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

[DrunkOnEstus]

I have a feeling that TOR influenced this situation. They anticipated a metric shitload of people for that game, and had an abundant amount of servers for it. They very quickly were in a position where mergers had to happen and had to foot the bill (though I can't imagine why you couldn't re-purpose those servers for something else). I bet it made them try to go for what would be the projected minimum to handle the launch buyers, and well...

This may also be a "beta" to test out potential DRM and other associated bullshit for the real moneymaker, Sims 4. But I am a speculator.

 

[Murmillos]

I really can't believe that the basic very small 3-4 city zones can't be run on any given computer.

Those big 8+ city area's, sure, make those mandatory to go online with, but do you know how many people would just be happy to fuck around in a 3-4 city zone (off-line) for the first week.. perhaps 90% of your customers.

I'm still baffled D3 doesnt have a off-line mode yet, the only limit is you wouldn't be able to visit the AH (or it would be a buy only mode to prevent cheating...)

 

[N3squ1ck]

No Cheetah speed? but that was a stable since at least SimCity 2000 :/

Also all that "ohgod we don't have any servers prepared for this, how could anybody know that people like SimCity?" plus the whole motion of that kind of DRM really sucks, which is a shame, because the game itself, if it works for once, is really, really good

 

[bificommander]

Didn't we see a post a week or two ago that said that they couldn't possibly include a delete-your-city-and-start-over feature because that would interfere with the all-important leader boards? Guess that feature wasn't as important as all that after all, huh?

 

[Rainforce]

And here I am, holding my very own CD-case of SimCity2000, inserting the disc softly into the drive.
I see the installation screen pop up, the whole thing finished in no time,
and a few seconds later I can already see SimCity how I know and love it.
And while I setup my game, I silently whisper with honest joy:
"suckersssssss..."

As someone who never had Origin and doesn't plan to ever use it,
I can safely say that I am one of the happiest people on this planet : D!
(also I feel kinda sorry for EA: for years now it behaves insanely suicidal.
I think it's time for it to get some therapy and/or medication.
Depression is serious business and must not be left untreated.)

Ok, apart from my schadenfreude: who didn't see this coming? Why didn't Riccitiello see this coming??

 

[kebab4you]

Couldn't help laughing when I checked metacritic:

That said, skipping out on a proper stress test weekend before release is just insane.

 

[Krantos]

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 think any ever thought it was easy, but when every major release that requires people to be online to play is essentially unplayable for the first week or more, the question comes up as to just how much forethought went into this.

Are these companies just not planning for this properly? Are they not allocating enough resources because they know they won't need as many after a few weeks?

Perhaps more concerning: Is this a necessary evil of Always On DRM? If so, is the bad will these companies are generating worth the potential money the DRM is making for them?

I think those are the questions most people are asking, not "Oh this shit's easy, why is EA so stupid?"

If it were easy, this wouldn't happen every time. The guy you quoted was basically saying the same thing. Didn't EA learn a lesson by watching D3? Or was all they learned that people will still buy products with always on DRM?

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

Players will now be able to play the game seamlessly as intended, with the minor deduction of not being able to build any buildings.

 

[V da Mighty Taco]

Excellent. Maybe this will make people think twice about purchasing games with always online DRM in the future.


Yeah right, who am I kidding. People will still come back for more even after this debacle. No self control whatsoever when they could get a shiny new game.

Yeah, they are like sheep. Plenty of game launches have had problems and yet people still preorder and support terrible DRM schemes.

It is because most people are insane. They keep hating these practices yet they expect things to change while supporting these horrible practices. That is full on insanity.

If the market changes to always on DRM with pay up front, pay for DLC, pay for microtransactions to be competitive, and fuel the fire then gamers have no one to blame but ourselves for our lack of willpower.

This just fits too well.

The biggest problem with this: yet you all STILL bought it.

Hey! I sure didn't buy it (I don't play SimCity). Been having too much fun jumping around as a ball of meat looking for band-aids and shooting Chimera with alien guns to do such a thing.

On a serious note, I get your point. However, don't assume that everyone bought it or buys every game that even holds a remote bit of interest in them. The last EA game I got that wasn't for the PS2 is Battlefield 3, and that only because it was a birthday present and I refuse to be an ass to a family member for giving me something, especially when they knew enough about my gripes with the game to not get me the PC version. This was back in November, btw.

My main point here is that not everyone did an A:CM and bought the game before they actually knew what they were getting into, it's just that those who play SimCity games and refused to buy this game so early are the vast minority.

