SimCity offline mode under consideration, would benefit modders

EA Maxis said this week that it is doing exploratory work for offline mode for SimCity, which is currently online-only even in single-player mode. News of a possible offline mode comes after the game's fiasco of a launch in March this year, marred by connectivity issues that led to a highly-negative player reaction, to say the least. Maxis Emeryville general manager Patrick Buechner said in a blog post, "Right now we have a team specifically focused on exploring the possibility of an offline mode. 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." He added, "While the server connectivity issues are behind us, we would like to give our players the ability to play even if they choose not to connect." An offline mode would also open the door for creators who want to tinker with SimCity, said Buechner, as it "would have the additional benefit of providing room to the modding community to experiment without interfering or breaking the multiplayer experience." Amid the rocky launch in March, Maxis' Lucy Bradshaw had said an offline mode "is just not possible." At the time she said, "We have no intention of offlining SimCity any time soon but we'll look into that as part of our earning back your trust efforts." The news of a possible offline mode comes shortly after Maxis said it is considering user-generated content tools for SimCity.