2013 SimCity Release Controversy

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Overview

2013 SimCity Release Reception refers to the negative public reception of Electronic Arts’ fifth title in the urban city simulation game franchise. Since its official release on March 5th, 2013, the game has been widely criticized by gaming review blogs and YouTube commentators, mainly due to its requirement of internet connection for single player gameplay and heavy server downtime upon launch.

Background

Simply dubbed SimCity, the fifth title in the city-building simulation game series was officially introduced at the Game Developers Conference on March 6th, 2012 and two gameplay trailers were unveiled at the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2012. The application process for the closed beta version of the game began in August 2012, which became available in January and February 2013. Despite the high anticipation surrounding the game, SimCity was met by poor reviews and criticisms mainly due to unexpected server outages upon its launch on March 5th, 2013.

Notable Developments

Forced Internet Connection

On March 4th, the youtube commentator OfficalNerdCubed uploaded a video expressing his hate of the forced internet connection that is needed to play the singleplayer mode of the game, it started a minor campaign in which people send spam emails to EA’s headquaters.

Downtime at Launch

Upon the U.S. release of the game on March 5th, 2013, the majority of players experienced issues logging onto the server, which was noted by YouTube commentator TotalHalibut:

EA Customer Support

On March 6th, SimCity player CalebPeters expressed his dissatisfaction with login issues in the customer support section of the Electronic Arts forums. When CalebPeters asked for a refund, he was denied the request and warned of a possible ban. The chat log transcript was subsequently posted on Reddit’s /r/gaming subreddit, where it sparked a heated debate over the Electronic Arts’ handling of the SimCity release (shown below).

Adrian: I am sorry for any inconvenience that this has caused. I can offer you a 15% off coupon from Origin with your next purchase.
Adrian: I am sorry, but I can not offer you a refund.
you: Why can’t you offer me a refund?
you: Your product is defective
Adrian: Return Policy
you: I can call my bank and have the refund done that way.
Adrian: I can offer to assist you with any trouble shooting issues.
you: Why can Amazon users get refunds but I can’t?
Adrian: That is understandable, but I must inform you that if you choose to dispute it, your account will be banned.
Adrian: I am sorry, but I can not speak on another company’s policy.
Adrian: Now this just released.
you: I am at a loss of words
Adrian: So the servers are having issues, with more servers opening up as other countries release then we will show these issues resolving themselves.
you: Yes, but it is not capacity demand I am debating
Adrian: I can understand this causing frustrations and I do apologize for this.
you: Your servers are not the issue
you: The game/back end is
you: “Game updates” are not an excuse to hide behind
Adrian: I am sorry, but I am not able to process a refund.
Adrian: Is there anything else that I can assist you with?
you: You were offering refunds according to your press release!!!!
you: In response to the launch day trouble Hatam said " If you regrettably feel that we left you down, you can of course request a refund for your order at http://help.origin.com/contact-us , though we are currently still in the process of resolving this issue. "
you: Why lie??
you: I have done nothing wrong in expecting what is quoted.
Adrian: That is correct, that this is where you can request a refund, but as our policy is stating it is also the our discretion to process a refund.
you: http://forum.ea.com/eaforum/posts/list/210/9330019.page#top
you: Process a refund.
Adrian: As I stated before, we are not able to offer a refund.
Adrian: Is there anything else that I can assist you with?
you: This chat text goes viral.
you: Thanks

OpenCity Troll

On March 7th, a redditor posted a link to a website for a game supposed to be called OpenCity, it featured a picture taken by Marcelo Rabelo as a background picture, and a little box with the four possible options; To sign up, Enter password, Enter username, and login. When trying to log in or sign up, a box saying; ‘Unable to connect to the OpenCity servers. Please try again.’ would appear. It later turned out to be a fake website, but the redditors still got a good laugh, and compared it to Sim City, and the events it was undergoing during that time.