SimCity launch at a standstill as EA's servers strain

SimCity is live. Kind of. Our sister site PC Gamer reports many would-be mayors are having a heckuva time just installing the game--it's gotten to the point that Electronic Arts has offered to honor refund requests from afflicted players.

EA wasn't able to get pre-loads working in time for SimCity's launch on Origin (though they were for previous, less-anticipated PC games like Dead Space 3), meaning many who pre-purchased slammed the servers at once. Even players installing from a disc were unable to get up and running, as they needed additional files from Origin to complete the process.

Once the game was installed, players stared down significant queues to begin their mayorship. And yes, SimCity can be played privately, but you still have to be online to do so.

“If you regrettably feel that we let you down, you can of course request a refund for your order at http://help.origin.com/contact-us, though we’re currently still in the process of resolving this issue,” said a community manager in a support thread.

While you're waiting to actually play the game, be sure to check out our review-in-progress or watch our RadarPlay.

Connor Sheridan

I got a BA in journalism from Central Michigan University - though the best education I received there was from CM Life, its student-run newspaper. Long before that, I started pursuing my degree in video games by bugging my older brother to let me play Zelda on the Super Nintendo. I've previously been a news intern for GameSpot, a news writer for CVG, and now I'm a staff writer here at GamesRadar.