EA Is Shutting Down Three Games in January 2026, Anthem, The Sims Mobile and NBA Live 19 Face the End

Electronic Arts opens 2026 by pulling the plug on at least three games, and it’s the same pattern that’s quietly claimed a growing pile of titles over the past year. January alone takes out Anthem, The Sims Mobile, and NBA Live 19. A fourth shutdown is already locked in for March.

EA maintains an updated closure list, so nobody gets caught out cold. That’s the bare minimum, though, and it doesn’t change what’s actually happening: communities that built their routines around these games are watching the server-side refresh switch off for good.

Anthem Servers Go Offline First

First up is January 12, when Anthem’s servers go dark. BioWare built this 2019 multiplayer action RPG as a flagship live service play. The launch was rough and the reception mixed, but the flying mechanics and core combat still get defended by the players who stuck around.

Anthem’s development stopped back in 2021, and EA delisted it on August 15 this year. There’s no offline mode, so once the servers drop, the game is gone, not archived, not playable solo, gone. That’s what makes this shutdown hit different from a routine service wind-down: it’s a full erasure, not a downgrade.

The Sims Mobile Shuts Down on January 24

Two weeks later, on January 24, EA will shut down The Sims Mobile. Created by Maxis as a mobile adaptation of The Sims 4, the game launched a year before Anthem and built a steady audience on iOS and Android.

Support for The Sims Mobile dried up in 2024, and EA delisted it in October 2025 as the lead-in to this shutdown. If it’s already on your phone, you’re fine until the servers close. Miss the download window, and there’s no getting back in.

NBA Live 19 Marks the End of an Era

The final January shutdown arrives on January 30, when NBA Live 19 goes offline. Developed by EA Tiburon, the 2018 release remains the last NBA Live game ever launched on consoles.

NBA Live 19 got mixed reviews at launch, but the shutdown means more than that score ever did. EA has put the entire NBA Live series on ice, with zero announcement of a replacement. What’s in the pipeline instead is a college basketball game, and whether that survives past its own live-service cycle is anyone’s guess.

Another EA Shutdown Confirmed for March

Beyond January, EA has also confirmed that Real Racing 3 will shut down on March 19, 2026. First released in 2013, the long running mobile racer has maintained a loyal player base for over a decade.

Real Racing 3 already got the same delisting treatment as The Sims Mobile. If it’s still on your device, you can keep playing until the servers actually cut out later in the year, but redownloading it isn’t an option anymore.

Why EA Is Shutting These Games Down

EA hasn’t put out an official reason for any of these three closures. The usual suspects apply, server upkeep costs, a shrinking player base, and licensing deals running out, which lines up especially well with a sports title like NBA Live 19.

In 2025 alone, EA shut down 23 games, ranging from mobile titles such as The Simpsons: Tapped Out to major sports franchises. The January 2026 shutdowns follow two more closures earlier this month, including one AAA release from the PS4 and Xbox One era.

The pattern here isn’t subtle. Live service and always-online games run on borrowed time, whether or not that’s obvious on launch day. Anyone still checking in on Anthem, The Sims Mobile, or NBA Live 19 has until January to get their last sessions in before the servers go dark permanently.