Lucy Bradshaw took over the @Simcity twitter account to answer some burning questions on just what went wrong with Simcity’s launch.
One of the misconceptions behind the game was how EA forced Maxis into integrating the always-online requirement. As Lucy Bradshaw revealed:
@derekdonovan Hey, this is on Maxis. EA does not force design upon us. We own it, we are working 24/7 to fix it, and we are making progress
— SimCity (@simcity) March 9, 2013
Lucy Bradshaw Twitter Recap
@Slider6294: How is this debacle something you didn’t forecast? Can you explain the business rationale or justification for how this happened?
Lucy Bradshaw: Metrics/beta was fairly conservative and live ops stressed our game server DB’s in ways that we did not experience in Beta or Load Test
@ZachGoodman2: When do you expect between city transactions in multi-player will function correctly, such as sharing city hall upgrades?
Lucy Bradshaw: This is frustrating as it is core to the connected experience. This weekend we hope to crush this issue with more servers and optimizations
@JordanCharters: If I purchase PC version now, will Mac version be included when it’s released?
Lucy Bradshaw: We’re focused on the PC version right now, but we’ll have more info on Mac in early April, so stay tuned.
@skankingfool How could you not anticipate server load on launch when you all your ads said “50 most anticipated games lists of 2013
Lucy Bradshaw: Load experience in beta and load test is different than live. We’ve adapted and put out servers with changes, already seeing improvements.
@Oniichanaino: When SimCity servers are taken down in a few years, will an offline mode patch be distributed? Perhaps before then?
Lucy Bradshaw: We have no intention of offlining SimCity any time soon but we’ll look into that as part of our earning back your trust efforts.
@benmadsen: At some point will there be the ability to migrate games and regions between servers?
Lucy Bradshaw: We’re definitely looking into this as we know it would improve your experience.
@simify: Hi Lucy! 😀 I was just curious as to when players will have Cheetah Speed again?
Lucy Bradshaw: We’re really working on responsive of our servers. and once we have that nailed, and stable, cheetah is coming back!
@dchappell16: When is eu west 4 going to be back up? That’s a start.
Lucy Bradshaw: EU West 4 is actually up right now. Just tried it myself.
@jeremey86: Hey lucy! Will you be offering larger city maps in the future??
Lucy Bradshaw: Once we get stable, this is another one we’re absolutely looking at. Our intention is to continue to support SimCity and surprise you.
@booshtv: Any news/ updates about real content patches? Many issues with Tourism
Lucy Bradshaw: We put up a patch this morning that included some traffic fixes and other improvements. And we’ll be making more. We’ll check on Tourism.
@martianskygrid: Can you be specific about which game is that that you are giving away? Can we choose?
Lucy Bradshaw: You’ll be getting more information on the March 18th. And you will have choices.
@azbiker72: So when are you going to give a real answer regarding offline modes?
Lucy Bradshaw: The game was designed for MP, we sim the entire region on the server so this is just not possible
@milesJ92: Would it not have been smarter to have been over prepared, and have too many servers, rather than what y’all did?
Lucy Bradshaw: Youre right. The combination of many players and server adjustments put us behind. New servers yesterday and more today
@17packersfan: the game is wonderful, its just that its hard to get into it sometimes.
Lucy Bradshaw: Thanks and yep. We added 120% capacity yesterday, more today. Better game experience a priority. Hope you have better time
@Jdude666: Will regional play be fixed soon?
Lucy Bradshaw: yes, we optimized and region trading improved, still making enhancements and will keep it up
@videogameget: Will the removed features like achievements, return?
Lucy Bradshaw: yes, features like achieves etc, will come back as we get to stability, soon.
@curtisparadis: also it would be great if the game could keep track of what servers I do have cities on, and present that info to users.
Lucy Bradshaw: We are working on that right this minute. Hope to have a patch for it today, tonight latest
