SimCity Marketing Pulled by EA
BrightSunnyDay.
And the worst part is, there is no way to turn it off. Now everyone knows that the game is bad news with the always on DRM. There's no way to bottle to that secret again.
TheRedWaltz24.
It was a secret?
Jounochi.
For those of us that haven't read up on it. I didn't know until this happened.
GRico316.
LMAO. Ooops!
MrBingle.
This has to be the biggest trainwreck of a launch in gaming history.
TheIronCross.
Can this be a new natural disaster in the game? DRM Failquake!!!
FusRoDud.
I think so, it is definitely worse the Diablo 3.
sinhasflesh.
At least SimCity doesn't have a meme to joke about its failure ie "ERROR 37"!
sw1n3flu141.
Not yet
Rouge5.
Agree. Diablo 3 is huge, but this is nothing short of historic.
TrevorCola.
Yes, this is the most over hyped, worst failure ever to hit gaming.
figotech.
Yeah its worse, the problems with Diablo 3 lasted only 20-30 hours after launch. This game is on its 4th day and still can't put its shit together.
Sephrick.
FFXIV will forever hold that title.
Absolutfreak.
It was definitely the worst launch ever, although in that case Square Enix is feverishly trying to fix their mistake, practically remaking the game.
KGIII.
I didn't play it but it sounded more like a bad game than a bad launch.
Rouge5.
True. Sim City had a lot more going for it. The bigger they are...
MrBingle.
zing!
Mark01_8.
have you forgot the WarZ? Thas game was basically a beta!!!
david0mke.
Actually that was alpha
sw1n3flu141.
At least WarZ wasn't made by a major publisher like EA
asmodeusjames.
D3 was worse imho.
NDWest14.
People were at least able to connect to Diablo. It was slow as balls and unplayable, but at least you could get a taste. I remember certain times of the day being better than others. This seems much worse. Lesson learned. If the 2 (not 2 of the biggest, but the 2 biggest) companies in the industry cant do it, don't think it should be attempted again.
CAC1291.
Diablo 3 had problems for roughly 24 hours... EA has had worse problems for four times as long as Blizzard did, and Blizzard never had to suspend their marketing campaign. It also never affected their other games; in EA's case, Origin wasn't delivering the new Sims 3 expansion pack (which came out on the same day) for many people. My sister couldn't download it.
Rouge5.
What?! Uh-oh. My wife wants University. I better look into that. Thanks for the heads up!
CAC1291.
No problem, but it should be okay at this point. My sister was finally able to download it on Wednesday night, and the forums have cooled off.
Rouge5.
Phew! Thanks man!
KGIII.
I disagree. Both were very bad, of course, but at least I could occasionally play Diablo the day it launched and every day it got a little bit better. This sucks so bad they had to pull out parts of the game just to fix server issues that didn't even get fixed.
Rouge5.
Same here. About a day after I was fine. This? THIS.....is just beyond embarrassing.
NameerK.
Also, Diablo 3 sold 12 million copies. Dont think this will. Or atleast I hope not. The only reason i MIGHT buy this is to support Maxis, of whom Im a huge fan of.
Rouge5.
I agree. Diablo and SimCity are two different beasts. I think Sim City really needed this to work for sales to be good. So much for that,
TheGuyWhoGamesAlot.
Diablo 3 was huge to. Too bad EA did not learn from their mistake.
NightmareXxX.
there has been some pretty bad trainwreck launches.but this is up there.
VTvitaltundra.
I am actually glad this happened. As much as I would like to play Sim city this will be the lesson to all publishers of what happens when you have such horrid DRM.
Otacon4.
I"m with ya man. DRM is a terrible, TERRIBLE idea and, to my knowledge, has YET to show an good working example of why that service needs to be mandatory.
david0mke.
As a professional modeler (can say that now, so happy :)), the idea of drm isn't bad
Khillasaurus.
No offence to modelers, but as a video game programmer myself who has a friend back from high school who currently works for EA, the idea of DRM is a huge nightmare for us coders. Just let us make the damn game and ignore all this "anti-piracy" non-sense. Not like we're getting any money from pirates anyways, so how about letting the programmers focus on what matters most - the game itself.
JezuitX.
Pff you think this is going to dissuade anyone making a game not to try new and crazier DRMs? Once this gets straightened out and the strain on the servers gets straightened out this game will have made a boat load of cash, people will say it's because it had such a strong DRM, and they'll keep on going down this path.
KGIII.
That sounds great in theory, but as long a bunch of people don't pirate this game (take Diablo 3 for example - I've heard of cracked versions but they don't seem very common) I think EA will still view their DRM as a success.
Dopplegamer211.
This was the last straw, and I hope EA realizes it. DRM is a plague, which only turns the industry over the soul killing corporate bigwigs. Video games may be a business, buts its also an art form. Corporate greed has no place in art...
JezuitX.
Genius...no one started making video games for artistic inspiration. The first video games were made by a bunch of guys who got told by corporate bigwigs to find something else people could do with their TVs. I'm not going to say video games can't be very artistic, but the reason these things are still made is to make money. No one in this business is out to paint the Mona Lisa, hide it in their crawlspace, and have it become famous when they die. Also, for the record I bought SimCity and I'm pissed I can't play it. However, that's no reason to go on an EA tirade that makes no damn sense. Now please let's stick to the main gripes here...stuff doesn't work like it should, EA should fix it faster, and we're all pissed off about it.
zapFinch42.
Karma is a bitch ain't it, EA?
voodoooperator.
Don't worry, EA. Your disgruntled paying customers will gladly take over your affiliates' marketing effort, free of charge.
Gamemaniac3434.
I wonder what they'll say.....probably mostly good things.
sactokingwolverine.
Maxis must seriously be pissed. Assuming always-online wasn't their idea.
Gamemaniac3434.
This is EA we are talking about.
TrevorCola.
There is no self respecting company that would do this
IAMCronxs.
I might think its actually part of Maxis Idea, their games are the most pirated games!
classicL337.
Enough SimCity 2013 - Anyone up for some original SimCity? Let's dust off our Apple IIe's and Packard Bell 486's - and do work!
SeekingSomething.
How about my SNES?
Rouge5.
Alright!!
WiegrafDX.
I was going to suggest that; the only thing that needs to be constantly connected is the power cord, nothing else.
G0LDEN AVENGER.
All I can think of
SweetWilliams.
EA should be ashamed of themselves, and for more than just this.
Silverback86.
So ambivalent. I hate to see this clearly great game struggle, but it's delightful to see DRM fail so hard.
Kevythekevlar.
Seriously screw EA!!! They're killing sim city now too!
TheDubanat0r.
Did The War Z devs also have a hand in this game?
david.cr.
Good theory...
GuardianSoulBlade.
This is why DRM backfires horribly.
ShadowTalis.
This isn't Khama or any such nonsense. If you continue to support a company when they provide sub-par service this will only continue. Gamers have been such an impotent consumer base that EA has little incentive to make sure this type of thing doesn't happen. Let's say it takes them three months to actually fix this. If, after all that, gamers still throw money at EA they will have learned nothing. Stop bloodlessly whining about EA. The only thing that effects a publisher of that size is to see their big IPs *consistently* crash and burn in conjunction with community demands for change.
TrevorCola.
Thanks for wording that so properly. It is truly the customers fault for continuing to support this botched company. They are using everyone, and abusing the very people that keep their company rolling.
Otacon4.
