EA Botch SimCity Release – Rumor: Godzilla Attacked The Servers


SimCity was one of those games, like Rollercoaster Tycoon, The Sims or Theme Hospital, that kids everywhere played. You didn’t have to be into games in the slightest but you would spends days building a careful (or haphazardly) constructed city… Only for it to be terrorized by huge Godzilla style monsters. We haven’t been able to get confirmation on what exactly caused the fallout between the big bad reptile and EA but since launch he’s been stomping around inside the EA servers tearing shit up. (Read: EA weren’t able to handle demand and please don’t sue me Godzilla lawyers!)

EA has taken a somewhat alienating approach in the fight against piracy and used games. To play SimCity – a single player game – you must always be connected to the internet. This always online policy has the problem that your saves and city are housed in EA servers. When those servers go down, like they have been throughout this launch week, you are left with a $60 game you can do nothing with. Unless you really appreciate menu screens.

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To start with, EA had issues even distributing the game to people who had pre-ordered it. Normally games releasing on Origin, EA’s store/software, give you the option to download the game a day before launch for a smooth ride when the game is released. Sadly this “didn’t come together for SimCity” which sure as hell didn’t help matters.

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen something like this. Last years Diablo 3 ‘Error-37’ debacle was surely a warning against the problems of DRM and server issues. Even more embaressing for EA was that this was only a North American release. The game is due to hit Europe later this week.

Leaked picture of EA’s Origin servers

EA have released a apology, stating:

“The SimCity servers are currently inundated with the masses of eager mayors attempting to govern their cities.”

“We are working to clear traffic from the roads and hope to have all players managing their cities as soon as possible. We’re sorry for any inconvenience this may cause and appreciate your patience while we work on a resolution to this issue.”

They have also said that things should be fine and dandy for the EU release this Friday, finger’s crossed!

All of this is a damn shame as the game has been really well received by critics, sitting happily at a 91 on Metacritic. The user score of 27 tells another story though… At the end of the day EA will only pay attention to sales, so if you aren’t a fan of this online bullcrap then hold off on buying the game and send your message that way.