Back in October, we brought you the news that Maxis was “exploring the possibility” of a SimCity offline mode. Of course, this news came after the title’s disastrous launch back in March, where the company claimed that an offline mode “wouldn’t be possible.” Well, would you look at that, offline mode is now possible!
Arriving as a free addition with the next update for SimCity, Single Player mode will allow gamers to take their city offline and not have to worry about faulty internet connections potentially ruining everything. This mode will be compatible with all of the DLC released for the title so far and will let players take their saved cities on and offline at will.
Perhaps the biggest update, though, is the addition of mod support. Since SimCity was previously online only, using mods could have potentially introduced game-breaking glitches and bugs. However, with the title now playable offline, Maxis is openly encouraging fans to play around and create new items for the game. The company will even be rolling out a series of tutorials to help inexperienced modders get started.
This is certainly quite the about face from the game’s launch back in March 2013, but it’s great news for SimCity and will potentially bring players annoyed by its online-only tendencies back into the fold. Still, I feel this may be too little, too late. The numerous PR gaffes that took place following the title’s launch, along with some of the other lingering problems, may be too damaging for the series to recover from any time soon. I suppose only time will tell.
As of right now, no release date has been revealed for the next update for SimCity, so stay tuned. Is anyone going to be jumping back into this city builder now that the online restrictions will be lifted? Let us know in the comments below.