‘SimCity’ Offline Mode: Maxis Says No

SimCity is not getting an official offline mode, says Maxis.

General manager Lucy Bradshaw said that an offline mode in SimCity does not fit with Maxis’ vision of the videogame. Much like Facebook games such as FarmVille 2 and Cafe World, too much of the SimCity game system supposedly depends on interaction with the servers, so an offline mode won’t work in the long run.

Lucy Bradshaw listed some things that SimCity would lack in an offline scenario; simulation data for your region, gifts between players, effective pricing for the Global Market based on the laws of supply and demand, and various world challenges.

It was recently made apparent that using a mod, SimCity can be played almost indefinitely offline. However, as previously stated, communication with the servers makes the game legitimate. Lucy Bradshaw wrote in a blog post:

“So, could we have built a subset offline mode? Yes. But we rejected that idea because it didn’t fit with our vision. We did not focus on the ‘single city in isolation’ that we have delivered in past SimCities. We recognize that there are fans – people who love the original SimCity – who want that. But we’re also hearing from thousands of people who are playing across regions, trading, communicating and loving the Always-Connected functionality. The SimCity we delivered captures the magic of its heritage but catches up with ever-improving technology.”

Technical gurus disagree, saying that there is nothing in SimCity that truly needs an internet connection to work right. Some people prefer to play offline and don’t care about the community aspects of SimCity‘s system.

Did the servers always work? According to some reports, obviously no. So what happens when the servers crash or there is necessary maintenance needed which requires shutting the servers down? The servers were down right when the game launched, which has led to many disgruntled consumers, some of whom were even reportedly banned for complaining.

If you want to play SimCity offline, you’re going to need a mod, because Maxis refuses to give you an offline mode.

How do you feel about Maxis rejecting an offline mode for SimCity?