Five classic Need for Speed titles are dropping off digital stores today and losing online later in the year

In a move that came out of nowhere, but also is surprising that it hadn’t happened yet, Electronic Arts have announced that a number of classic Need for Speed games are being removed from sale today, with in-game shops also following suit.

That isn’t a big deal, things like that happen all the time, but the extra news is that the five games will also loose their online components at the end of September, given that the oldest game in the list was released 15 years ago, the fact that is still supporting online is a little crazy. These are the games moving on today:

• Need for Speed Carbon

• Need for Speed Undercover

• Need for Speed Shift

• Need for Speed Shift 2: Unleashed

• Need for Speed The Run

Need for Speed Community Manager Max put this statement up via Reddit.

Decisions to retire games are never made easy, but we are now shifting gears to focus on the future of Need for Speed. The development teams and operational staff have put a lot of time and passion into the development, creation, release and upkeep of the game over the years, and we love to see you play. But the number of players has come to a point where it's no longer feasible to continue the work behind the scenes required to keep Need for Speed Carbon, Need for Speed Undercover, Need for Speed Shift, Need for Speed Shift 2: Unleashed and Need for Speed The Run up and running. We hope you have gotten many victories, satisfying drifts, moments of friendly rivalry, and hours of joy over the last few years out of these games. And we hope you'll keep driving with us in one of our newer titles - Need for Speed Most Wanted (2012), Need for Speed Rivals, Need for Speed (2015), Need for Speed Payback, Need for Speed Heat and Need for Speed Hot Pursuit Remastered - many of which are available via our EA Play subscription. Pedal to the metal.

Does this news matter to you, are you playing these games online anyway, let us know.