Summary
EA has suddenly removed its online multiplayer hero shooter gameRocket Arenawith no prior announcement.Rocket Arenawas first released in 2020, developed by Final Strike Games and published byEA.Rocket Arenareviews 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 byRocket Arenareviewswere it being a paid game saddled with a free-to-play monetization scheme and its general lack of content. WhileRocket 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 byRocket Arena’s live service approach, wherein the game would add new characters, stages, and more post-launch. Unfortunately, it seemsRocket Arenaultimately failed to find much of an audience.
Rocket Arenastopped receiving substantial new updatesyears ago, though the game has remained available to purchase and was playable through the EA Play service.Rocket Arenawas also one of the free PS Plus games at one point, which likely saw many new players give it a shot. Despite this,Rocket Arenahas 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 thatRocket Arenawas being delisted, it did confirm its removal from EA Play prior to that happening.Rocket Arenawas 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, soRocket 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, moreEA shutdownsare imminent. The online services forMirror’s Edge Catalyst,Battlefield 1943,Battlefield: Bad Company,Battlefield: Bad Company 2,Dante’s Inferno, andDead Space 2are 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 toRocket Arena’s sudden departure.
