Videogame publishing juggernaut EA has been forced to discontinue three of its Facebook titles; The Sims Social, SimCity Social and Pet Society, after conceding that they were drawing insufficient numbers of players to be viable.
In a blog post EA highlighted the dwindling allure of the once popular titles, which were once a magnet for social media users but have since fallen away as people migrate to newer and better things, hinting that their demise wasn’t a surprise.
Conceding as much EA’s staff wrote: “After millions of people initially logged in to play these games, the number of players and amount of activity has fallen off. For people who have seen other recent shutdowns of social games, perhaps this is not surprising.”
Fans can find some succour from the fact that EA isn’t pulling out completely but will continue to deliver popular titles such as Bejeweled Blitz, Solitaire Blitz and Plants vs. Zombies Adventures.
The news comes just weeks after the head of social gaming firm Zynga NY departed amidst the disappointing performance of a slew of new games.