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SimCity - EA shows us all how to ruin a landmark game with DRM.

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40hz:
With all the ridiculous DRM nonsense going on it was bound to happen to some game sooner or later.

From OSNews:

EA botches SimCity launch, Amazon stops sales
posted by Thom Holwerda   on Thu 7th Mar 2013 22:44 UTC


SimCity has been released - the fifth instalment in this venerable series of fantastic games. However, just as everyone suspected, the game has been completely ruined by the always-online DRM. So much so, in fact, that Amazon has ceased selling the game.

SimCity requires no introduction - from the first game onwards, it has captured the minds and hearts of gamers the world over. SimCity 2000 is my personal favourite, but I have played all versions to death. I was eagerly awaiting SimCity (no version number), but sadly, the game has been ruined even before it's been properly released.

The game requires an always-on internet connection to connect with EA's servers, partly because of online components, but mostly because of DRM. During a Reddit AmA with Maxis, the game's developers, the problems were already predicted, and they panned out: EA's servers couldn't handle the load, and the game became unplayable for large groups of people who just paid €60 for the privilege.

They were greeted by waiting screens, unable to play the game.

EA had to act, and they did. They have released a patch which... Disables several features of the game. Ironically, it mostly disables features that supposedly required the always-on connection in the first pace, such as leaderboards and achievements. A more dramatic step is the removal of the 'cheetah' speed. This is the highest simulation speed in the game, and at least in the way I play the game I require it - I switch between pause (build mode) and cheetah (develop mode).

As a consequence of all the troubles with players being unable to, well, play, Amazon has decided to remove the digital version of the game from its virtual shelves, while the physical copy now carries a warning about the game.
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 :-\

lanux128:
now EA will blame piracy among PC users for the declining sales. :P

wraith808:
Same thing happened with Assassin's Creed... and we see that ubisoft is still experimenting with it.  They'll keep doing it until they can get it to work... no matter how it doesn't help with piracy, and no matter how much clamor there is.  That is, unless someone can take a big enough hit that the shareholders complain.

Renegade:
now EA will blame piracy among PC users for the declining sales. :P
-lanux128 (March 08, 2013, 08:56 AM)
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Yep.

But truth be told, it will be the pirates that actually add value to the game by making it playable~! :P ;D

app103:
Gothi[c] dropped this link in the IRC channel: http://sc2013thedeception.blogspot.com

The DRM problems seem to be just the tip of the iceberg. There are still a whole lot of other things to complain about, even if they got rid of the DRM.

This one is hilarious:

- Airport City (the city is only one International Airport, occupying the entire map 2x2km).
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And they expect people to want to pay for that? And they expect some people to also want to pirate that?  ;D

now EA will blame piracy among PC users for the declining sales. :P
-lanux128 (March 08, 2013, 08:56 AM)
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Yep.

But truth be told, it will be the pirates that actually add value to the game by making it playable~! :P ;D
-Renegade (March 08, 2013, 09:19 AM)
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As long as you don't build an airport.  :D

Might not be a bad idea to save your money, skip this, and go play the free Facebook game, instead. It probably will let you build a bigger city.  ;)

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