New SimCity to require constant Internet connection

To those who want/will buy it, fine, I do wish you well, but for me, I'm not buying into this less is more future, EA can keep Simcity to itself for a number of reasons (I always play solo, so I don't need world economics, I need a solidly built single player game/sandbox)  but persistent internet connection as a monitoring/drm tool is up at the top.  Especially if they can't offer a persistently available server connection on their part.  Some days the pirates are a few of the game players ruining it for the developers and honest players and some days the pirates are the companies, ruining it for themselves and everybody else (except the lawyers).  Oh well, enough people will purchase this that it won't change anything.

I was really looking forward to this game until I saw that it required a constant internet connection, won't be buying it unfortunately. If I can't play it offline, no money from me on any game, back to Civ V....

I want to build a city to MY liking. Forcing me to be connected to the net just to play a game the way I've always played it is going to be greatly problematic for many gamers.

Sometimes internet connection fail and are not an option. I should still be able to play a game i brought if my connection is not available for one reason or another. This is not a good move at all. smh, damn you, EA... 

I was actually going to buy this game, thought it would be great. But after this complete and utter bullsh*t, they can keep it for themselves. And they might as well go bankrupt for what i care. They've ruined all the games we (well, at least most of us) loved as kids. 

And i'm out.  Tried it with Diablo 3. Thought there might be something to the arguments that it was all about the multiplayer, then just realized they are full of crap.  Won't be buying the Diablo 3 expansion and wont be buying sim city. Shame. I loved it as a kid. 

i really thought we had a winner here... Oh well, time to go back to Tropico 4

Making SimCity as a MMO in disguise is a travesty. I was all set to buy this game the moment it was released, until this forced online multiplayer "experience" destroyed that. Every aspect of this game can be simulated locally, but they are being lazy and making other players replace an AI. If they want to give multiplayer as an option that's fine but it should be optional! I'd far rather they delay this and make it right instead of releasing this as intended which will destroy SimCity.

Fear not simcity gamers! we'll can call the pirates when we need them ;) just saying :p

I refuse to build cities, which are VALUABLE GAME CONTENT, for Maxis or EA. I refuse to create anything on servers so that some game companies get to decide when to ERASE MY CITIES and MODS because "sorry your cities are NOW OBSOLETE".

They better have a backup plan like offline version, for their delusion is going to end badly. 

If I decide to buy this game I'll most likely download crack to block this useless feature...

Very disappointing! not buying.

Nice!

I get punished by being forced to be online and dependant on their servers (which haven't been spoken of highly) while pirates will find some work-around like they do for everything.

Ubisoft, Blizzard/Activision, and EA: as a former fan of your games, stop punishing us with these draconian anti-piracy actions.

If, and this is a big IF, the goal of this is to make everything online dependent based on user feedback from all the cities, they should at least allow some offline version for people (like myself) who want to make a city however I wanted without any repercussions from other players.

After all, wouldn't that be more in line with the vision of Will Wright?

very dissapointing.  I won't be buying this game anymore.  I'm glad I didnt pre-order it before hearing about this...

It's time EA was courted for this! They are destroying perfectly good games. I won't use Railworks cos you need a flamin steam account and now just as Simcity looks to pick up here is EA overlooking what real gamers are. Internet should be optional. Not forced! Look what happens to Internet only games. To date I only see WoW  surviving with other sci fi fantasy games.

i was so excited, the next game that would be refined both graphically and in its gameplay. but i am not going to purchase a game that requires that i have internetconstantly available, which is a ludicrous sentiment.

BF3 looked like a great game but I didn't buy it because of Origin. Sim City looks like it could be a great game. I spend a few hundred dollars a year on games...none of it has been going to EA lately.

definitely won't be buying this one. They can take their always-online bs and cram it up their ***. Because they won't be getting a penny of my money for that sort of thing.

ea,you can shove it.no money from me.