For years, I've heard all the EA hate and reasons why EA has subsequently been targeted by gamers, but I really didnt pay any interest in it, afterall I"m just a nobody. But then I started paying attention to details about the Madden franchise, and how incredibly lame, boring, and cut/paste each release was. Then I noticed what they did to the Ultima franchise and turned that into a joke. Watching my beloved SimCity being tossed onto their turd mountain was the last straw for me. I will never buy another EA title again. RIP and good riddance to my future investments with you EA
TrevorCola.
Glad to see that the 'nobodys' are starting to realize how bad EA actually is.
Zombienerd16.
Could you imagine the chaos if Sony or Microsoft chose to put always online to their new consoles.
TrevorCola.
Their fanboys would continue to support them, just the EA fanboys will
soundfilter.
There are EA fanboys?
althe.
I'm wondering if EA is losing more money now because of this debacle than what they would have lost because of piracy.
Undrtaker.
Piracy doesn't really make the lose too much money. Most people that pirate a game wouldn't buy it so there's no real money loss
NSCastion.
Yeah, they would never buy it. Just like no one who pirates a movie would ever have watched it otherwise. People don't download 20GB of game and fiddle with a crack unless they actively want to play that game. And if piracy weren't possible, then they would have no way of playing it without paying for it. Sure, some people may pirate the game just because they have nothing better to do, but I guarantee you that the majority of people who pirate a game have some interest in playing that game.
TrevorCola.
They are losing no money at all because they are not offering refunds. They have already made more in profit from sales than they need to cover all expenses regarding this game.
MetzgerMeister28.
That also makes me curious. Pretty sure they wouldn't release those numbers. Wonder who is going to be losing their job after this?
sngign.
Probably the tech director for their services team.
DargoKtor.
Welcome to the EA resturant where your food comes to you uncooked and missing a few minor ingredients. Where you pay extra for use of the cutlery and where you cant leave your seat as you might share you food with someone else. The wait for our meals are hours at a time but thats all good because we know how loyal you are to us. We like you to pay up front for your meal and will not give you a refund no matter how bad our service is because its just that a service please pop by anytime. The EA resturant Edit: please ignore this as we are no longer advertising our resturant due to high demand
aldiggy2000.
EA has destroyed SimCity ..goodjob
cameroncrogers1995.
EA, i WILL buy the game if you release a patch to at LEAST allow single player without the need for online connection. Until then, lmao im gonna sit and continue to play Cities XL.
newtotrolling.
Luckily im re playing persona 3 and might go for 4. I'll see you in the bargain bin sim city
Grimcicle.
"Oh shit guys! The servers are overloaded already, we better stop trying to entice more people into the buying the game!"
Dr.SuessIsDead.
I was looking forward to this for a while.Not anymore.Way to go EA.
uncarlo.
Wow. What a disaster. This one is for the history books. I for one will stop buying EA games like I stopped buying at Game Stop 5 years ago.
bpala25.
I don't think they could have messed up this launch any worse than they've managed to do. RIP SimCity, we didn't even know ye. The icing on this cake would be for pirates to release a cracked version before they get the servers working. This is what they get for crapping on their loyal, paying customers with the DRM...
TrevorCola.
They already have, it just takes a little research and you can play without connectivity.
DarthSpudius.
Its already been cracked!
xscythex.
they take the time to pause the game marketing, instead of just temporally taking the game down form the marketplace so vitcim.. erm costumers don't buy the game until its fixed. how cute
TrevorCola.
EA is a bunch of pricks, what do you expect?
Mr_Vicious5150.
I hope nobody in Europe buys this game at launch
Limebone.
EA Games: Challenge any...oh wait, no.
Sprtacus554.
*Every
Tyranick.
BURN IN HELL EA! RISE OF THE KICKSTARTER, RISE OF THE INDIE DEVS, DEATH TO DRM AND BULLSHIT PRICING, GIVE THIS GAME THE 5.5/10 IT DESERVES! (for being good, but plagued with aweful issues like this
DaTrugimp007.
sucks for people who bought his on launch, all these troubles, its just marketing on the game but it just goes to show they don't have high hopes on solving this soon
GRico316.
I was totally going to buy this game.... Glad i didn't
TrevorCola.
EA, high hopes? They don't need them, they got their money already.
REKNUBAD.
What a mess.....
cnart.
Simcity rush hour is looking better and better
Joffrey.
Fail of the year award goes to.......
mattypacker.
This is crazy, I thought Diablo 3 was bad, but this just takes the biscuit. They are essentially trying to move traffic away from their product!
Barkey1985.
Actively stop all online marketing yet i have a massive banner around my current ign page hmm.
DecoySS3.
I just feel bad for MAXIS. They deserve a better publisher. Rarely have I seen a company with such little foresight when it comes to what's best for themselves, the companies they own, and their customers. EA does this to themselves and they don't seem to learn from their mistakes or the mistakes of others before them.
Runciter.
this is even more serious than the Diablo III debacle. you can only hope companies do learn from stuff like this...
Thribs.
Ha! I like that IGN is still advertising it. It's everywhere on this page. :)
Nintenboy.
EA should give everybody who purchased it a refund. That, or update the game to include offline single-player, at the very least. If they don't want to do that and they are too stingy to abandon the notion of always-on DRM in their games, then this issue will just continue to repeat. Gamers, investors, and other industry-related personnel are going to become utterly disgusted with EA and stop supporting them altogether. I hope EA goes bankrupt soon. I would love for my favorite franchises and their developing studios to be picked up by respectable publishing companies that know how to market their games.
Jenker1.
Who's excited for Heart of Swarm?
BrightSunnyDay.
And the worst part is, there is no way to turn it off. Now everyone knows that the game is bad news with the always on DRM. There's no way to bottle to that secret again.
TheRedWaltz24.
It was a secret?
Jounochi.
For those of us that haven't read up on it. I didn't know until this happened.
GRico316.
LMAO. Ooops!
MrBingle.
This has to be the biggest trainwreck of a launch in gaming history.
TheIronCross.
Can this be a new natural disaster in the game? DRM Failquake!!!
FusRoDud.
I think so, it is definitely worse the Diablo 3.
sinhasflesh.
At least SimCity doesn't have a meme to joke about its failure ie "ERROR 37"!
sw1n3flu141.
Not yet
Rouge5.
Agree. Diablo 3 is huge, but this is nothing short of historic.
TrevorCola.
Yes, this is the most over hyped, worst failure ever to hit gaming.
figotech.
Yeah its worse, the problems with Diablo 3 lasted only 20-30 hours after launch. This game is on its 4th day and still can't put its shit together.
Sephrick.
FFXIV will forever hold that title.
Absolutfreak.
It was definitely the worst launch ever, although in that case Square Enix is feverishly trying to fix their mistake, practically remaking the game.
KGIII.
I didn't play it but it sounded more like a bad game than a bad launch.
Rouge5.
True. Sim City had a lot more going for it. The bigger they are...
MrBingle.
zing!
Mark01_8.
have you forgot the WarZ? Thas game was basically a beta!!!
david0mke.
Actually that was alpha
sw1n3flu141.
At least WarZ wasn't made by a major publisher like EA
asmodeusjames.
D3 was worse imho.
NDWest14.
People were at least able to connect to Diablo. It was slow as balls and unplayable, but at least you could get a taste. I remember certain times of the day being better than others. This seems much worse. Lesson learned. If the 2 (not 2 of the biggest, but the 2 biggest) companies in the industry cant do it, don't think it should be attempted again.
CAC1291.
