EA Does What's Not Possible: Adding Offline Mode To SimCity

So much for “not possible”: EA is adding an offline mode to SimCity, free of charge, ten months after fans demanded it.

.@Azbiker72 The game was designed for MP, we sim the entire region on the server so this is just not possible

— SimCity (@simcity) March 9, 2013

SimCity was highly anticipated in spring 2013, but suffered a terrible launch that ultimately led to an apology and a free game for everyone who bought it. Overwhelming server traffic meant SimCity, designed to be online-only, was basically unplayable for weeks.

This prompted players, many of whom weren’t interested in the online parts of the game, to request an offline mode. They were told it wouldn’t – and couldn’t – happen.

Critics said EA was needlessly adding online features to a single-player game to prevent piracy. Whether that’s the case no longer matters, because EA is backing down.

You spoke. We listened. Single-player mode for offline play for #SimCity is coming and for FREE. Read more here: http://t.co/zaRGFZOW6n

— SimCity (@simcity) January 13, 2014

Offering the offline mode, according to single player lead engineer Simon Fox, required a lot of building from scratch.

“By the time we’re finished we will have spent over 6 ½ months working to write and rewrite core parts of the game to get this to work,” wrote Fox in a blog post. “Even things that seem trivial, like the way that cities are saved and loaded, had to be completely reworked in order to make this feature function correctly.”

The offline mode will be included in Update 10, and ensures people who pay for SimCity will be able to play it if EA shuts down all servers.

Of course, online play wasn’t the only criticism of the game: comments on our site have argued that the cities in the game are too small and that the AI isn’t as in-depth as promised. Some gamers will tell you there are reasons to stick with 2003’s SimCity 4. But if you liked the new SimCity, and wanted an offline mode, you’ve got it.

Source: Sim City Blog