Did you pick up the new SimCity at launch or had it pre-ordered? Have you actually been able to play the game yet? If the answer is “no,” we are not surprised as EA’s requirement that you connect to a server in order to play has totally backfired in what seems to be a complete underestimation of demand.
EA confirmed you’d require a constant Internet connection to play the new SimCity back in March last year. The publisher argued that the game requires a connection, even for single-player mode, simply because players can impact each other’s cities. But as predicted back then, server troubles are making it very frustrating to play the game.
Anyone attempting to connect to the game when it was unlocked last night was met with a queue of other players waiting to gain access to a server. The wait time was set at 30 minutes. That is totally unacceptable however you look at it, and you have to wonder what EA was thinking when it decided how many servers to allocate to the launch.
It gets worse, though. Once you’ve managed to gain access and start playing you are tied to that server. So, if you leave the game and return to find your server busy, you can choose to play on another server, but EA doesn’t allow you to access your cloud-stored save game. They have tied each save to a specific server meaning you’ll need to start over on the new server or keep waiting for your original server to have a free slot.
Once the launch is a distant memory then access to EA’s servers should become easier, but I’m sure it’s left many who invested $60 buying the game wondering why they bothered. And don’t forget that other issue we will have down the line–what happens when EA announces it is shutting down the SimCity servers in a few year’s time? Will they implement a way to play offline at that point, or just shut the game down completely?
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