Diablo 3 had problems for roughly 24 hours... EA has had worse problems for four times as long as Blizzard did, and Blizzard never had to suspend their marketing campaign. It also never affected their other games; in EA's case, Origin wasn't delivering the new Sims 3 expansion pack (which came out on the same day) for many people. My sister couldn't download it.
Rouge5.
What?! Uh-oh. My wife wants University. I better look into that. Thanks for the heads up!
CAC1291.
No problem, but it should be okay at this point. My sister was finally able to download it on Wednesday night, and the forums have cooled off.
Rouge5.
Phew! Thanks man!
KGIII.
I disagree. Both were very bad, of course, but at least I could occasionally play Diablo the day it launched and every day it got a little bit better. This sucks so bad they had to pull out parts of the game just to fix server issues that didn't even get fixed.
Rouge5.
Same here. About a day after I was fine. This? THIS.....is just beyond embarrassing.
NameerK.
Also, Diablo 3 sold 12 million copies. Dont think this will. Or atleast I hope not. The only reason i MIGHT buy this is to support Maxis, of whom Im a huge fan of.
Rouge5.
I agree. Diablo and SimCity are two different beasts. I think Sim City really needed this to work for sales to be good. So much for that,
TheGuyWhoGamesAlot.
Diablo 3 was huge to. Too bad EA did not learn from their mistake.
NightmareXxX.
there has been some pretty bad trainwreck launches.but this is up there.
VTvitaltundra.
I am actually glad this happened. As much as I would like to play Sim city this will be the lesson to all publishers of what happens when you have such horrid DRM.
Otacon4.
I"m with ya man. DRM is a terrible, TERRIBLE idea and, to my knowledge, has YET to show an good working example of why that service needs to be mandatory.
david0mke.
As a professional modeler (can say that now, so happy :)), the idea of drm isn't bad
Khillasaurus.
No offence to modelers, but as a video game programmer myself who has a friend back from high school who currently works for EA, the idea of DRM is a huge nightmare for us coders. Just let us make the damn game and ignore all this "anti-piracy" non-sense. Not like we're getting any money from pirates anyways, so how about letting the programmers focus on what matters most - the game itself.
JezuitX.
Pff you think this is going to dissuade anyone making a game not to try new and crazier DRMs? Once this gets straightened out and the strain on the servers gets straightened out this game will have made a boat load of cash, people will say it's because it had such a strong DRM, and they'll keep on going down this path.
KGIII.
That sounds great in theory, but as long a bunch of people don't pirate this game (take Diablo 3 for example - I've heard of cracked versions but they don't seem very common) I think EA will still view their DRM as a success.
Dopplegamer211.
This was the last straw, and I hope EA realizes it. DRM is a plague, which only turns the industry over the soul killing corporate bigwigs. Video games may be a business, buts its also an art form. Corporate greed has no place in art...
JezuitX.
Genius...no one started making video games for artistic inspiration. The first video games were made by a bunch of guys who got told by corporate bigwigs to find something else people could do with their TVs. I'm not going to say video games can't be very artistic, but the reason these things are still made is to make money. No one in this business is out to paint the Mona Lisa, hide it in their crawlspace, and have it become famous when they die. Also, for the record I bought SimCity and I'm pissed I can't play it. However, that's no reason to go on an EA tirade that makes no damn sense. Now please let's stick to the main gripes here...stuff doesn't work like it should, EA should fix it faster, and we're all pissed off about it.
zapFinch42.
Karma is a bitch ain't it, EA?
voodoooperator.
Don't worry, EA. Your disgruntled paying customers will gladly take over your affiliates' marketing effort, free of charge.
Gamemaniac3434.
I wonder what they'll say.....probably mostly good things.
sactokingwolverine.
Maxis must seriously be pissed. Assuming always-online wasn't their idea.
Gamemaniac3434.
This is EA we are talking about.
TrevorCola.
There is no self respecting company that would do this
IAMCronxs.
I might think its actually part of Maxis Idea, their games are the most pirated games!
classicL337.
Enough SimCity 2013 - Anyone up for some original SimCity? Let's dust off our Apple IIe's and Packard Bell 486's - and do work!
SeekingSomething.
How about my SNES?
Rouge5.
Alright!!
WiegrafDX.
I was going to suggest that; the only thing that needs to be constantly connected is the power cord, nothing else.
G0LDEN AVENGER.
All I can think of
SweetWilliams.
EA should be ashamed of themselves, and for more than just this.
Silverback86.
So ambivalent. I hate to see this clearly great game struggle, but it's delightful to see DRM fail so hard.
Kevythekevlar.
Seriously screw EA!!! They're killing sim city now too!
TheDubanat0r.
Did The War Z devs also have a hand in this game?
david.cr.
Good theory...
GuardianSoulBlade.
This is why DRM backfires horribly.
ShadowTalis.
This isn't Khama or any such nonsense. If you continue to support a company when they provide sub-par service this will only continue. Gamers have been such an impotent consumer base that EA has little incentive to make sure this type of thing doesn't happen. Let's say it takes them three months to actually fix this. If, after all that, gamers still throw money at EA they will have learned nothing. Stop bloodlessly whining about EA. The only thing that effects a publisher of that size is to see their big IPs *consistently* crash and burn in conjunction with community demands for change.
TrevorCola.
Thanks for wording that so properly. It is truly the customers fault for continuing to support this botched company. They are using everyone, and abusing the very people that keep their company rolling.
Otacon4.
For years, I've heard all the EA hate and reasons why EA has subsequently been targeted by gamers, but I really didnt pay any interest in it, afterall I"m just a nobody. But then I started paying attention to details about the Madden franchise, and how incredibly lame, boring, and cut/paste each release was. Then I noticed what they did to the Ultima franchise and turned that into a joke. Watching my beloved SimCity being tossed onto their turd mountain was the last straw for me. I will never buy another EA title again. RIP and good riddance to my future investments with you EA
TrevorCola.
Glad to see that the 'nobodys' are starting to realize how bad EA actually is.
Zombienerd16.
Could you imagine the chaos if Sony or Microsoft chose to put always online to their new consoles.
TrevorCola.
Their fanboys would continue to support them, just the EA fanboys will
soundfilter.
There are EA fanboys?
althe.
I'm wondering if EA is losing more money now because of this debacle than what they would have lost because of piracy.
Undrtaker.
Piracy doesn't really make the lose too much money. Most people that pirate a game wouldn't buy it so there's no real money loss
NSCastion.
Yeah, they would never buy it. Just like no one who pirates a movie would ever have watched it otherwise. People don't download 20GB of game and fiddle with a crack unless they actively want to play that game. And if piracy weren't possible, then they would have no way of playing it without paying for it. Sure, some people may pirate the game just because they have nothing better to do, but I guarantee you that the majority of people who pirate a game have some interest in playing that game.
TrevorCola.
They are losing no money at all because they are not offering refunds. They have already made more in profit from sales than they need to cover all expenses regarding this game.
MetzgerMeister28.
That also makes me curious. Pretty sure they wouldn't release those numbers. Wonder who is going to be losing their job after this?
sngign.
Probably the tech director for their services team.
DargoKtor.
Welcome to the EA resturant where your food comes to you uncooked and missing a few minor ingredients. Where you pay extra for use of the cutlery and where you cant leave your seat as you might share you food with someone else. The wait for our meals are hours at a time but thats all good because we know how loyal you are to us. We like you to pay up front for your meal and will not give you a refund no matter how bad our service is because its just that a service please pop by anytime. The EA resturant Edit: please ignore this as we are no longer advertising our resturant due to high demand
aldiggy2000.
EA has destroyed SimCity ..goodjob
cameroncrogers1995.
