Update: Things got a bit confusing earlier today when, instead of removing "Need for Speed Shift," "Shift 2," and "Undercover," Electronic Arts put all three on sale as part of its massive EA Racing sale. There was no explanation for this change, but it seemed like a not entirely unreasonable response to the backlash against the unannounced removal, one last chance to turn the tables, so to speak.

Unfortunately, it appears that was all a mistake. A few hours after the sale, all three games were removed: the Steam page is still there, but the purchase links are no longer accessible; EA has yet to comment on the situation, but will update when more details become available.

Original story here:

Electronic Arts is delisting a number of older Need for Speed games, closing the in-game store, and ending online services. EA stated that this decision was due to "shifting gears to focus on the future of Need for Speed" and that there were not enough players to justify any further support.

Games to be removed include:

Eligible games will be removed from the digital store and no longer available for purchase today. Online service will continue until August 31, after which only offline functionality will be available.

"Over the years, our development team and management staff have put a lot of time and passion into developing, creating, releasing, and maintaining the game. However, the behind-the-scenes work required to maintain Need for Speed Carbon, Need for Speed Undercover, Need for Speed Shift, Need for Speed Shift 2: Unleashed, and The Run players to the point where it is no longer feasible to keep them going.

These games have already been removed from Origin, and while Undercover, Shift, and Shift 2 remain available on Steam, they will probably disappear from there as well today. As expected, some fans are upset about the decision and the sudden announcement, but all of the affected games are at least a decade old and, based on Steamcharts' numbers, have a negligible player base.

The future of Need for Speed was recently delayed so that developer Criterion could cooperate with the future of Battlefield. Currently, the company expects to see something that will appear before April 1, 2022.