The lights are on
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.
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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.
"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.
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 ...
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.
Any press is good press.
My copy is on it's way back, EA.
That's kinda sad.
Now tell us how many have tried to get refunds?
Quite a different story if you ask a purchaser of the game, though.
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
I still believe that its a fun game.