Microsoft removed a number of games from the Xbox 360 marketplace.
EA has not clarified the reasons for delisting these games. A number of explanations for the decision include the cost of maintaining the servers, security concerns, or plans to resell the titles in other forms in the future. None of the suggested explanations has been confirmed by publisher EA.