Electronic Arts Disables "Non-Critical" SimCity Features - UPDATED

[an annoyed writer]

This is nothing short of pants on head retarded. These clowns brought this upon themselves, and now they are butchering the game that they worked so hard to force this bullshit on. Makes perfect sense. Now if they didn't put an always-onlne DRM package in this, they would have a sizable consumer base, playing their game and being satisfied wit it. yeah, there would be pirates, but there are always pirates, but at this point the swashbucklers are offering a hands-down better service than the monolithic corporations. No wonder people pirate this shit.

 

[Cowabungaa]

I am in shock.

Nobody saw this coming, especially after Diablo 3's stellar launch.

Oh wait.

I love how people can't seem to wrap their heads around how hard it is to organize, set-up, protect, and keep hundreds of millions of people on servers at once.

Nope. It is all easy. Simple as flipping a switch.

/facedesk

I think they're fully well capable of realizing that. And the fact that it's hard is in no way an excuse for this. EA is a multi-billion dollar company. They knew full well what they got into especially after launches like Diablo 3's.

And yet they make the same mistakes. Despite the lessons they could've learned they learned nothing and failed showing fairly little regard of their customers. And if they didn't have the means because it's too hard and they still went through with it, well that's both anti-consumer and stupid.

Also, hundreds of millions of people? You might be overstretching Simcity's popularity.

 

[The_Darkness]

Hmm... You know, maybe - and I'm just having a thought here - maybe making it so that everyone playing your game didn't have to be connected to your servers might reduce the strain on your servers? Just a little bit? Because it seems to me that someone building a private city, just to get up to their own fun, might not need to be connected to everyone else...

But then, what do I know, I haven't even bought the game since (A) it's not out in the UK yet and (B) it has an always-on internet requirement...

 

[Sean Strife]

Please enjoy your always on DRM, and micro transactions. Leader boards and other minor services will be released as future DLC. A functioning game will be released as an expansion: It wont be a new game, it'll just work.

Seriously, I just read that they are blocking people who ask for refunds and other stupid crap. I'm surprised if EA still had legs, I've lost count on how many times they've shot their own feet.

You mean stuff like this?

 

[Gorrath]

I am in shock.

Nobody saw this coming, especially after Diablo 3's stellar launch.

Oh wait.

I love how people can't seem to wrap their heads around how hard it is to organize, set-up, protect, and keep hundreds of millions of people on servers at once.

Nope. It is all easy. Simple as flipping a switch.

/facedesk

I don't understand the reasoning here. If a company insists on selling their games as a service instead of a product, the difficulty of that business model is not a valid defense for incompetence. EA made the design decisions here and should be held fully accountable for delivering the promised product when it is purchased, not at some later, unspecified date with several features still missing. What's worse is blaming the paying customers for being upset about the situation, as if their expectation of a working service is somehow unreasonable. My inability to grasp the difficult logistics of running a restaurant should in no way preclude me from complaining that my food was served cold, three hours after I ordered it, with half the meal missing.

 

[Atmos Duality]

And just think, all of this could have been avoided if they hadnt introduced pants on head retarded DRM

It's not so retarded if you consider their endgame is to slow-drip DLC.
60 USD for a game that launches with 30 dollars of Day 1 DLC available.

Methinks the Always-Online DRM is less about deterring piracy, and more about herding consumers into a controlled market pen, methinks.

It's easier to sell a $90 game in $10 chunks than it is to sell it all at once.

You mean stuff like this?

Oh if that's real...Jesus that is sickening.

And the sick part is that if this goes viral and makes a big stink, the employee will fired as a pariah (for doing what s/he was told to do) than to actually address the problem.

 

[Sean Strife]

Oh if that's real...Jesus that is sickening.

And the sick part is that if this goes viral and makes a big stink, the employee will fired as a pariah (for doing what s/he was told to do) than to actually address the problem.

This is EA we're talking about here. Would it really surprise you if this is real?

 

[Jaegerwolf]

Please enjoy your always on DRM, and micro transactions. Leader boards and other minor services will be released as future DLC. A functioning game will be released as an expansion: It wont be a new game, it'll just work.

Seriously, I just read that they are blocking people who ask for refunds and other stupid crap. I'm surprised if EA still had legs, I've lost count on how many times they've shot their own feet.

You mean stuff like this?

Anyone else want to play "Guess if Adrian is his/her real name and what country he/she is actually from?", cause I would be shocked, SHOCKED, if they weren't reading from a script during that conversation.

Getting back to the point, you have to wonder if EA's corporate culture is so messed up that promotions and sales never called up the technology department and said "Yea, you know those Simcity servers you're setting up? You're probably gonna want more...a LOT more." If I was a stockholder I'd be asking some questions because stuff like this is a big red flag of this company about to be driven into the ground.

 

[Atmos Duality]

Oh if that's real...Jesus that is sickening.

