Summary
- EA has suddenly delisted Rocket Arena, its multiplayer hero shooter game, without any prior announcement.
- Rocket Arena received mixed reviews, with praise for its core gameplay but criticism for its monetization and lack of content.
- Rocket Arena stopped receiving updates years ago and has now been removed from sale.
EA has suddenly removed its online multiplayer hero shooter game Rocket Arena with no prior announcement. Rocket Arena was first released in 2020, developed by Final Strike Games and published by EA. Rocket Arena reviews were somewhat mixed but mostly positive at the time of the game's release, with many praising the core gameplay and the unique spin it brought to hero shooters.
Common issues pointed out by Rocket Arena reviews were it being a paid game saddled with a free-to-play monetization scheme and its general lack of content. While Rocket Arena's core gameplay received a great deal of praise, many complained that there wasn't enough quality content to keep one engaged long-term. This was meant to be remedied by Rocket Arena's live service approach, wherein the game would add new characters, stages, and more post-launch. Unfortunately, it seems Rocket Arena ultimately failed to find much of an audience.
3 More EA Games Shutting Down Their Online Services Later This Year
EA is shutting down the online services for three more games, and this time players will say goodbye to the online functionality of well-known titles.
Rocket Arena stopped receiving substantial new updates years ago, though the game has remained available to purchase and was playable through the EA Play service. Rocket Arena was also one of the free PS Plus games at one point, which likely saw many new players give it a shot. Despite this, Rocket Arena has now been delisted, with no prior announcement from EA warning fans about the game being pulled from sale.
While EA did not let gamers know in advance that Rocket Arena was being delisted, it did confirm its removal from EA Play prior to that happening. Rocket Arena was pulled from EA Play earlier in the week, which meant that the game was also removed from Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. EA is usually good at letting fans know well-in-advance of games that it will be pulling from sale or shutting down, so Rocket Arena's sudden departure has come as a bit of a shock. It's unclear at the time of this writing if the game is still technically playable online despite it no longer being available for purchase.
Unfortunately for fans of the company's games, more EA shutdowns are imminent. The online services for Mirror's Edge Catalyst, Battlefield 1943, Battlefield: Bad Company, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Dante's Inferno, and Dead Space 2 are all being shut down on December 8, which should make that a particularly sad day for EA fans. Some of those games have already been delisted and removed from EA Play, though fans were given plenty of warning before their removals, in contrast to Rocket Arena's sudden departure.