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[Update] SimCity Fallout Continues
[Update] Maxis released a statement regarding the SimCity launch and its plan to add new servers to the game throughout the weekend.
In a statement released to Kotaku, Maxis general manager Lucy Bradshaw addressed some of the issues surrounding the game's troubled launch:
"Thousands of players across the world are playing and having a good experience - in fact, more than 700,000 cities have been built by our players in just 24 hours. But many are experiencing server instability and consequently, the rollout in North America has been challenging. It's also now evident that players across Europe and Asia are experiencing the same frustration. Our priority now is to quickly and dramatically increase the number and stability of our servers and, with that, the number of players who can simultaneously access the game. We added servers today, and there will be several more added over the weekend. We're working as hard as possible to make sure everyone gets to experience the amazing game we built in SimCity."
[Original Story]
Amazon has pulled SimCity from its store, EA attempts to clear up refund confusion, and an online petition is gaining steam.
Despite EA's best attempts to soothe its server-related problems, the company is facing a number of continued setbacks. First up comes news that Amazon has pulled SimCity from its store, adding an "Important Note" on the game's product page that links back to EA's support site. SimCity currently has a one-star rating on Amazon, based on just over 1,000 customer reviews.
Meanwhile, EA has taken to Twitter to respond to confusion over its refund policy for the game, which allows users who bought a physical copy of the game through the Origin store to request a refund, but not those who bought a digital copy. EA also shot down rumors that the company would ban players requesting refunds.
Finally, disgruntled players have taken to Change.org to create a petition demanding that EA remove its always-online DRM from SimCity and future games. The petition has been signed over 20,000 times in less than 24 hours, and will likely make its goal of 25,000 signatures before the end of the day.
Game Informer is currently waiting for SimCity's servers to stabilize before we finish our review, and hope to have it finished sometime next week.
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