EA, i WILL buy the game if you release a patch to at LEAST allow single player without the need for online connection. Until then, lmao im gonna sit and continue to play Cities XL.
newtotrolling.
Luckily im re playing persona 3 and might go for 4. I'll see you in the bargain bin sim city
Grimcicle.
"Oh shit guys! The servers are overloaded already, we better stop trying to entice more people into the buying the game!"
Dr.SuessIsDead.
I was looking forward to this for a while.Not anymore.Way to go EA.
uncarlo.
Wow. What a disaster. This one is for the history books. I for one will stop buying EA games like I stopped buying at Game Stop 5 years ago.
bpala25.
I don't think they could have messed up this launch any worse than they've managed to do. RIP SimCity, we didn't even know ye. The icing on this cake would be for pirates to release a cracked version before they get the servers working. This is what they get for crapping on their loyal, paying customers with the DRM...
TrevorCola.
They already have, it just takes a little research and you can play without connectivity.
DarthSpudius.
Its already been cracked!
xscythex.
they take the time to pause the game marketing, instead of just temporally taking the game down form the marketplace so vitcim.. erm costumers don't buy the game until its fixed. how cute
TrevorCola.
EA is a bunch of pricks, what do you expect?
Mr_Vicious5150.
I hope nobody in Europe buys this game at launch
Limebone.
EA Games: Challenge any...oh wait, no.
Sprtacus554.
*Every
Tyranick.
BURN IN HELL EA! RISE OF THE KICKSTARTER, RISE OF THE INDIE DEVS, DEATH TO DRM AND BULLSHIT PRICING, GIVE THIS GAME THE 5.5/10 IT DESERVES! (for being good, but plagued with aweful issues like this
DaTrugimp007.
sucks for people who bought his on launch, all these troubles, its just marketing on the game but it just goes to show they don't have high hopes on solving this soon
GRico316.
I was totally going to buy this game.... Glad i didn't
TrevorCola.
EA, high hopes? They don't need them, they got their money already.
REKNUBAD.
What a mess.....
cnart.
Simcity rush hour is looking better and better
Joffrey.
Fail of the year award goes to.......
mattypacker.
This is crazy, I thought Diablo 3 was bad, but this just takes the biscuit. They are essentially trying to move traffic away from their product!
Barkey1985.
Actively stop all online marketing yet i have a massive banner around my current ign page hmm.
DecoySS3.
I just feel bad for MAXIS. They deserve a better publisher. Rarely have I seen a company with such little foresight when it comes to what's best for themselves, the companies they own, and their customers. EA does this to themselves and they don't seem to learn from their mistakes or the mistakes of others before them.
Runciter.
this is even more serious than the Diablo III debacle. you can only hope companies do learn from stuff like this...
Thribs.
Ha! I like that IGN is still advertising it. It's everywhere on this page. :)
Nintenboy.
EA should give everybody who purchased it a refund. That, or update the game to include offline single-player, at the very least. If they don't want to do that and they are too stingy to abandon the notion of always-on DRM in their games, then this issue will just continue to repeat. Gamers, investors, and other industry-related personnel are going to become utterly disgusted with EA and stop supporting them altogether. I hope EA goes bankrupt soon. I would love for my favorite franchises and their developing studios to be picked up by respectable publishing companies that know how to market their games.
Jenker1.
Who's excited for Heart of Swarm?
Rouge5.
ME!
Rouge5.
Wow this has got the be the most interesting day of gaming news in a long, long time! Crazy stuff! EDIT: Really the most interesting week!
DarthSpudius.
Hahaha! After all they've done it warms my heart to see EA f**k up so badly.
Dub_Z.
EA will spin this as a positive experiment and the apologists will help them do it.
MisterBalboa.
This look like a pretty good game and I was considering to buy but as soon as I found out it was going to a strict only online game , I will past. Bummer too.
shatupon.
Glad I decided to wait on this one. I like Sim City games, but I will never buy a game that screws players over this badly with a DRM.... and I own Diablo 3!
DalyShow.
This really, really sucks for Maxis... it's such a beautiful game that would be near perfect without all this DRM mess
Ihatefanboyshmm.
That was nice of them. It's sad that what seems like such a great game is unplayable for many.
moonman112991.
will EA take home again the worst company of the year award? will the user metacritic score go below 1.0? find out next week for another episode of the most fun and interesting week of gaming! #swag #swag #swaggerswag #mlaformat
CyVialer.
Also disliked for using a hashtag incorrectly.
MetzgerMeister28.
Good majority of people don't even know what "swag" actually means. That is the sad part.
LINGay.
Disliked for "#swag"
zombie_slayer.
All they have to do is patch the drm out of the game and itll be an awesome game. I would even go buy the damn thing then
elasticband.
Haha what a joke
Zeromus14.
wow, what a colossal cluster-fuck.
beingvasey.
I guess I officially gave up..........I picked up Tropico 4 Gold at Fry's today for $15.
samuelsargunam.
EA had the nerve to ruin some of my favorite games, burn in hell you piece of shit.
NSCastion.
I say give people refunds through Origin. Just bar them from repurchasing any game that they return.
ShadowStar83.
It just keeps getting better and better.
kiguel182.
They sell a game that doesn't work and don't offer a refund. How is this legal?
bray0042.
It shouldn't be. I'm almost certain an organized lawsuit would win. Delivering a faulty product doesn't fly in any other industry.
kiguel182.
Can someone do that or are they protected by Terms and Conditions? Seems like they would protect themselves against that. Even if it shouldn't be allowed.
NSCastion.
They're likely protected. People could sue them still, but most companies now have a clause preventing people from joining a class-action lawsuit, meaning any suits would have to be funded personally by individuals, and tackled one-by-one in a never-ending stream of court fees until the plaintiff just gives up.
kiguel182.
Yup, that was my guess. It's a shame they can get away with something like this.
NSCastion.
Pfft...Capitalism. Ain't it grand? Still, this is being blown way out of proportion. Maxis is a good developer, and some of these people don't even care if they get caught in the crossfire because of EA's servers, and completely closed down as a scapegoat. I say give them time to fix it. One single day isn't the end of the world. One single week isn't either, but still, they should have something ready by then.
kiguel182.
I don't see people blaming Maxis but more EA. You shouldn't have to wait a week to play a game you payed 60 dollars for. Someone needs to be held responsible and compensate people somehow.
NSCastion.
It doesn't matter who they blame, because Maxis made the game and EA signs their paycheck. If this game costs EA too much money in damage control and refunds, EA will just close Maxis. That's business. Meanwhile, because EA is the one signing the checks, not receiving them, they can just take that Maxis money and give themselves a bonus. I'm sure they will have some kind of compensation, but not if they aren't given enough time to fix the game. Whether that compensation is enough is a whole new b*tch fit.
kiguel182.
But if EA closes Maxis for a mistake made by them, when the game in itself isn't bad doesn't make sense. You can produce a new game without DRM but you can't make a new studio that produces quality games.
Valcrist07Zealot.
and people complained D3 had issues for a few days and i consider this way worse..
ColoStateRams.
This game is an utter train-wreck
xscythex.
can't wait for they to announce Simcity premium pack for 10$ zero server quque and instant log in service LMAO!!!
xscythex.
i feel bad for MAXI sudio. The ones that actually developed the game, all that work just went to trash thanks to EA forcing DRM into the game. the game actually looks good :/
Rouge5.
Partly Maxis fault as well. His foundation was based upon a sole mutliplayer experience.
Gamemaniac3434.
