Fight Night Round 4 servers get KOed in March 2020

Ten years after its release, the lights are finally going out for Fight Night Round 4.

Electronic Arts has confirmed that it is shutting down the servers for the boxing game on March 9, 2020. Frankly, I didn’t know that the game was still being supported, especially considering EA’s habit of shutting down game servers after a few years.

“The daily active playerbase in Fight Night Round 4 has reached a very low number and we can no longer ensure a quality online experience,” EA said in an email to players announcing the server shutdown date. After March 9, EA says that you’ll still be able to play all offline modes on PS3 and Xbox 360.

Round 4 was released on PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 in 2009. It was the first game in the series to be developed out of EA Canada, which assumed development responsibility after EA Chicago’s closure. The game featured legendary boxers, such as Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson.

The Fight Night franchise and boxing as a sport more generally have fallen out of favor. UFC has gained mainstream popularity and has been EA’s focus in recent years. The most recent game in the franchise, EA Sports UFC 3, was released in 2018.