Why SimCity failed and what game developers should learn from it

TGBuzz: We all know that EA’s SimCity’s launch was a failure for all intents and purposes, but where did things go wrong? And what should game developers and publishers learn from EA’s major mistakes?

[Makasu]

Great read!

[sfsethfitzgerald]

Thanks!

[RustedMan]

there was a simcity launch?

[Baka-akaB]

Where is Cliffy B to defend EA now ?

[cyguration]

Oh that's right...

I thought he said something to the effect of why Valve doesn't get hated on as much as EA.

When was the last time Valve screwed gamers over the way EA screwed gamers over with SimCity?

[DwightOwen]

PUBLISHERS need to FUCK OFF and let the developers make their game and stop punishing paying consumers. This "free game" bullshit is an insult. I want my money back. Free-to-play games have more content than this App Store wannabe game.

[KrisButtar]

"With the way that the game works, we offload a significant amount of the calculations to our servers so that the computations are off the local PCs and are moved into the cloud. It wouldn’t be possible to make the game offline without a significant amount of engineering work by our team"

quote from lucy bradshaw is all BS because there are pirated versions already with cracks and the game works offline, so which one is truth?

[arq888]

somebody has already made cracks

[RE_L_MAYER]

Ea got sacked for having online mode only....playstation is back to their drawing boards

[Red_Devilz]

It should be mandatory to disclose if the game uses $hitty gimmicks like this DRM before you sell the product.

I don't want to pay for a game like this only to find out that I'm duped and there is no way I'm getting my money back.

And, if any game developer/publisher discloses that it requires always on DRM - NO BUY for me. I'd be more happy to keep my money in my pocket.

[HmongAmerican]

hopefully this will end the use of DRM because we don't want to paid $60 for a rental game.

[HonestDragon]

EA screwed themselves over with this one. It sounds like they really screwed over Maxis, too. Sim City really could have been something, but this DRM restriction just ended up costing them credibility (not that there is much left).