EA has been having a hard time of late, taking a battering from consumers as “the worst company in America” for 2013, getting torn to pieces in the PC gaming market for poor DRM and lack of responsiveness to consumer feedback and being criticized for its monetizing stance to micro-transactions and DLC. Now it emerges EA is also being hit by declining popularity of its Facebook games to the point where it is now in a process of retiring most of them.
EA has announced it is withdrawing The Sims Social, Sim City Social and Pet Society on June the 14th 2013. EA called the statement a difficult one but found it a necessary one to make. Millions of people initially played these games but apparently user activity has now fallen to the point of non-profit. Players who still play these games are recommended to use their unspent in-game currency because they will not be refunded for it so you might as well “enjoy” it while the games last.
EA’s attempt at compensating those affected by these title closures is by offering them an unspecified PopCap game. EA will make more details of this offer available in-game “soon”. As the title of this story suggests, EA is still retaining some Facebook games – Bejeweled Blitz, Solitaire Blitz and Plants vs Zombies Adventures will all continue.
For those who remember, EA actually filed a lawsuit against Zynga for allegedly copying its Sim Social Facebook game. That case was settled and Zynga said they were “pleased” with the settlement. No doubt Zynga will also be pleased by this news from EA which sees one of their biggest competitors voluntarily chuck itself out of the market.
What are your thoughts on this move by EA?
The NZXT Lift 2 is an symmetrical mouse that goes the distance. Its lightweight design…
The MAG B650 TOMAHAWK WIFI is a gaming oriented ATX motherboard constructed around the latest…
Experience incredible performance, visuals, and efficiency when gaming and streaming with the AMD Radeon™ RX…
Welcome to the new era of performance. AMD Ryzen 7000 Series ushers in the speed…
Take a step into the future with the Z790 Gaming Plus Wifi motherboard, designed and…
The 990 EVO offers enhanced sequential read/write speeds up to 5,000/4,200 MB/s, and random read/write…