SimCity not getting 'offline mode'

Maxis has said a playable offline mode won't be coming to SimCity "any time soon", despite multiple server issues.

The city-building game launched last week in North America, with players experiencing many problems due to overloaded servers.

Studio boss, Lucy Bradshaw, said there is still no intention of making SimCity playable offline, and that decision has nothing to do with EA.

"EA does not force design upon us," she said on Twitter. "We own it, we are working 24/7 to fix it, and we are making progress.

"We have no intention of offlining SimCity any time soon."

Bradshaw added that the issues are close to being sorted and that crashes have been reduced by 92%.

"Our players have been able to connect to their cities in the game for nearly 8 million hours of gameplay time and we've reduced game crashes by 92% from day one.

"Tonight and tomorrow we'll be monitoring each server and gameplay metrics to ensure that the service remains strong and game is playing great.

"We need a few more days of data before we can assure you that the problem is completely solved and the game is running at 100%."

Maxis is also offering a free game download to everyone who bought SimCity as an apology. An email will be sent to players on 18 March with details on how to redeem the free game from the EA portfolio.