Electronic Arts (EA), one of the world’s most influential video game publishers, is preparing to pull the plug on three of its titles in January 2026, marking a dramatic—and, for many players, deeply unsettling—moment in the digital gaming landscape. The move will leave BioWare’s Anthem, Maxis’ The Sims Mobile, and EA Tiburon’s NBA Live 19 either partially or wholly unplayable, as their servers go permanently offline. For the legions of fans who have invested time, money, and emotion into these virtual worlds, the shutdowns are more than a technicality—they’re the end of an era, and a stark reminder of the impermanence of online games.
The first domino to fall will be Anthem, BioWare’s ambitious but ultimately troubled multiplayer action RPG. Released in 2019, Anthem was heralded as a potential blockbuster, promising players a dynamic, cooperative world filled with customizable exosuits and epic battles. But the reality proved far messier. The game launched to scathing reviews and persistent technical problems, and despite initial plans for a sweeping overhaul (dubbed "Anthem NEXT"), development was abandoned in 2021. EA officially delisted the title from digital storefronts on August 15, 2025, but kept its servers running—until now. On January 12, 2026, those servers will go dark, and, as EA bluntly put it in its official announcement, "the game will no longer be playable." There are no offline modes; once the servers are off, Anthem is gone for good.
Just days later, on January 20, 2026, The Sims Mobile will meet a similar fate. Developed by Maxis and released a year before Anthem, this mobile adaptation of the beloved The Sims 4 franchise has entertained and inspired a creative community for over seven years. EA delisted The Sims Mobile from app stores on October 21, 2025, and disabled in-app purchases the same month. In a gesture to longtime players, the company promised to unlock all premium content and grant unlimited energy on January 6, 2026, so that fans can "experience everything the game has to offer before the servers close." But once the shutdown arrives, all progress, purchases, and in-game creations will vanish—there are no refunds for unused currency, and no way to preserve your digital legacy.
The final title in this wave of closures is NBA Live 19, which will shut down on January 30, 2026. Released in 2018 by EA Tiburon, NBA Live 19 is the last entry in EA’s once-proud basketball franchise, which has been on indefinite hiatus since. Like its soon-to-be-shuttered siblings, NBA Live 19 was delisted from digital stores at the end of October 2025. After the shutdown, no EA-published basketball game will have active online services, closing the book on an era for virtual hoops fans.
What’s driving these closures? EA has been characteristically tight-lipped about the specifics, never providing official explanations for the delistings or server terminations. However, industry observers and financial reports point to a combination of mounting server maintenance costs and expiring licensing agreements—especially for NBA Live 19, where NBA player and team likenesses require ongoing payments. As ComicBook.com notes, "all three require servers, which cost money and manpower resources. Meanwhile, NBA Live 19 also has licensing deals that expire." The math is simple: if a game is bleeding money, it’s unlikely to get a reprieve.
The January 2026 shutdowns are not happening in isolation. According to Mathrubhumi, EA has already shuttered 23 games in 2025 alone, including high-profile titles like FIFA 23 (closed December 12) and the racing game Grid (closed December 19). The trend is clear: EA is aggressively pruning its portfolio, focusing resources on fewer, larger franchises and long-term live-service platforms, while sunsetting games that no longer attract enough players to justify their upkeep. The company’s latest financial statements reflect the pressure behind these decisions, with revenue declining 1.3% to $7.46 billion and net income falling 12% to $1.12 billion in fiscal year 2025.
For players, the implications go far beyond lost entertainment. The shutdowns have reignited a fierce debate about the nature of digital ownership in an era where games are increasingly tied to online servers and publisher goodwill. As Swikblog points out, "the concern isn’t just about nostalgia—it’s about whether games they paid for will still function at all once servers go offline." Unlike the physical discs of old, modern titles are often more akin to licenses for a service, one that can be revoked at any time. Critics argue that consumers are left with nothing when a publisher flips the switch, while supporters counter that online games are, by their nature, ephemeral and that clear end-of-life policies are unavoidable.
The shutdown of Anthem is particularly poignant for BioWare fans. Once known for genre-defining single-player RPGs like Dragon Age and Mass Effect, BioWare’s foray into live-service multiplayer was fraught from the start. Despite a dedicated core community and sporadic attempts to revive the game, Anthem never managed to recover from its rocky launch. As the end draws near, some fans have organized farewell events, while others are exploring unofficial server options in a last-ditch effort to keep the world alive.
The Sims Mobile community faces a different challenge. For many, the game was a daily ritual, a creative outlet, and a social hub. EA’s decision to unlock all premium content in the final weeks is a small consolation, but it can’t replace years of memories and digital creations that will soon be lost. The closure also feeds speculation about the future of the franchise, with rumors swirling that EA is shifting focus to next-generation platforms like Project Rene, a unified Sims ecosystem that may eventually replace standalone titles.
So what should players do before the deadlines hit? Experts and gaming sites recommend several steps: finish any remaining campaigns or storylines, unlock achievements that require online play, spend any unused in-game currency, and—perhaps most importantly—capture screenshots or video of favorite moments. Once the servers go dark, those memories will be all that’s left.
The broader gaming industry is watching these shutdowns closely. Digital preservation groups and vocal gamers continue to push for solutions that would allow old games to live on, whether through offline modes, emulation, or official archival efforts. For now, though, the reality remains: if a game lives online, its future is never guaranteed. As January 2026 approaches, players are left to savor their final days in these virtual worlds—and to grapple with the knowledge that, sometimes, even the biggest games can disappear overnight.
As the clock ticks down, the shutdowns of Anthem, The Sims Mobile, and NBA Live 19 serve as a sobering reminder of both the joys and the fragility of modern gaming. For better or worse, the digital frontier is always shifting, and nothing—not even a beloved game—lasts forever.
