{"id":51644,"date":"2013-03-11T01:10:04","date_gmt":"2013-03-10T23:10:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/?p=51644"},"modified":"2013-03-11T01:10:49","modified_gmt":"2013-03-10T23:10:49","slug":"ea-offers-free-game-to-angry-simcity-players","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/pc\/51644-ea-offers-free-game-to-angry-simcity-players","title":{"rendered":"EA offers free game to angry SimCity players"},"content":{"rendered":"

The launch of always-online SimCity did not go smoothly to say the least, but to say sorry to their fans, EA and Maxis are offering a free game from the EA catalogue to those who were hamstrung by the launch day problems.<\/p>\n

The details are not clear on which free game will be on offer, but SimCity players can expect an e-mail on 18 March with the details on how to claim it.<\/p>\n

In a blog post over the weekend, Maxis general manager Lucy Bradshaw apologised to SimCity players:<\/p>\n

\n

Here\u2019s a quick update on the problems we were experiencing with SimCity \u2013 and a little something extra for people who bought the game.<\/p>\n

The server issues which began at launch have improved significantly as we added more capacity.\u00a0 But some people are still experiencing response and stability problems that we\u2019re working fast to address.<\/p>\n

So what went wrong?\u00a0 The short answer is: a lot more people logged on than we expected. \u00a0More people played and played in ways we never saw in the beta.<\/p>\n

OK, we agree, that was dumb, but we are committed to fixing it.\u00a0 In the last 48 hours we increased server capacity by 120 percent.\u00a0 It\u2019s working \u2013 the number of people who have gotten in and built cities has improved dramatically.\u00a0 The number of disrupted experiences has dropped by roughly 80 percent.<\/p>\n

So we\u2019re close to fixed, but not quite there.\u00a0 I\u2019m hoping to post another update this weekend to let everyone know that the launch issues are behind us.<\/p>\n

Something Special for Your Trouble<\/span><\/p>\n

The good news is that SimCity is a solid hit in all major markets.\u00a0 The consensus among critics and players is that this is fundamentally a great game.\u00a0 But this SimCity is made to be played online, and if you can\u2019t get a stable connection, you\u2019re NOT having a good experience. So we\u2019re not going to rest until we\u2019ve fixed the remaining server issues.<\/p>\n

And to get us back in your good graces, we\u2019re going to offer you a free PC download game from the EA portfolio.\u00a0 On March 18, SimCity players who have activated their game will receive an email telling them how to redeem their free game.<\/p>\n

I know that\u2019s a little contrived \u2013 kind of like buying a present for a friend after you did something crummy.\u00a0 But we feel bad about what happened.\u00a0 We\u2019re hoping you won\u2019t stay mad and that we\u2019ll be friends again when SimCity is running at 100 percent.<\/p>\n

SimCity is a GREAT game and the people who made it are incredibly proud.\u00a0 Hang in there \u2013 we\u2019ll be providing more updates throughout the weekend.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

\"Maxis<\/a>

Maxis general manager Lucy Bradshaw<\/p><\/div>\n

As of Sunday evening, personally my playing experience has been largely unaffected, although there have been a few disconnections from the SimCity server, which at least didn’t boot me from the game.<\/p>\n

Let us know your experience with SimCity thus far in the comments below and on the MyGaming forum.<\/p>\n

More SimCity news<\/h3>\n

SimCity brick by brick<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

SimCity SA launch to be \u201cstable\u201d<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

SimCity intro trailer reveals space-aged surprise<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

SimCity \u201cmulti-city\u201d features detailed<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

SimCity 5\u2032s always-on internet requirement is \u201ctotally worth it\u201d, promises Maxis<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EA and Maxis say sorry by offering a free game to disgruntled SimCity players<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":157,"featured_media":51645,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[813,21,2178,2180],"class_list":["post-51644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pc","tag-electronic-arts","tag-headline","tag-maxis","tag-simcity"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/157"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51644"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51644\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}