Heaven forbid they should stop selling it or, gasp, give it an offline functionality like every good game ever made has!!! even call of duty, though thats another can of worms.
sergotmatico.
Wow this sucks all around for everyone.
jpmjr.
The game must really have problems. They had to disable this feature too. Well, it was non vital after all.
ZombieDez.
Sega should have done the same with aliens
D_Deviled.
when this happened with blizzard and diablo III there was no way near this level of hate. Stop hatin on EA just because its what all the cool kids are doing
Shoobyt.
This is true. Listen, people; You can hate on EA because it's cool, but just don't try to say you're an individual. These always on DRM & day one DLC issues are symptomatic of the gaming industry in general.
Libee.
There was plenty of hate, though. And it seems to be broken even worse than Diablo was. And people already hate Origin, always on-DRM and games being released incomplete so you have to pay for DLC to get the full game. This has nothing to do with "cool" and everything to do with rightful disgust.
TrevorCola.
No, Blizzard didn't fail nearly this hard.
ltwolf8.
Just use utorrent and download the illegal version!!! It works great, with no internet connection! http://thepiratebay.se/torrent/5022393/The_Sims_3_-_Razor1911_Final_MAXSPEED
DynamiteBoy.
That is not SimCity.
frenzyb0y.
It is funny that blizzard pulled it off with always online D3 but EA isnt....
NSCastion.
Yeah, Blizzard did not "pull it off". This exact same crap happened at launch, and people threw an equally frivolous b*tch fit about it.
Guest.
D3 did not "pull it off," not even close.
frenzyb0y.
yeah but blizzard kept it....and I think EA will maybe remove it....they shoul dhave learned from blizzard mistake....apprently they did not.
KscILLBILL.
Remember how depressing it was way back in the day to buy a video game for a console that wasn't connected, and know that you'd never have DRM, microtransactions, forced online multiplayer, and local split-screen to look forward to? Neither does anyone
TheGuyWhoGamesAlot.
I like splitscreen. If I want to play with my brother, I don't need to by another console.
KscILLBILL.
My point exactly. The lack of split-screen support is one of the biggest problems a lot of games this generation have suffered from
NSCastion.
You may want to edit your list then, as you lumped local multiplayer in with the DRM and microtransactions.
DrFetusRN.
Can't sell a game you can't play
Gamemaniac3434.
It seems they beg to differ
untouchedbullet.
ohhh, this is bad, this is really bad EA!
DonovanKreed.
*plays We Are the Champions* :D
asmodeusjames.
Lol.
Scarab123321.
Honestly, the always in DRM is not the problem here, fans are blasting it because they can't play, but not being able to play is the real reason for all this anger. It's a really fun and great game but since we can't play it people are pissed. The features of the game make it so that having a server to upload data to makes sense, seeing as how cities aren't simultaneously playing with each other, so I'm upset, but I won't be once EA gets their crap together and makes playable servers.
FusRoDud.
The whole multiplayer thing is what should be upsetting everyone. Your saves aren't really yours because they are located on a server. What's the fucking point of that? It is terrible customer service/relations.
Rouge5.
Exactly. If their servers crash, there goes all your progress. Terrible Architecture.
whitson774.
But the always online DRM is the reason you cant play..... so it is the problem
Rouge5.
You will be upset Scarab if you log 8 hours and then find all your progress destroyed. You will be welcomed with a create your city screen. Happened to my bro, twice. Everything saved onto the cloud = disaster.
xSINCARAx.
well that was quick http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbmobwsgaFs&feature=youtu.be -xSinCarax
Mirriban.
It is a shame EA botched the release of this game, I wish it would of happened to a different game considering so far I love this game.
xJohnOx.
Come on guys give them a break, they are busily working on getting this fixed up. Maybe they might even drop the DRM like Ubisoft did with Assassins Creed 2? Anyway, I'm looking forward to getting this game after the teething problems have been fixed up.
Bubaroo7734.
Disappointing the game is having this many problems. I've never been happy to be broke and miss a launch before this. I'll still buy it. But I don't know if I'll do it with the DRM still in place.
Kaiju-Z.
Oh EA.
scotty104j.
I can't imagine why...
truthxbexheard.
I dunno if I should be excited waiting for this for Mac or just listen to the pc guys talk about this drm.. Sounds horrible :'(
ltwolf8.
Do you guys even know who made Agent Orange? They are milk company called Monsanto. Its idiotic to compare EA to Monsanto, yes EA has killed many games, but they have not infected marines(Vietcong Vets), and army personal. The point being EA does deserve this, but where does Agent Orange come into this? Monsanto's is still an operational businesses.
nicksick.
So I bought a game that doesn't work yet?...that's blasphemy..
darcgames.
Oh, EA again is treating its customer's like crap by releasing a buggy game that was not ready to be released. No wonder EA was vote America's worst company.
shaka_zl.
"In a memo sent to affiliates (and obtained by IGN)" Lol,...obtained by IGN. They already said "sent to affiliates" It's not hard to see the marketing campaigns here on IGN, of every big title EA, or Activision puts out. You click on either PC/Xbox/PS3 in the header, and every 3 or 4 thumbnails and articles are about the current launch titles. If let's say AC3 is launched, or Crysis3..every other articles is something like "see the secrets of
cevapcic.
I thought they were refunding people who had SimCity and letting them keep it, giving people who bought SimCity for free.
ohminus.
If any more proof was needed that EA doesn't understand the difference between sales promotion and marketing, they are doing a good job at providing it.... Sales promotion is part of marketing, but it's just one part out of many.
KingofWildThings.
I wonder what features they took away. I'd ask someone what they removed, but they can't get in the game. Predictions when it's fixed? I think I might buy it in June if it gets to normal.
DynamiteBoy.
They have pretty much doubled the amount of available servers and I have been able to play smoothly for over a day now. I just wish they would turn Cheetah speed back on.
kamrantu.
How to get the best funding for your game? Get EA to publish How to get the worst publishing for your game? Get EA to publish and be tied to Origin and everything else wrong with EA
CreedDiskenth.
EA deserves worse than this. They should have received over a million charge backs, which would have cause banks to stop doing business with them and make origin utterly useless.
altecsss.
Man for a second there I thought you were wearing a Metallica T-shirt!
Sender69.
I hope EA learns a big lesson form this...online DRM and what's worse, ONLINE SAVES is absolutely an atrocious idea. I didn't pre-order for this very reason and I hope there are tons of others that didn't either. I'm actually quite relieved to see that I was right about how big a mess this was going to be!
shikee.
Wow, this game must have sold a lot of fukin copies for EA to stop marketing it.
QuanManChu.
Hey EA, you do realize that now the guys in Kyoto at Nintendo must be laughing their asses off at this...right?
HisDivineOrder.
EA. Patch the game so that when you play single player you are playing single player. You'll solve all your online problems there because suddenly you won't have too few servers or connections to handle all those games. You'll have more than enough. Afterward, begin work on patching the game to have the option to combine plots of land and/or enabling BIGGER plots of land along with cities that continue to run no matter what city you're in inside a region. These are all hidden problems, not as well noticed because few can actually play the damn game.
Pokerchippy.
And yet it's still advertised at the top of the page..?
baznasty.
I know it's common practice but the whole "to be clear we're still paying commissions on sales" just seems like such a conflict of interest. Promote the game on your site and if people click it and buy it there, you'll get paid. Also, could you review the game and directly affect the rate at which people buy the game? Thus, a good review directly translates into more money for you. Not saying that's motive at all for IGN, but it's no doubt a conflict of interest.
Calciumee.
