50 EA games will have their servers shut down

More than 50 games will see their servers shut down at the end of June, EA has announced, including Crysis 2, Battlefield 2 and Battlefield 2142.

The move comes as hosting service GameSpy is set to cease operations at the end of this month. The full list of EA games to go offline lies below.

It's not the first we've heard of such big-name EA games being affected, but EA previously said it was working on a "transitioning" solution for its Battlefield series.

Sadly, EA's search does not appear to have been successful - although the company has spoken of looking to fans to help preserve the online future of certain titles.

"Since GameSpy's announcement, our teams have been working to evaluate options to keep services up and running," EA wrote on its official site. "Unfortunately, due to technical challenges and concerns about the player experience, we do not have a solution at this time. Online services for EA games on the GameSpy platform will be closed down at the end of June.

"We know some of these games are still fan favorites, including Battlefield 2, Battlefield 1942, Medal of Honor: Allied Assault and Command & Conquer games. We are still investigating community-supported options to preserve online functionality for these titles, such as multiplayer. Significant technical hurdles remain, and at this time we don't have anything to announce."

Another message listed more practical reasons why the games were being switched off.

"As games get replaced with newer titles, the number of players still enjoying the older games dwindles to a level - typically fewer than 1 per cent 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 these games up and running.

"We would rather our hard-working engineering and IT staff focus on keeping a positive experience for the other 99 per cent of customers playing our more popular games. We hope you have gotten many hours of enjoyment out of the games and we appreciate your ongoing patronage."

The GameSpy shutdown has had far-reaching consequences, with hundreds of games set to be affected. Rockstar has stepped in to save some - but not all - of its back catalogue, while Nintendo has elected to end online support for all Wii and DS games.

Online service GameRanger has stepped in to save others, meanwhile, including Halo 1 on PC and Star Wars: Battlefront 2.

EA games to go offline 30th June

• Battlefield 1942 for PC and Mac (including The Road to Rome and Secret Weapons of WW2 expansions)
• Battlefield 2 for PC (including Special Forces expansion)
• Battlefield 2: Modern Combat for PlayStation 2
• Battlefield 2142 for PC and Mac (including Northern Strike expansion)
• Battlefield Vietnam for PC
• Bejeweled 2 for the Wii
• Bulletstorm for PlayStation 3
• Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars for PC and Mac (including Kane's Wrath expansion)
• Command & Conquer: Generals for PC and Mac (including Zero Hour expansion)
• Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 for PC and Mac
• Crysis 2 for PC
• Crysis for PC
• Crysis Wars for PC
• Dracula - Undead Awakening for the Wii
• Dragon Sakura for Nintendo DS
• EA Sports 06 for PC
• F1 2002 for PC
• FIFA Soccer 08 (KOR) for the Wii
• FIFA Soccer 08 for Nintendo DS
• FIFA Soccer 09 for Nintendo DS
• FIFA Soccer 10 for Nintendo DS
• FIFA Street 3 for Nintendo DS
• Full Spectrum Warrior: Ten Hammers for PlayStation 2
• Global Operations for PC
• Green Day Rock Band for the Wii
• James Bond: Nightfire for PC
• Madden NFL 08 for Nintendo DS
• Madden NFL 09 for Nintendo DS
• Master of Orion 3 for PC
• Medal of Honor: Allied Assault for PC and Mac (including Breakthrough and Spearhead expansions)
• MySims Party for Wii
• MySims Racing for Nintendo DS
• MySims SkyHeroes for the Wii and DS
• NASCAR Sim Racing for PC
• NASCAR Thunder 2003 for PC
• NASCAR Thunder 2004 for PC
• Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 for PC
• Need for Speed: ProStreet for Nintendo DS
• Need for Speed: Undercover for Nintendo DS
• Neverwinter Nights 2 for PC and Mac
• Neverwinter Nights for PC, Mac and Linux (including Hordes of the Underdark and Shadows of Undrentide expansions)
• SimCity Creator for Wii
• Skate It for Nintendo DS
• Sneezies for the Wii
• Spore Creatures for Nintendo DS
• Spore Hero Arena for Nintendo DS
• Star Wars: Battlefront for PC and PlayStation 2
• Star Wars: Battlefront II for PC and PlayStation 2
• The BEatles Rockband for the Wii
• Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 for Nintendo DS