EA is offering players of its newest SimCity title a free game in an attempt to make up for the shambles that was the SimCity launch. SimCity launched last week after a 10-year wait. Unfortunately, the launch didn't exactly go smoothly. SimCity 5 requires a constant internet connection, even for the single-player portion. EA claims it's because of the social and multiplayer aspects but it seems the company's online servers just can't handle the traffic that comes with a big-ticket launch.
In a blog post published this past weekend, EA's Lucy Bradshaw, who is the general manager of the Maxis label, said that the company would be making things right with the offer of a free game.
"[...] to get us back in your good graces, we’re going to offer you a free PC download game from the EA portfolio. On March 18, SimCity players who have activated their game will receive an email telling them how to redeem their free game."
Aside from offering the free game, Bradshaw detailed what EA has done to fix the server problems that plagued the launch. Bradshaw said that the company had increased server capacity by 120 percent in the space of 48 hours.
"It’s working – the number of people who have gotten in and built cities has improved dramatically. The number of disrupted experiences has dropped by roughly 80 percent."
This SimCity title is the sixth major release and is available for both Windows and Mac OS X.