Yet there is a SimCity advert at the top of this page!
sentinelx7alpha.
SimCity: as squared away as a baseball racket.
MttFrog13.
So, are they saying that the server issue still isn't resolved for the most part? How bad is it right now? I knew better than to buy this game on launch day, but have things gotten any better?
pigeonhammer.
They're blowing this out of proportion. SimCity is actually a very good game.
willbowl4food.
Sigh. Where to begin
cameroncrogers1995.
I dont care what anyone says: This game is WORSE then simcity societies!
Neuraminidase.
Suck it, EA
TrevorCola.
Would people please stop supporting this company? Just stop buying anything that has EA attached to it, and then all of our game developers can find a new publisher that is actualyl worthy of good games. BioWare got dismembered by EA, and now Maxis. There is a bigger list, but seriously, this has to stop.
Merex760.
SimCity itself is a great game...when you can play it. This botched launch is 100% on EA and the requirement for always online. Hopefully this game serves as an example for Developers and Publishers going forward. An offline mode should be a requirement along with a ONE TIME online authentication of your key. The fact that EA would rather have FEATURES removed from the game before they remove DRM just shows how much they don't care.
TooTall89.
Simple solution: Play a different game until they get it figured out.
DarthTratz.
Simpler solution: Don't buy this game AT ALL.
Viggotheego.
This article is promoting SimCity
bbonds_007.
Well duh, this game has sooo much bad press, the last thing they need is to spend money getting the word out that the game released, haha.
BarnibusCollins.
Cocke. Heh heh heh.
AAE-ORACKA.
Yet IGN still spam the game everywhere lol.
philycheese.
But you can still "Buy NOW at GameFly."
tkrushing.
At the very least EA needs to throw some free DLC to those who bought the game. EA giving something away...sometimes I make myself laugh.
jobo52.
This seems fake... solely because the grammar is atrocious, and I can't imagine EA would send something like this without checking it for grammar.
tkrushing.
They sent out a game before they had servers ready so I wouldn't put anything past them
jobo52.
Haha. Too true.
luyano.
"Ohhh My GOD, my city is getting destroyed by zombies !!!!" In a small space somewhere on the screen suggests: " Pay $2 dollars and you can save it.......
TVtech9.
I really hope Peter Moore is fired or forced to resign because of this. EA was just fine before he came along.
MistwalkerZ.
Aaahhh... EA and its love to destroy beloved franchises. Ultima, Medal of Honor, Dragon Age (unless 3 is good), NBA, etc. There's no worst day for a gamer than the day EA buys one of his/her favorites frachises.
kiguel182.
Offtopic but I was in a Ray Muzyka's conference and he said that the new Dragon Age looked very promising when he left the company. Doesn't mean it will be good but it appears that way.
Dgrigzy.
Anyone else thinking the advertisement for Simcity on the side bar of this article is slighly ironic :P
bray0042.
Yeah, that would be ironic, except that isn't an advertisement.
JHBorden.
IGN reviewed the travesty called war z as is,so why not simcity?
bray0042.
Refunds should be issued if it isn't fixed in a week. They should also give everybody something in the game as a goodwill gesture when they have it fixed. What a mess.
Teknology1010.
Refunds should be issued now.............
NSCastion.
If you were offered a refund, but had to sign an agreement stating that you would never play this SimCity game ever again, even if the server issues are fixed, would you?
Teknology1010.
That doesn't make any sense. Why would EA stop me from buying their games? Right now, the game is unplayable due to server issues. I should be able to get a refund now. If the game works later down the road, EA would probably sell the game to me if I wanted to buy it again.
CyVialer.
Seems like this and Diablo 3 are two recent cautionary tales for game development in the future: Avoid a PR shitstorm, customer backlash and launch month server crises by scrapping the always-on Internet requirement. Also, on disc "DLC" that costs money after launch hasn't seemed like the most well-received practice either.
david0mke.
I work at a retailer. Ea always ships more copies than anyone. We got more copies of sim city than tomb raider
dmonty20.
I'm actually more upset about the game being broken compared to the server problems, which only affected me on launch day.
Rouge5.
Yeah the problem no-one really is emphasizing is all data is cloud stored. My bro played for 8 hours then lost everything. Twice. Takes the wind right out of your sails. Granted, once the server is fixed it could be a non-issue, but that gives me nightmares just thinking about it.
TGiddy.
Looks like a fun game. I wonder when people will get to play it.
dxpoo.
Damn it, i bought it in hopes of a new experience, but ruined by EA... I dont think they can patch a single player, im pretty sure this game is made specifically for multiplayer therefore it would require them to recode a **** ton. I could be wrong, im just making an assumption.
Angibri2000.
Take that SimCity...Everyone!!! Let's go play Cityville!!!...(thump)...ok i'll leave now! ='(
TheGuyWhoGamesAlot.
Good game, but bad service. Always online should not be required. Especially those with bad internet connection. Only "always online" thing I approve of is streaming services.
Philski241.
Butt cheeks Electronic Arts. Butt cheeks....
SpitfireDG.
It's a shame for the franchise but EA needed this to happen. The worst part of it being that it'll barely phase EA themselves. Hell; they'll probably claim that "SimCity's low sales have resulted in we at EA deciding to discontinue the franchise - we'll be back later on in the year when you'll all buy our disappointing rehashes of FIFA and Need for Speed having forgotten all about this slight blemish that we'll mostly brush off somehow" Just a short while after Cliffy B tried backing them up too...."lol" never had a more appropriate time to appear.
kiguel182.
Why don't they just lift the DRM? Is it that tied to the game? I hope this means that this "always-on" nonsense will be reduced in the future.
infestedblair.
I might consider buying if they drop the DRM-Online all the time crap.
G6In3D.
Wow EA, late much?
ultimatebatman.
Instead of all this reputation damaging garbage, just scrap DRM. It will save you tons of money, EA. Servers are obscenely expensive, you know.
the_atm.
Ouch, hate them all you want but I don't think any gave DEV or publisher deserves their game to tank so badly. Give them cred for trying to reboot the game, give them cred for trying new ideas, sure it's all online and was ment to fail but still, someone had to try.
Rouge5.
The problem is they didn't listen. This isn't the game people wanted, or at least to be forced, and yes it is forced, to play online. You make a game design most people don't want, and you bet on it anyway, you will lose. It was profit or principle. They made a bet. They lost. No pity.
NDWest14.
This is the most entertaining thing to not affect me yet all day. (Mac owner, waiting for Mac client)
Commando_robbo.
Imminent layoffs ahead...........
quinten488.
EA really screwed this shit up, maybe they'll learn next time.
Masterbmw.
No they won't, were talking about EA here-- learning isn't in their mission statement.
madmike32322.
No...no they will not
Absolutfreak.
EA, just admit you were wrong, and give us the game without requiring the connection.
Crabby_Bastard.
I feel bad for those who bought it but EA's predicament makes me happy. Karma's a bitch.
cameroncrogers1995.
EA deserves this. Anyways, aint it ironic that everyone said that no Simcity could be as bad as Societies? Change you mind yet? XD
Axalon5.
I really can't think of a more deserving (gaming) company, this is wonderful.
Nic-is-DiZ.
Horrible for the loyal fans and I honestly feel sorry for us gamers. EA deserves every bit of shit they get.
BrightSunnyDay.
You must have never heard of the company that manufactured Agent Orange. Believe me, if there is a company that deserves bad things to happen, its them.
edufedrizzi.
Well, EA did manufacture Agent "Origin"... Ok.... I'll see myself out now.
marcus696.
