EA is preparing to pull the plug on several more online games over the coming months, with NHL 22 and NHL 23 scheduled to lose their online functionality on August 31, 2026.
The two hockey games are only part of a growing shutdown calendar. EA already discontinued the Nintendo Switch version of Apex Legends earlier this month, while Grid Legends and NBA Mobile 26 are also approaching the end of their online lives.
For players, it is another reminder that online functionality rarely lasts forever, particularly when it comes to annual sports releases and games built heavily around live services.
NHL 22 and NHL 23 Servers Shut Down August 31
The next major shutdown date is August 31, when EA will discontinue the online services for both NHL 22 and NHL 23.
Once the servers close, players will no longer be able to access modes and features that depend on an online connection. Offline functionality will remain available where supported, but a significant part of both games will effectively disappear.
The good news for NHL players is that the newer entries aren’t going anywhere yet.
NHL 24, NHL 25, and NHL 26 will continue to have active servers, giving players several alternatives if they want to keep playing online.
The franchise is also preparing for its next release.
NHL 27, featuring Macklin Celebrini as its cover athlete, launches on September 11, 2026 for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. As the newest entry in the series, its online infrastructure will presumably remain active for years to come.
EA’s Upcoming Server Shutdowns
EA currently has several shutdowns scheduled across the next few months:
- NHL 22 — August 31, 2026
- NHL 23 — August 31, 2026
- Grid Legends — September 11, 2026
- NBA Mobile 26 — October 27, 2026
Interestingly, Grid Legends will go offline on the same day that NHL 27 launches.
NBA Mobile 26 is in an even more terminal position. The game has already been removed from app stores, meaning new players can no longer normally download it. Its October 27 shutdown will therefore represent the final stage of its retirement.
Apex Legends on Switch Already Went Offline
These upcoming closures follow another significant shutdown earlier in August.
EA ended support for the original Nintendo Switch version of Apex Legends, effectively ending the battle royale’s life on Nintendo’s older hardware.
A Nintendo Switch 2 version of Apex Legends exists, but that doesn’t necessarily help everyone affected by the original game’s closure. A large number of Nintendo players still use the original Switch, and upgrading to newer hardware isn’t something every player can immediately do.
It represents a slightly different situation from shutting down an aging sports game, but the result for affected players remains familiar: an online experience they previously had access to is no longer available on that platform.
Sports Games Have a Particularly Short Online Lifespan
Server closures aren’t unusual in the modern games industry, but sports franchises are particularly susceptible to them.
Annual releases constantly move their communities toward newer games. As the player population of an older installment declines, maintaining its servers becomes increasingly difficult to justify financially.
Licensing can complicate matters further.
EA’s portfolio includes numerous games built around licensed teams, athletes, competitions, vehicles, music, and other intellectual property. Combined with online infrastructure and ongoing maintenance costs, keeping older games operational indefinitely isn’t always commercially attractive.
From EA’s perspective, retiring games with shrinking player populations makes financial sense.
From the player’s perspective, however, the situation can look very different.
Buying a Game Doesn’t Guarantee Its Online Features Will Survive
The shutdowns once again highlight one of the biggest problems surrounding increasingly connected games.
Players can purchase a game at full price, spend additional money on its content and invest hundreds or even thousands of hours into it, yet online functionality ultimately remains dependent on the publisher continuing to operate the necessary services.
When those servers disappear, parts of the product disappear with them.
Games with substantial offline functionality can survive relatively well. Players may lose multiplayer, leaderboards, community features and other connected systems, but the core game remains playable.
Always-online and mobile games face a much harsher fate.
If essential gameplay requires communication with servers controlled by the publisher, shutting those servers down can effectively erase the entire game.
NBA Mobile 26 demonstrates just how final that process can become. Once distribution ends and the servers disappear, preserving a functional version becomes considerably more difficult.
Stop Killing Games Has Put the Issue Under the Spotlight
The wider problem has helped fuel preservation campaigns such as Stop Killing Games, which argues that consumers shouldn’t be left with completely unusable products simply because a publisher decides to discontinue online support.
However, campaigns pushing for stronger consumer protections have yet to establish legislation that universally prevents publishers from shutting games down.
That means server closures aren’t going away anytime soon.
Publishers will continue evaluating older games based on player numbers, maintenance costs, licensing agreements, infrastructure requirements, and commercial viability.
When those numbers stop making sense, another shutdown announcement is likely to follow.
Another Reminder of the Problems With Online-Dependent Games
Nobody realistically expects EA to operate every multiplayer server forever.
The bigger discussion is about what happens after official support ends.
For games capable of functioning offline, publishers can preserve at least part of the experience. For heavily server-dependent titles, however, players remain entirely dependent on decisions made years after their original purchase.
NHL 22 and NHL 23 are now reaching that point.
Their online services disappear on August 31, followed shortly afterward by Grid Legends on September 11 and NBA Mobile 26 on October 27.
For players still using these games, the clock is officially ticking.
