EA halts SimCity online advertising

The ad campaign for SimCity has been temporarily halted, according to an EA email.

SimCity has been plagued with server issues since launch, preventing customers from playing the online-only game they purchased.

The email, obtained by IGN, was written to EA Origin Linkshare marketing partners and explains the removal of text links for the game.

"EA Origin has requested to pause all SimCity marketing campaigns temporarily, effective immediately," reads the email.

"We have deactivated all SimCity text links and creative and we ask you to please remove any copy promoting SimCity from your website for the time-being."

EA will still honor commissions on any sales.

"To be clear we are continuing to payout commissions on all SimCity sales that are referred, however we are requesting that you please stop actively promoting the game," the email explains.

"We will notify you as soon as the SimCity marketing campaigns have been resumed and our promotional links are once again live in the Linkshare interface. We apologize for any inconveniences that this may cause, and we thank you for your cooperation."

The move speaks to the level of uproar over the disasterous server troubles. EA doesn’t want any more attention for a game that has pushed the mighty publisher’s PR machine into retreat.

The company has been forced to offer numerous apologies, and is now giving out free games to SimCity purchasers.

Even this has not quite succeeded in patching the company’s already poor image with some of the gaming community.

The servers are finally on the mend though, and it may not be long before EA decides to begin advertising the game again.