SimCity: EA adding more servers, disabling gameplay features following gamer outrage

SimCity is set to hit stores in India today, and if you do happen to pick up a copy of the game, don’t expect it to be a smooth ride.

The game requires you to always be online, with no offline mode available. While that sounds harsh enough in itself, the real problem is that players around the world aren’t able to connect to the servers, making the game unplayable and leading to user outrage on social media and EA’s official forums.

Players are having to wait in seemingly endless queues to get connected to servers, with no indication of where the queue they currently stand. Several players have also reportedly lost game progress on account of the server issues.

"Thousands of players across the world are playing and having a good experience – in fact, more than 700,000 cities have been built by our players in just 24 hours. But many are experiencing server instability and consequently, the rollout in North America has been challenging. It’s also now evident that players across Europe and Asia are experiencing the same frustration," Maxis general manager Lucy Bradshaw said in a statement released to Kotaku.

"Our priority now is to quickly and dramatically increase the number and stability of our servers and, with that, the number of players who can simultaneously access the game. We added servers today, and there will be several more added over the weekend. We’re working as hard as possible to make sure everyone gets to experience the amazing game we built in SimCity,” Bradshaw added.

Meanwhile, EA posted on its official forums that it is disabling "non-critical gameplay features" in a bid to alleviate the stress on the game servers, but there’s no mention of including an offline mode. These non-critical” features include leaderboards, achievements and region filters, which EA says will not affect the core gameplay experience.

Meanwhile, in the US, Amazon has stopped taking orders for digital versions of the game in light of the server issues and growing anger amongst customers.

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