And the sick part is that if this goes viral and makes a big stink, the employee will fired as a pariah (for doing what s/he was told to do) than to actually address the problem.

This is EA we're talking about here. Would it really surprise you if this is real?

It wouldn't, but I'm trying to remain somewhat objective here.
We live in an age of metacritic bombing and grotesque overuse of hyperbole.

Given the astonishing amount of EA hate (not undeserved), I wouldn't put it past someone to doctor a chat.
But if OTHER users start coming forward about their refunds being rejected because of this...someone needs to make a big stink about it.

It's false advertising and should go to court...except Origin conveniently requires the user to cede their rights away to arbitration (which is basically a way of saying "You have no rights. We win. Period").

 

[KeyMaster45]

Too bad they didn't have a large beta test of anything to test these issues before the launch.

As a side note, there were lots of connection issues with the beta. I've now learned that a difficult beta is an indication of how a launch is going to go.

You mean those crappy 1 hour weekend tests they did a few weeks back? Oh yeah, they were going to get alot of data from that.

I would hope EA would learn from this and in a couple of years release a Sim City title that wasn't saddled with the always-on drm. Sadly they won't, if anything they'll find a way to blame their customers for everything.

 

[GAunderrated]

Please enjoy your always on DRM, and micro transactions. Leader boards and other minor services will be released as future DLC. A functioning game will be released as an expansion: It wont be a new game, it'll just work.

Seriously, I just read that they are blocking people who ask for refunds and other stupid crap. I'm surprised if EA still had legs, I've lost count on how many times they've shot their own feet.

You mean stuff like this?

Thank you for that picture it was beautiful. You know Simcity was actually the first game that made me consider origin. Both BF3 and ME3 didn't have that much swaying power due to all their controversy and crap but I waited on Simcity and was rewarded with yet another fail train and 60+ bucks saved from me wasting it.

Now that picture has reinvigorated me to never touch origin or EA despite whatever they do. Funny thing is you think you really want a game, until you see all the hoops you have to jump through.

 

[KeyMaster45]

Sadly they won't, if anything they'll find a way to blame their customers for everything.

Don't forget the inevitable "IT'S ALL PIRACY! DAMN YOU GREEDY PEASANTS!".

In a perfect world nobody would bother trying to crack it just so EA would be forced to stand there like a dumb-ass and struggle to come up with an excuse for why it does poorly.

 

[Atmos Duality]

So get this. That Adrian person/whatever...isn't wrong or misrepresenting company policy at all.

https://help.ea.com/article/returns-and-cancellations

Relevant text

What is your refund policy for PC digital downloads?
Unfortunately, EA does not offer refunds on any products downloaded through Origin. EA reserves the right, however, to offer refunds under exceptional circumstances at its sole discretion.

That is highly questionable, to say the least.
Caveat emptor.

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

So get this. That Adrian person/whatever...isn't wrong or misrepresenting company policy at all.

https://help.ea.com/article/returns-and-cancellations

Relevant text

What is your refund policy for PC digital downloads?
Unfortunately, EA does not offer refunds on any products downloaded through Origin. EA reserves the right, however, to offer refunds under exceptional circumstances at its sole discretion.

That is highly questionable, to say the least.
Caveat emptor.

It's not great, granted. But tell me, does Valve offer refunds on any product downloaded through Steam? I know about the Day Z thing, but that was A) an exceptional circumstance, and B) done at their discretion.

 

[Hero in a half shell]

And just think, all of this could have been avoided if they hadnt introduced pants on head retarded DRM

But they need that always online DRM so that everyone has access to the scoreboards and... oh wait.

Watching the release of Simcity burn to the ground as EA tries to put the fires out by dousing it in gasoline is providing me with more entertainment than a game ever could. It's like some sort of modernist art demonstration about corporate idiocy.

Sometimes I feel guilty for coming down so hard on EA, but then they do make it so damn easy!

 

[Atmos Duality]

It's not great, granted. But tell me, does Valve offer refunds on any product downloaded through Steam? I know about the Day Z thing, but that was A) an exceptional circumstance, and B) done at their discretion.

Steam has a similar policy, and why I try to avoid games that require Steam exclusively.
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=8360-WEJC-2625#refund

A problem that becomes worse when it's a purchase for an online-only game, and the online-component is in bedlam.

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

It's not great, granted. But tell me, does Valve offer refunds on any product downloaded through Steam? I know about the Day Z thing, but that was A) an exceptional circumstance, and B) done at their discretion.

Steam has a similar policy, and why I try to avoid games that require Steam exclusively.
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=8360-WEJC-2625#refund

A problem that becomes worse when it's a purchase for an online-only game, and the online-component is in bedlam.

Fair enough. I just wanted to make sure you were aware that this policy is not just an EA thing. I have nothing against people sticking to their guns over something they are against. Where the problem comes in is when people complain about EA doing something that Valve has been doing for a while without complaint, just because they think Valve is better than EA.