EA Relents, SimCity Users May Gain Offline Play

In a new post detailing some of the strides SimCity has made since its launch, developer Maxis has finally confirmed that the it is doing some work to bring offline game play to users.

The company announced the move during the State of SimCity today. In that post, Maxis shares what is going on with the game in candid detail. In fact, it address nearly every problem associated with the game since it launched to critical acclaim and dozens of bugs.

Contrary to what some news outlets are reporting, Maxis is only confirming that it’s in the early stages of exploring offline playback for users. The company says that it has a core team working on bringing the functionality to users in some form. Theoretically, the feature would also enable users to create their own content for the game without having to experiment with the cities they’ve built on Maxis’ servers, according to Maxis. As Maxis says its made user-generated content a priority, it could be user-generated content that pushes the company to offer offline playback.

That being said, Maxis isn’t ready to promise SimCity users that they’ll definitely see offline payback down the road.

SimCity was the first game in its namesake franchise to use the GlassBox engine. While the engine does allow each city to simulate otherwise complicated infrastructures, Maxis maintains that it can’t bring the game to users without relying on its servers. As such, users can’t play SimCity without an internet connection for more than 20 minutes.

The rest of the post is somewhat of a mixed bag of news for users. Due to limitations of the game’s GlassBox gaming engine, Maxis is confirming that users won’t see bigger cities added to SimCity in the future. It says doing so would make the game too processor and resource intensive for most of its player base. That’ll come as a huge disappoint to users, who have consistently complained about the relatively snug cityscapes available in the game.

Read: SimCity Teases Big Announcement, Rumors Point to Large Expansion Pack

Today’s post also talks about the new SimCity: Cities of Tomorrow expansion pack that will début on November 12. Following the expansion, users will have access to large futuristic towers and upgraded city infrastructures.

Unlike the past seven free updates to the game, the Cities of Tomorrow expansion will cost users $29.99.