SimControversy (updated Mar 23/13)

Everyone is jumping in on the SimCity bandwagon. It's been a week now, and still the reports are ceaseless. If you haven't heard, or would like a recap, go here.

What bothers me isn't that yet another DRM game failed. What a surprise. Such a problem is easily forseen, and people are fools to have put faith in DRM yet again.

The beloved SimCity franchise crippled with a tacked on DRM that no one asked for is also not a source of my ails. Such a matter was announced early on in development, much to the chagrin of the fans, but this isn't anything surprising within the last week when the game garnered so much criticism.


The problem is that EA lies. Or more precisely, everything or everyone EA touches becomes corrupted or a liar. Lucy Bradshaw, Maxis' general manager said, "SimCity is an online game and critics and consumers have every right to expect a smooth experience from beginning to end. I and the Maxis team take full responsibility to deliver on our promise."

Well, if the game tanks, it's on you. If the customers are not getting a smooth experience, it's coming out of your wallet. So then what happened when people asked for refunds when the game didn't work, then had features removed, then still didn't work? Did Lucy Bradshaw step in and make good on her promise of 'respnsibility'? No, EA customer support instead turned away customers requesting refunds, and threatened to close their Origin account (effectively banning them from all the games they've purchased on that account).

It's really easy to make promises before you're asked to make good on them.

I really don't care about EA, as I never buy games from them anymore, I've had my fair share of listening to the PR spin of liars in their employment, and I'm not stupid enough to put faith in their games. But EA didn't force Lucy Bradshaw to write that damage-control bullshit. She wrote that. She wrote that without truly understanding the weight of her words. And sure enough, people put faith not in EA, but in her. I guess it works. You work for EA, you learn the ways of a liar, no matter how respectable you once were.

We can all learn from EA. Publish that you are offering refunds, and that you're taking full responsibility, but ensure the fine print policy specifies the possibility of rejecting refunds offered, and that no responsibility may actually be taken. Where in normal scenarios these stipulations apply to the corner case scenarios, EA applies them to all scenarios.

Many games have problems at launch (not that this is an excuse), but EA... You're trying your hardest to dig your own grave. I hope in the future, you will accept consumer apologies as payment for your games, as you seem to think apologies are sufficient in lieu of refunds. Oops, sorry I just accidentally pirated Dead Space 3.

Update:

 I stopped following the SimCity scandal because I didn't think it could get much worse. But then it did, as the lies continued.

It was then quickly discovered that a modder by the handle UKAzzer cracked the game, removing the online requirement and fixing the majority of bugs and problems in one fell swoop which has poured more fuel onto the fire. Naturally the ability to play the game offline with no repercussions, other then the ability not to be able to go online, directly contradicted statements from Lucy Bradshaw, General Manager at Maxis who stated “It wouldn’t be possible to make the game offline without a significant amount of engineering work by our team.” Her evidence was that the entire region was simulated server side, but that claim itself was debunked by a Maxis Developer.

Free games are being given out as compensation, and the CEO of EA resigned. Refunds are 'being honored' but who knows if that actually means you'll get your money back.