@Xenuri That's an interesting idea, but presents the problem of if their servers go down or anything, there goes the game you just paid for. When I pay for a game, I expect it to stand on its own and let me play it, indefinitely, as long as I can keep the disc/files in good condition.

I was wanting to play this game so much til I read this. No thanks.

Another lost sale here.

Wow, we know how EA likes to shut servers down for games, too. -1 sale from me.

Always online you say EA? How will this work when you guys can't even get your servers working correctly, I still have trouble holding my connection to the fifa 12 servers....

Yay! More games from a developer/publisher that codes so bad that you have to have a constant internet connection to play. Is there even a singleplayer in this game? If so, why the internet connection? Surely they could have done it without needing one. I mean, my DVD drive is faster then their servers and it can never be taken offline when they want it, so stf them.

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All aboard the SimCity FAILBOAT

I'm surprised to see that EA is still under the delusion that this is the best option to counter piracy. What a short-sighted move. Proper F2P models (Tribes: Ascend) -or fairer pricing-, better customer service and communication, are only a handful of the many ways game developers should be countering piracy effectively and without hurting their own reputation.

No sale for that game,EA. Is that you want?

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And as always pirates will be playing the game perfectly fine offline, while paying customers will be screwed.

An always online policy can be a bad thing even for users not pirating....

"According to EA, an always-on connection is necessary due to people who pirate games.. and because they like DRM." Fix'd.

@flammable_zeus that's what used or pirated games are for. Developer gets nothing and you still play it. (More) People pirate games because of this stupid DRM crap. I have never pirated a game before but it looks like I will have to look into it if every publisher puts this crap on the game. Right now I'm replaying all of the Command & Conquer games. If they all required me to be online and the servers were shut down since most of them are 10+ years old, they'd be unplayable. No thanks, you can kiss my ass.

@eridenou I said morally, though that is pretty stupid. But the cops aren't going to bust in your door because you "fixed" a game that you bought, and even if on some 1 in a billion chance they do, you'd win in court if you fought it.

For all of you saying you'll pirate the game, you're not helping the situation. All you're saying is that they're making a product that you still want to play but are too cheap to. Simply vote with your wallets. Don't buy OR pirate the game.

So I'm going to have to be connected to your crappy service to play the game that I OWN. No thanks EA.

Yet another reason to boycott yet another EA game. I've been waiting for this game forever too :(

I always enjoy reading what stupid new thing EA is up too. Going to skip this game. The last time EA got any of my money was 1999, but I am going to buy the DLC for Mass Effect 2 and 3, I do the best I can to not support EA, they have lost it.

Stupid "required internet" stuff. Thanks for screwing over us laptop-gamers.

They start making same mistakes Ubi's did. "Always online" is crappy system.

I, for one, see nothing wrong with the direction EA is taking with their new title and I welcome the change. This is totally selfless and only good things can come from this move. Like always, EA know exactly what to give their fans and they will undoubtedly release another industry changing game that will most probably cure cancer. Also, sarcasm.

lol?? why should sims game require internet?.....

It's funny how stuff like this puts a good light on pirates, since they'll probably make a crack that allows people to play it offline.

@ChillingSky People wouldn'tve pirated games IF they did release it at their own country (which those developers didn't, hence pirated games being sold) Wish I could just hack the game thus making it don't needing an internet connection anymore...

stupid EA will never learn. I will not buy this game and if I do, I will crack it just to play offline!!!

I will like to know, if the game will be really online, like in CitiesXL = big company servers where players connect, select their region and start working with their neighbours. This global market seems like this way. It will be possible to buy energy from someone who isnt my neighbour? If yes, then its unreal = sux. If no, how it will set who is my neighbour? --> I hope in global servers, otherwise some global market sux hard and multiplayer where we are playing over IP addres is old and boring. Look on OpenTTD = persistent servers rules!

Won't be playing this I guess.

Why? So are they gonna subsidise my internet bill? What about travelling gamers? Why the hell should i have to make sure im online for a SP game? Eat a bowl of dick EA, a big steaming bowl.