Summary
- EA Sports UFC 3 was shut down on February 17.
- The game was also delisted from the PlayStation and Xbox Stores on that date.
- UFC 3’s multiplayer servers remained online for over seven years, making it the longest-supported game in EA Sports’ series.
EA Sports UFC 3 has been shut down. Electronic Arts‘ fighting game has been playable online for more than seven years.
EA is one of the most prolific video game publishers when it comes to releasing titles with multiplayer functionality. As such, the company also sunsets its games on a regular basis. Over half a dozen EA games were shut down in January 2025 alone, and several more have been scheduled to follow this month.
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The latest title to find itself on the chopping block is EA Vancouver’s EA Sports UFC 3, whose servers were taken offline on Monday, February 17, ending support for all of its multiplayer functionality. Simultaneously with this move, EA delisted the game from the PlayStation and Xbox Stores. On February 15, EA Sports UFC 3 was also removed from Xbox Game Pass as a result of it being pulled from the EA Play library. Therefore, the game’s single-player modes can now only be played by fans who already own either its physical copy or one of its digital versions. Owners can still download the latter from Sony and Microsoft’s storefronts.
EA Sports UFC 3 Was EA’s Longest-Lasting UFC Game
EA Sports UFC 3 was originally released for the PS4 and Xbox One on February 2, 2018. Its multiplayer servers were shut down exactly 7 years and 15 days later. This makes it EA’s longest-supported UFC game, outlasting UFC 2 by roughly a month and a half. For added context, the first EA Sports UFC game had its servers taken offline in early December 2019, five and a half years following its debut.
Shutdown History of EA Sports UFC Games
|
Game |
Release Date |
Shutdown Date |
Time Live |
|---|---|---|---|
|
EA Sports UFC |
Jun 17, 2014 |
Dec 2, 2019 |
5 years, 5 months, 15 days |
|
EA Sports UFC 2 |
Mar 15, 2016 |
Feb 6, 2023 |
6 years, 10 months, 22 days |
|
EA Sports UFC 3 |
Feb 2, 2018 |
Feb 17, 2025 |
7 years, 15 days |
|
EA Sports UFC 4 |
Aug 14, 2020 |
N/A |
4 years, 6 months, 3 days+ |
|
EA Sports UFC 5 |
Oct 27, 2023 |
N/A |
1 year, 3 months, 21 days+ |
The latest two entries in EA Vancouver’s MMA series are still playable online as of February 2025. Based on EA’s track record, UFC 4‘s multiplayer servers may remain operational until at least 2028, whereas UFC 5 is likely to make it to the 2030s. In the meantime, UFC 6 reportedly entered full production in late 2024, suggesting it could hit the market between 2027 and 2028.
UFC 3‘s end of service arrives mere weeks after EA shut down a variety of mobile games, including Blood and Glory: Immortals, Contract Killer: Sniper, and Deer Hunter Classic. Dino Hunter: Deadly Shores and Eternity Warriors 4 were also delisted in January 2025, together with Frontline Commando 2 and Frontline Commando: D-Day. In related news, F1 22 and Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising will be pulled from EA’s The Play List subscription library on February 28 and March 14, respectively.
