Despite Issues, SimCity's Launch Was Biggest In Series' History

by Jeff Cork on March 18, 2013 at 01:07 PM

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Even though the game took heat for a less-than-optimal launch, EA is calling SimCity a success. Maxis' city-building game sold more than 1.1 million copies within the first two weeks of its release, making it the most popular installment in the series. EA said that more than half of consumers (54 percent) chose to download the game instead of purchasing boxed copies.

According to EA, more than 5.7 million cities have been incorporated since launch, holding more than 780 million combined buildings. If you linked all of the road sections and railroad tracks together, you could circle the planet 40,000 times.

“SimCity had a great weekend with sales strong across both North America and Europe, adding to overwhelming demand at launch that has us tracking well beyond expectations for the game,” said Peter Moore, EA's COO. “SimCity is one of the storied brands in gaming, and Maxis delivered a game re-envisioned and engineered for the online age.”

EA may have underestimated how much bandwidth the online age requires. Server overloads and other issues kept some players from playing the game days after its launch. EA increased server capacity 400 percent and made a variety of other under-the-hood changes to the game, as well as offering affected users a mea culpa in the form of a free game.

Of course this installment had the biggest launch in the series. Getting out hype over the internet has exploded in the decade since SimCity 4, so of course this will have been a highly anticipated release and everybody's going to panic and freak out and buy it. The same thing happened with Civilization 5--and there was only a 5 year gap between those games.

EA is basically wrapping up something that is common sense if you spend a moment to think about it in an attempt to shift attention away from the asinine way they handled things.

EDIT: And when I say "the same thing happened with Civilization 5", I mean all the hype around it, not whether it was a good game or what the release was like. That's all.

Comments

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by draneri Monday, March 18, 2013 at 02:39 PM

So many people are talking about pirating the game due to the online-DRM. Also, the game isn't finished and has serious AI issues as well as bugs in transfers of $$$ between cities (see Eurogamer review which gave it a 4/10). Are they so narrow-minded that they think all gamers only want action style games? Their projections for this game must have been very low. After 10 years and a huge gap in strategy in the gaming market, I figure that the expectation would've been pretty high. It only goes to show you how much they don't understand the gaming market. v.v
by akaempf Monday, March 18, 2013 at 02:43 PM

I'm really happy with the game. I didn't buy it on launch but I bought it this weekend and never had logon issues. They are in the process of implementing fixes and hopefully they return the fastest simulation speed soon. As for Adam saying the game isn't worth your money??.. They(EA, that is...) are giving out free games for compensation just for the launch issues. Choices include: Battlefield 3 (Standard Edition) Bejeweled 3 Dead Space 3 (Standard Edition) Mass Effect 3 (Standard Edition) MOHW (Standard Edition) NFS Most Wanted (Standard Edition) Plants vs. Zombies SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition I would say this game is a lot of fun. On top of that EA/Maxis just gave me a free game!
by VinsanityV22 Monday, March 18, 2013 at 02:45 PM

Booo. I can't imagine how many people bought that and THEN found out about the always online component and the stupid AI and the small city sizes and all the other cr** that people hate about this game. EA did a VERY good job of not mentioning any of that stuff in the marketing. Heck, they even hid it from the name - for all intents and purposes, this should be called "SimCity Online". Then people would've known to avoid it, just like they did The Sims Online. Remember that? Or The Old Republic. Or Dragon Quest Online. Or any number of other "formerly wonderful single player games gone online because marketing statistics say we can make more money this way" series. Garbage. F*** you Maxis.
by Zachary Pligge Monday, March 18, 2013 at 03:09 PM

I'm glad they think it was a success. Yes they had huge sales, but the launch problems made a large amount of their fans bitter and now skeptical for future releases. It just depends how you look at this data; it's all relative.
by graveyardspin Monday, March 18, 2013 at 03:13 PM

"more than 1.1 million copies within the first two weeks of its release, making it the most popular installment in the series"

And that's the story of why EA will never stop using online DRM.
by TheAntiHero Monday, March 18, 2013 at 03:44 PM

Kinda like Diablo 3 was a huge success now hardly anyone plays it anymore. Myself included on that list. This game is a lot more fun then Diablo 3 though and I do enjoy it. However, I wish it wasn't such a good game, so i could be more upset about the DRM and all the filthy little lies.
by styx971 Monday, March 18, 2013 at 04:04 PM

just because it sold more don't make it better, it might be a good thing that that many are intrested in playing it but how many aren't happy with their purchase? .. and aside from that while i love the series and wish i could play it ( boycotted due to online) its bad that it sold so well since the better an online forced game sells the more a company will try to do it in the future.. gahh ppl need to learn to speak with their wallets better ...
by God Of Irony Monday, March 18, 2013 at 04:26 PM

and this is why nothing will change; they've already made their money off you.
by Tin Man Monday, March 18, 2013 at 04:41 PM

Of course this installment had the biggest launch in the series. Getting out hype over the internet has exploded in the decade since SimCity 4, so of course this will have been a highly anticipated release and everybody's going to panic and freak out and buy it. The same thing happened with Civilization 5--and there was only a 5 year gap between those games.

EA is basically wrapping up something that is common sense if you spend a moment to think about it in an attempt to shift attention away from the asinine way they handled things.

EDIT: And when I say "the same thing happened with Civilization 5", I mean all the hype around it, not whether it was a good game or what the release was like. That's all.
by Daemoroth Monday, March 18, 2013 at 04:47 PM

Count the gamers, I'm pretty sure if 50% of all gamers bought SimCity 4 in the first 2 weeks of its launch, it would still be dwarfed if 5% of today's gamers bought SimCity 5.

Protip - Pretty sure McDonald's is the most visited "restaurant" in the world. Still doesn't mean it's a 5-star joint.
by Professor Panda Monday, March 18, 2013 at 04:51 PM

Any press is good press.
by Asthma Monday, March 18, 2013 at 05:47 PM

My copy is on it's way back, EA.
by Mitch Monday, March 18, 2013 at 06:17 PM

That's kinda sad.
by Gary Snook Monday, March 18, 2013 at 06:42 PM

Now tell us how many have tried to get refunds?
by Tim Gruver Monday, March 18, 2013 at 07:04 PM

Quite a different story if you ask a purchaser of the game, though.
by Gamer Granny Monday, March 18, 2013 at 07:56 PM

Pre-sales are going to killing quality in video games -you no longer have to make a great game just -hype it up to be great - a million sheeple will pre-order - your costs are covered and who care if the games sucks because gamers have a short memory and will happly jump on the hype wagon for your next game. - lather, rinse, repeat
by Gamer Granny Monday, March 18, 2013 at 07:57 PM

Pre-sales are going to killing quality in video games -you no longer have to make a great game just -hype it up to be great - a million sheeple will pre-order - your costs are covered and who care if the games sucks because gamers have a short memory and will happly jump on the hype wagon for your next game. - lather, rinse, repeat
by Jack Monday, March 18, 2013 at 09:58 PM

I still believe that its a fun game.
by Max Tuesday, March 19, 2013 at 01:13 AM

Every time I hear Sim City, I remember reading on Kotaku that someone in an EA brief said some people loved Always-Online options

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Despite Issues, SimCity's Launch Was Biggest In Series' History

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