We, along with the rest of the gaming media, have been covering the launch of SimCity pretty closely. Because, of course, it has been a complete disaster. Servers are overloaded, customers can’t play the game and EA is refusing refunds via the Origin distribution service. But here’s what is perhaps the worst part so far: Maxis and EA are so desperate for a fix that they’ve actually turned off some of SimCity’s features.

In a new hotfix designed to improve server stability, EA turned off SimCity’s region filters, leaderboards and achievements system. In other words, the things that were supposed to make playing online actually worthwhile. Also, the game’s “Cheetah” mode has been disabled; the new fastest speed is “Llama.”

Here’s EA:

“We are aggressively undergoing maintenance on the servers and adding capacity to meet demand. Performance will fluctuate during this process. Our fans are important to us, and we thank you for your continued patience."

To reiterate: EA deciding that, for some reason, the new SimCity would require an online connection has resulted in their having to repeatedly shut down servers and completely turn off important parts of the actual game.

Party hard, guys.

[Ars Technica]

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