There were actually several of them. Of some reason the U.S. military hired several different companies for the job of producing the toxin. Most of them are still in business which is sick.
WolfSaviorZX.
Well how is agent orange worse than nuclear weapons? It's not their fault for making it (it's used as a pesticide). It's the government's fault for using it on their own soldiers (let alone the innocent Vietnamese) . But as far as gaming is concern, EA has ruined the most classic series. Command and fucking conquer is now a free to play game and Knight of the Old Republic is a free to play MMO. Next they will turn Battlefield into a sports game. Won't say making this online only is the worse thing ever but I certainly think EA deserves this much more hate. The sucky part is Maxis's good name will get hurt more. The core of this game is pretty good, I have some questionable things about it (low map size for one) but pretty excited for it. This ruined all that excitement but glad EA is getting the piss.
reiniat.
WOW, when you start comparing the company that made the Agent Orange with EA...You know this guys are doing some serious shit...
AATripura.
there was a atari game called agent orange. i thought he was talking about that since we are discussing game companies
AlistarDark.
Battlefield Hockey? Battlefield Football? If it is anything like Mutant League, I am sold.
SniperWolf323.
battlefield table tennis
BrightSunnyDay.
Yes my friend, it is messed up. I'm going to be real, in the great grand scheme of things EA is not bad at all when you compare it to some of the other bad companies out there. EA has "ruined" (according to some people on this site) a few video games. There are corporations out there that have ruined peoples LIVES, just to turn a profit. Lets keep it all in perspective.
LeadTaco.
You should know that properly manufactred Agent Orange was not in itself toxic. There was a serious manufacturing error where batches were continuously contaminated by Dioxin, an unnecessary component in Agent Orange, and the prime reason for the serious health hazards existed.
Axalon5.
True, I should have said gaming company.
sentinelx7alpha.
Forget Agent Orange....I'm still waiting for plain old AGENT.
-.yukon.ice.forces.-.
That's scary stuff.
duffmmann.
While I do agree; the game looks so amazing if it could work properly. And I think those that developed it and put so much time and effort into the game don't deserve this. EA, however, yeah, they deserve the bad press.
Kaz31.
The only maxis game i will ever play is the sims series. Phew, thank God I didnt buy Sim City. Sounds like its a bad issue.
bubblegumninja69.
Idk i really think capcom is the worst but thats imo. They are pretty awful to their customers
hmoham.
I still find it funny that the producer came on 'Up at Noon' on Monday and sad the 1 hour long Beta they did a couple of months back was to do a stress test on the servers and marked it a success and claimed the launch would be problem free and the next day all you hear about it server issues'
Latnok.
Too bad they won't learn from this and sooner or later most will forget and everything will stay the same. What's worse is those who purchased the game are suffering from this. DRM was used to stop the people from pirating the game but those who choose to purchase the game are being punished for it.
ThePunkRockScott.
Except EA is making money off of sales, so are retailers, the only people who are being hurt by it is the customer. The mass populous will still buy the next Madden, NBA, MLB, Fifa game in record numbers and nobody will give a shit about Simcity.
nadchaar.
Yes, bought gamers don't!
monoxide27.
The game itself ISN'T bad at all. It's Origin and EA's servers, not the game itself. So no, did not change my mind.
K_U_F.
Deserves what? Tons of money from a pretty much broken launch? I bet that game sold well and they're already sitting pretty, even with all of the server issues and broken game play.
Leahmatters.
yet enough ppl will buy this for EA to keep using always online DRM screwing over the rest http://www.amazon.com/God-War-Ascension-Collectors-Playstation-3/dp/B0050SXCQ6/?tag=thnenedo-20
JaxTeller.
Gtfo
Paris.Swan.Spidermix.
How about you just don't click every link in people's signatures and GTFOver it. [kthx](http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/253802.php)
JaxTeller.
I didn't click it, douche.
TecHead5.
You know the kind of game publisher that does bad things and wonders why their sales suck? Well, that was me. Every time something good happened, something bad was always waiting around the corner: Karma. That's when I realized, my DRM policy had to change. So I made a list of every game with bad DRM I had ever made and 1 by 1, I'm going to patch out all of my mistakes. I'm just trying to be a better games company. My Name is EArl.
TwinCinema.
Comment of the month.
jaredabel001.
I'm really glad this is happening to EA too but I feel sorry for Maxis. Almost all my first PC games were made by Maxis. Hopefully this will cause all other developers to never fall for EAs crap again.
agent419.
I feel bad for all the people in rural areas who have dial-up or NO internet connection at all. Shame on you, EA! Shame on you!
jmcduff.
Thanks for the sympathy crabby!
ranishemer.
This Game Dosen't call SimCity it's call SimDisaster
Xlydven.
I should have saved up that money to buy SC2 HOT. Now i'm gonna have to wait for a while...FUCK EA
batty251.
actually I'm happy i bought the game could not been any more happy i love this game and i know I'm going to get hate but i don't care ive enjoyed this game since launch and yes ive been able to log in every day since i got the game and believe that if trolls never expressed this as a world wide problem then we would not be dealing with this especially IGN with one of their articles the game works its awesome and fun and exceeds every expectation i have of this game if you all want to continue crying about it being online only then go have a cry because 1 you dont have to buy this game and 2 this game is fun online
marcusfarcus.
you forgot to mention how many women you've slept with in your life. don't you do that every time you comment? I'm disappointed now
batty251.
i left you trolls to comment on that one as i said in that article comment section i was replying on someone that said if you play hours of a game you are a virgin but as you trolls think i was just showing off i was trying to make a point it didn't even matter actually the point is you can play a game for 3 straight days and not be a virgin
Lucas1991.
I'm not sad about buying it. I'm not trying to play it right now in light of the recent events, but from what I experienced on Day 1 I know it worth the price. Since I bought it on pre-sale I already waited a long time and I know EA will eventually work out this issue, so I can wait a few days more. Obviously people have the right to ask for refund and to be pissed off. But like Diablo III at the end it is just going to be a great game without major issues (if you don't get bother with internet request).
nadchaar.
It is incredible that a publisher has to suspend its marketing campaign that can get them thousands of sales, because of a stupid DRM choice. Amazing. They are just missing out a tons of revenue because of it.
MikkiSaturn.
The ironic thing is this kind of crap does more to promote and encourage piracy than anything. If they had just released it like a normal game lots of people would have bought it and I bet they would mostly be enjoying it and saying good things about it. Who is going to buy this now?
uunfufu.
I had 60 bones just ready to give EA/Maxis to play this game. I was waiting for years for this. I rarely pirate anything on the internet and always pay for products (software/music/movies) I believe in. Iv'e never illegally downloaded a game, ever. If given the opportunity, I would steal the shit out of this game.
GamerExpert.
great story but youre not fooling anyone here
istin03.
I just bought it.
Sender69.
Why would you do that after all the reviews?
istin03.
I watched Greg play it for around 5 hours on the livestream, and I liked what I saw. Ya, so what if it doesn't work perfect right now, have a little faith in Maxis to get it right.
SSJShean.
I love how on the right of this article at the top, there's an advert from Origin promoting Sim City lol. Someone didn't get EA's Memo...
lanerinsaner.
EA = Extra Assholes.
Nintenboy.
EA should really be giving everybody who purchased it a refund. That, or update the game to include offline single-player, at the very least. If they don't want to do that and they are too stingy to abandon the notion of always-on DRM in their games, then this issue will just continue to repeat. Gamers, investors, and other industry-related personnel are going to become utterly disgusted with EA and stop supporting them altogether. I hope EA goes bankrupt soon. I would love for my favorite franchises and their developing studios to be picked up by respectable publishing companies that know how to market their games.
