Forbes: Maxis chief Lucy Bradshaw comes right out and says it: SimCity could have had an offline mode but it conflicted with the vision the developer had for the game.
(Gaming, SimCity)
Thank you! finally someone smart! EA dont want the game to get pirated so thats why its always online! And with the money they got i am 100% sure the next sim city will be the highest budget simcity game ever!
The problem is, that's not what they said. They made up some BS about server side calculations being vital to running the game. They dressed it up as a service and "vision" to benefit gamers, but it was nothing of the sort....they blatantly lied about it. If they'd have come out from the start and stated it was DRM and called it Sim City Online, then they wouldn't be in the mess they are now in terms of negative publicity over the botched launch, their terrible customer service and the rather stilted experience they've served up as a next gen Sim City. Smaller cities, less depth, forced multiplayer and DRM....their vision is to treat gamers as the enemy, walking wallets to be conquered by any means necessary. Screw good value, screw making the game the best that it can be....let's intentionally nerf it to protect our interests, we can sell features back to the gamer later as micro-transactions. Keep supporting that if you like...you'll be responsible for the slow death of the industry in the long term. Bank on it!
This is a joint effort to get everyone used to getting on the cloud. Its like banks, Why keep your money at home when we can hold it for you! Then you know its safe! (unless there is a bank run then we will close our banks lmao.)
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If they'd have come out from the start and stated it was DRM and called it Sim City Online, then they wouldn't be in the mess they are now in terms of negative publicity over the botched launch, their terrible customer service and the rather stilted experience they've served up as a next gen Sim City. Smaller cities, less depth, forced multiplayer and DRM....their vision is to treat gamers as the enemy, walking wallets to be conquered by any means necessary. Screw good value, screw making the game the best that it can be....let's intentionally nerf it to protect our interests, we can sell features back to the gamer later as micro-transactions.
Keep supporting that if you like...you'll be responsible for the slow death of the industry in the long term. Bank on it!