Claims the problems are ‘almost behind us’
While SimCity‘s DRM-in-sheep’s-clothing continues to cause playabilty issues, EA Maxis has declared its intent to keep the game tied to a server. The company will do “everything it can” to make your game playable, but that doesn’t include the one thing that’d guarantee it.
“We have no intention of offlining SimCity any time soon,” said EA Maxis’ Lucy Bradshaw on Twitter. “but we’ll look into that as part of our earning back your trust efforts.”
Last night, Bradshaw released an update claiming the problems with SimCity were “Almost behind us.” Game crashes have apparently been reduced by 92% and 8 million gameplay hours have been logged by users.
“The good news is that tens of thousands of new players are streaming into the game every day and the confidence our fans have shown is truly humbling,” she wrote. “I can’t begin to explain the way a development team feels when something you’re proud of is threatened at launch. Our biggest fear was that people who love this franchise would be scared off by bad reviews about the connectivity issues.
“But you put your faith in us. You bought the game with the understanding that we’d quickly fix the server issues. For that support — that incredible commitment from our fans — we are deeply grateful. As the general manager of Maxis, I want you to know that we cherish your faith in us, and the love you’ve shown for this franchise.”
All very touching stuff, but these grand displays of humility ring rather hollow for me when it was so obvious SimCity was going to be unplayable at launch. We all pretty much called it, and I refuse to believe anybody at Maxis or Electronic Arts would be so dense as to have not called it too. Once you cross a point where what you’re doing is so obviously detrimental to a game launch, and you do it anyway, you waive the ability to craft a believable apology.
SimCity‘s bullshit wasn’t a mistake. It was the result of a decision that had to have factored in the frustration of launch day buyers, and deemed that frustration an acceptable risk.
