Releasing SimCity to disable “non-critical features” in the game . The issues are caused by SimCity’s always-online DRM, causing us to wonder aloud if such an anti-piracy system should be avoided completely . EA has even pulled its marketing for the game.

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In other words, SimCity is in a bad way, but an update from Maxis’ General Manager Lucy Bradshaw has some good news for eager players who want to get some city-building done.Bradshaw explains that “the server issues which began at launch have improved significantly as [Maxis] added more capacity. But some people are still experiencing response and stability problems that we’re working fast to address.”“So what went wrong?” Bradshaw asked. “The short answer is: a lot more people logged on than we expected. More people played and played in ways we never saw in the beta.”“OK, we agree, that was dumb, but we are committed to fixing it.”Bradshaw notes that sever capacity has increased 120% in the last 48 hours, and that “disrupted experiences” are down about 80%. “So we’re close to fixed, but not quite there,” she admits.Candidly, Bradshaw also notes that “SimCity is a solid hit in all major markets,” but that “if you can’t get a stable connection, you’re NOT having a good experience.” And so while EA and Maxis continue fixing things on their end, they also want to offer up a freebie (in lieu of giving players a refund ).“…to get us back in your good graces, we’re going to offer you a free PC download game from the EA portfolio. On March 18, SimCity players who have activated their game will receive an email telling them how to redeem their free game. I know that’s a little contrived,” Bradshaw admits, “kind of like buying a present for a friend after you did something crummy. But we feel bad about what happened. We’re hoping you won’t stay mad and that we’ll be friends again when SimCity is running at 100 percent.”“Hang in there,” she concludes here note, “we’ll be providing more updates throughout the weekend.”

Colin Moriarty is an IGN PlayStation editor. You can follow him on Twitter and IGN and learn just how sad the life of a New York Islanders and New York Jets fan can be.