Fans of the PlayStation karaoke game SingStar might be shocked to learn that the servers are scheduled to be switched off, bringing to an end a number of the online features that the game offered. 

SingStar was a breakthrough game in many ways; it was first released in 2004 on the PlayStation 2, with many different song collections available to buy. The wired mics moved over to wireless mics and integration with the EyeToy enhanced the fun even further - it was a great party game and a perfect way to embarrass yourself.

The fun continued onto the PlayStation 3 and it survived on the PlayStation 4 as an app, but it has now been confirmed that the servers will be switched off on 31 December 2020. That still gives you a year of online play, but after that, the game will revert to being an offline game. 

It's not all bad news, however: everything you have on disc will continue to work and any songs that you've purchased and downloaded will also work - but once the servers go offline, you'll not be able to access any new songs and downloads will be restricted to songs you have already purchased. You'll also not be able to share anything to social platforms either.

You will be able to take snapshots to your hard drive, however and you'll still get things like Party Mode and high score tracking, but it will be offline instead. 

The thing that always appealed to us about SingStar was the quality of the mics. Even though our vocal performances were far from good, at least we always felt the part.