The cheetah mode thing is a BIG DEAL by the way. At the early stage, you have a pretty slow cash flow, so you need to speed the game up to get some cash. This essentially makes you wait around more. It basically just makes the game less fun overall

I figured that'd be the case. It's amazing how much of the game they have to shave off just to get it working adequately. Bethesda games are more stable than this, by the sound of it.

 

[tehroc]

The always on DRM seems to be working out a treat for EA. Still, I suppose that's good news for us the consumers. All it takes is a screw up like this (and lets face it, a few more) to convince the industry it's a bad idea. At least we get to chant "We told you so!" when the company comes out and admits it was a bad idea.

Since when does a game company care about the concerns of the product (and yes that is what us consumers are, the product) over the concerns of the shareholders. As far as the shareholders are concerned, SimCity has sold like hotcakes and is nothing but a success.

 

[Saika Renegade]

I can't help but feel it's the latest in a long string of extremely questionable design choices, among other things.

Perhaps the old ship is finally showing she's not seaworthy anymore.

 

[MercurySteam]

We're getting more glitches now; the readouts for things like water, power and pollution just bugged up so I have no idea what's adequate or not. Guess I'll have to come back to it. Again.

 

[1337mokro]

I have an easy 5 second fix for this problem.

Remove the DRM and let me run the game on my own PC. I did not invest money in this thing so I could play streamed footage from some crappy serverfarm miles away. It could be so easy. Just don't put your dick in the salad EA, but no. You just had to do it.

The allure of forcibly tying millions of people to Origin in the hopes that they will stay and buy every single nickle and dime piece of shit DLC you release was too tempting! So you made a singleplayer game into a multiplayer game and made it always Online.

Now you are being slapped with refund requests. Stores are refusing to sell this game because they know their customers will be back demanding refunds. The game itself has a queue a mile long. People can't connect to their friends games leaving entire regions basically filled with useless unmanned cities. Cities get WIPED off the map thanks to corruption (because remember you can't save your cities) and a host of other problems.

I hope you are happy EA. You just had to go and put your dick in the salad and gamers everywhere rewarded you with a game that sold so well it caused all these problems.

I say it's pretty much an all around lose for everyone who cared about this game. Past Tense.

 

[Person321]

How do you cut game features before you cut the game-breaking DRM? What sense does that make?

 

[Lord_Jaroh]

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

It is very easy: Just don't make Online a requirement, but rather an option, and these problems wouldn't be an issue at all.

 

[XX Y XY]

And yet another PC title I was greatly looking forward to that I wont be playing, not for any reason relating to the gameplay itself, but because of shit business practices. It really is the most frustrating thing in the world to read page after page after page of people bitching about problems with DRM but that are willing to support it by buying the games that use it. Here's a clue, THE COMPANIES THAT MAKE THESE GAMES DON'T GIVE 2 SHITS WHAT YOU THINK. ALL THEY CARE ABOUT IS WHAT YOU ARE WILLING TO SPEND MONEY ON! If there is ever to be any change then people need to start learning to speak with their wallets. I would have thought that more gamers would have learned something from Diablo 3 but apparently I gave them too much credit.

 

[Varrdy]

I was contemplating buying Sim City but when I read those 3 little letters ("DRM") a really loud alarm bell went off in my head (although that might have been my tinnitus flaring up).

Several years ago, I purchased Mass Effect 2. It was a brand new copy that I paid money for and didn't steal. However when I came to play the game, I fell victim to the much-reported "CD-KEY" issue that had struck so many people - I suppose that'll teach me to do more research!

Quite cross, I emailed EA Customer Service and got the expected "sorry for your problems, we are working on it" line. They also asked for a copy of my proof of purchase. That was fair enough, I thought - they don't know me from Adam and I wouldn't just expect them to take my word for it so I provided what was asked for.

And got no reply for 3 days. During that time I was pointed to a site which had made a "No-DVD" hack that bypassed the problem and allowed me to play the game. Despite this, I was still miffed at EA's lack of response so I sent them another email, to which I got the same repsonse - "We are working on it, very sorry, yadda-yadda-yadda..."

Another week passes with nothing. I am enjoying the game so I get some of the DLC, which when installed resulted in the CD-KEY error returning so I had to re-apply the hack. Fed up, I sent an email complaining of their lack of interest and flat-out told them I was using the hack. Did they respond? Did they fark!!!

Even though ME3 played just fine, despite my misgivings, I remained weary of EA and their DRM-related BS. I'm sorry to hear that so many people who bought the game have been so comprehensively screwed-over but I kinda saw this coming.

All I can say is that, when / if EA run themselves into the ground due to their money-grubbing ways, I will be very disappointed if there is not a rousing chorus of "Na-na-naaa-na! E-A! Good-bye!"