Strategy Informer  

Maxis has said that the upcoming SimCity is a "relaunch of the franchise" and not SimCity 5. They're hitting the reset button as they feel GlassBox tech warrants that.

The always-on requirement for it is something they're "not surprised" has upset some fans. They know of the "conspiracy theories" doing the rounds but swear it "really makes the game richer."

The features are core to the new SimCity, referring to the economic and environmental impact each other's cities have on a region. It's something the dev team are really excited about.

"From the ground up it's been a multiplayer game," said Maxis producer Jason Haber. "I'm not surprised we're getting some reaction like this. But I think once people see it in action - and at E3 we're really looking forward to showing people multiplayer and how it works - hopefully that will show them why it's such a great feature and it's totally worth having."

"The benefit you're going to get out of being able to play online is going to help convince you of why it's worth it."

Information from player cities will be constantly fed to servers with EA which then led to impacts occurring on other player cities. Maxis want us building our metropolis dreams together, and to encourage trade either of natural resources or the Sims themselves looking for jobs and homes.

"The thing that's important for people to know is it really was driven by us as the dev team," Haber explained. "We feel it's a core feature to the game. It really makes the game richer. People have their conspiracy theories over why we're doing it. But really, it's honest that the dev team feels like it really does add a lot to the game, and it's totally worth doing for that."

It's not a piracy issue: "That's really the message we need to get out there and people need to understand. There are a lot of assumptions that people make and that's just how the internet is."

"It's a design choice on how to make the game feel more like a real city, right? And real cities don't exist in bubbles that nobody else has any influence in. City actions affect other cities, and other cities affect them."

"I live in the San Francisco Bay area. There are lots of little cities in there and they all interact with each other and all influence each other. Being able to recreate that momentum and feeling in SimCity is really important to the game."

Check out the VG247 clip below for SimCity, which discusses difficulty, politics and disaster with Maxis.

Source: Eurogamer

Related games: SimCity (2013) (PC)