I’d like to say that a roundup of impending sunsets is a first on MOP, but this is 2021, the year Gamigo sunsetted a ton of games all at once, so unfortunately it’s not.
First, Need for Speed World sunsetted back in 2015, but a whole bunch of older Need for Speed online titles are also closing down in favor of work on future Need for Speed games. The good news is that the offline versions will keep working.
“Starting May 31st 2021, Need for Speed Carbon, Need for Speed Undercover, Need for Speed Shift, Need for Speed Shift 2: Unleashed and Need for Speed The Run will be removed from digital storefronts and you will no longer be able to purchase them. In-game stores will also be closed from May 31st. This is in preparation for the retirement of the online services for these titles which will happen on August 31st 2021. Until that date, you will be able to play and race your friends (and rivals) online. From September 1st 2021 onwards, you can still play the games and use the respective offline features of these titles.”
Second, Tencent is apparently shuttering the Chinese version of Call of Duty Online, which has been live in the region since 2015. According to Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad (via GIbiz), it’s a result of “declining revenue and lack of renewal from Activision.” Pretty wild given how the game basically sustains Activision in the west, but as GIbiz notes, it’s Call of Duty Mobile that does well in China.
Finally, MMO Fallout noticed that a bunch of SUBA GAMES are on the chopping block: free-to-play Divine Souls, the unreleased Kingdom Heroes 2, and a battle royale dubbed Extopia.