NightmareXxX.
agreed i was going to get this game later this month.but no body can get on due to sever issues. im glad i held off.would have been a big waste of money
MasterQueef27.
I was so pumped for this game initially but have since opted to start playing sim city 4 again.
Crazygreekdude.
Cities XL?
Evilstans.
maybe when they get around to actually finishing the game
Crazygreekdude.
Its pretty good. A little buggy though. I have the newest one. Graphics look good. Gameplay of sim city with their graphics would be a killer combo. I'm not feeling this DRM always online crap so I'm hesitant to buy it. Cities XL has been the best alternative. They made a great attempt at it. I feel if both teams of these games for together they would make the ultimate city builder.
BrightSunnyDay.
I would totally buy the game if they turned off the connection. I would go out and buy it RIGHT NOW if they got rid of t. But I don't think it is possible because it seems to be an integral part of the game.
superslyguy4228.
I've played it. It's not.
bjorn_k.
Even the reviewer has said over and over again that online is really not at all an important part of the game.
dragonsteel.
For anyone who hasn't bought the game, DON'T buy it. I'm not saying pirate it. I'm not saying it's a bad or good game. For the long term future of OUR video games, to prevent any DRM like this from ever being a success, you have to hurt EA for them to realize their mistake. The only thing that companies like EA respond to is profit loss.
CAC1291.
the connection to a sever is built into the game, deep down. It's not as simple as flicking a switch. Vast amounts of the game would need to be redesigned and a crapton of code would need to be rewritten.
willbowl4food.
And I'm supposed to care why? It's what the customers wanted in the first place. Not our fault they screwed up. Maybe they should do some market research next time.
Rouge5.
I guarantee you they had Quality Control (or Quality Care etc...many names) people there, and most likely customer relations. Problem is a bean counter came in and told them how much money they could "possibly" obtain, and listened to that.
CAC1291.
EA doesn't care that you don't care. They're still making boatloads of money regardless. This may seem odd, but when an artist wants to try something new, they have the right to do so. I don't agree with this decision, but I can understand the people at Maxis wanting to try something new. It just wasn't the right thing to try.
bray0042.
The 'artist' is allowed to try something new, but when you are making a PRODUCT that people use and influence with their own actions, there has to be some baseline level of acceptable performance.
bjorn_k.
Well I seriously doubt the actual ARTIST here, aka Maxis, are the ones who made this decision.
willbowl4food.
The "artist" here, made a dumb business decision. Why are you apologizing for their mistakes.
CAC1291.
I'm not apologizing, I am explaining. Sorry you can't understand anything more than a basic sentence, and your mind break this situation down into anything more complex than an "us vs. them" mentality.
willbowl4food.
Ok, you're explaining their dumb decision. There are a lot of consumers that are pissed about this game. The customers are always right. The customers are the ones buying the product. The customers want an offline single player game. EA has punished paying customers because of theives. There's no need to explain. They were wrong.
Rouge5.
It was a bold effort, and on paper it sounded good. My bro said at it's heart, it is a terrific game. I saw him play it for just a brief moment, and I could tell all the love and care that went into it. Sad state of affairs. Problem is, servers, internet connections, all networking is a very dangerous sea to navigate. Still too unstable in our day and age.
ivieto1138.
They are giving us a diferent game than the other sim cities, if that is not what you like then dont buy it. The Server problems are indeed a huge problem, but like it or not, this games was designed as a multiplayer game since the begining
willbowl4food.
And yet fans want single player. Don't be an apologist for stupid decisions.
ivieto1138.
Yes, that is what we all wanted. That is not what was advertised or sold. They were pretty clear that this was a multiplayer game, with always online features. I think that decision was stupid, but this was a designed with MP in mind, and for the foreseable future will remain this way.
Absolutfreak.
It might take more effort and money, but I'm willing to bet it would pay off much more in the long run.
CAC1291.
It would also take months, but probably years of development time, basically like spending the money for development of two games... even if the re-released version sold twice what this one will, it most likely wouldn't cover their costs. They made their decision and they are going to stick with it because at this point it is their best option, at least financially.
Rouge5.
Not really no. Diablo 3 (PS3 Ps4) according to reports won't require an online connection and it's for two other systems! They began coding these versions a year ago. Not as hard as it seems, they just don't want to do it because yes of the money. But not difficult no.
CAC1291.
You just proved my own point. The D3 PS3/PS4 version has been in the works since at LEAST 2011. That's two years of development time, but Blizzard could cover it because they launched another version of the game during that time. EA isn't going to cancel this game and start over; that would lose them more money, not make them more money.
Rouge5.
Ah that's a good point! There is no alt version of SimCity so this is all they got. Ouch, that's a rock and a hard place.
david0mke.
But you are selling the game to people that couldn't buy it before. Rerelease and porting
Rouge5.
Yeah now that I think about it's apples and oranges. My guess is they will get everything up and running soon, and hope the dust settles and the fires die down. Launch days are important though. (heck launch weeks!) Be curious to see what happens in the days ahead.
biog33k.
This.
Rouge5.
At least it would sell, and they could advertise it again. Or maybe get it right the first time. Listen for a change EA.
Guest.
OMG!!! I just got an sim city commercial!! HAHA!! BEFORE THE VIDEO!!
willbowl4food.
Not even Chris Traeger can spin EA's debacle. "Spin team!"
xagonogax.
EA SUCKS.
Jbrasco.
If they would have let the Beta testers play more than one hour, they might have caught all of this!!
Explainer.
at this point i feel you will have better luck getting your refund then the game back.
GamerExpert.
You guys are all bunch of babies. My game works fine, go take some internet lesson to know how to plug the cable in the right hole.
Rouge5.
LOL Purple guy is back! He was on another page saying the same thing. Gotta say I find it entertaining. I will repeat my comment from there: "Purple people are so funny!" P.S. Purple is a Troll's favorite color
GamerExpert.
lol i may be purple, but you are red (rouge). your ancestor must be the kind to suck red coat to gain some favor and money back then but on the subject, yes, SimCity works great when you know something about Computer.
Alfiniti.
EA's motto: "EA Games!!!! ***whispers*** Challenge Everything!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YViI17KBzLI
relapse808.
Yeah, EA is going to admit they are wrong.....give me a break
JHBorden.
We don't need them to admit they are wrong,I personally say we are past that and we want action,no more always online. Or a single player offline and an incentive filled multiplayer to keep piracy down.
ivieto1138.
This is an MMOG, the whole interaction between the cities is controlled server-side. Im pretty sure the ammount of computation required to have it locally would cripple most computers.
davidgleichauf.
I would rebuy the game. I already got my refund from Amazon. If they add single player I would buy the game again.
CAC1291.
I feel bad for the people at Maxis who invested years of their lives into this project, only to watch it flounder and possibly fail within days of launch. At the same time, they shouldn't have integrated servers and service into the core design and gameplay. I hope things get better.
TrevorCola.
Love Maxis, hate EA.
Saphius.
I'm not sure how to feel about maxis. I'm sure they have more power over what the final product looks like than we realize. I'm certain ae was pressuring them for drm but how much pressure they can put I'm unsure. You need to realize that maxis is the talent, not ea. there is a whole political battle going on in these companies and I bet pressure from ea and the allure of more money even sucked maxis in. Totally speculation but they both have some blame, if more on ea.
GamingIsMyParty.
Looks like Sim City devs left on the random disaster setting.
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