SimCity to get an offline play mode in free update

By Adam Rosenberg January 13, 2014

simcity 2013 screenshot — Image used with permission by copyright holder

After all of that talk from Maxis and Electronic Arts about SimCity not being playable without a persistent Internet connection, a forthcoming update is set to let the game do just that. A new post written by Maxis Emeryville general manager Patrick Buechner confirms that Update 10 – a free add-on – will implement the new feature.

There’s no release date yet for Update 10, but it should be out soon. Buechner notes that the team is “in the late phases of development,” and that the mode will be playtested by an elite group of “DevTester” players, but he offers no specific timetable. Update 10 will add a “Single Player Mode” menu item, and saved files will be stored locally on your computer as part of the new feature. More info on how the feature works will be coming in a future blog post.

SimCity initially launched in March 2013 with no support for offline play, a feature that drew negative reaction from fans both before and after the release. It was Buechner himself who stepped up in October to allow for the possibility of a forthcoming offline play mode. “Right now we have a team specifically focused on exploring the possibility of an offline mode,” he wrote at the time. “I can’t make any promises on when we will have more information, but we know this is something that many of our players have been asking for.”

Maxis knows it’s something the players have been asking for because we’ve been very loud about it. Well you can quiet down now. Offline player should be out soon.

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Previously, Adam worked in the games press as a freelance writer and critic for a range of outlets, including Digital Trends…

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