Update @ 7:25 a.m. Pacific — Amazon is selling SimCity again.
Things are starting to spiral out of control for Electronic Arts, Maxis, and their SimCity title.
SimCity’s servers are a mess, many players can’t access the game. And now Amazon is no longer selling digital copies of the game, according to GiantBomb.
If you go to SimCity’s Amazon page, it simply says: “This item is currently unavailable.”
We’ve contacted Amazon to determine why it is no longer selling the digital version of SimCity, and we’ll update with its response.
Earlier today, EA started shutting down some of SimCity’s features. Developer Maxis turned off the leaderboards, the achievements, and even the in-game “Cheetah Speed,” which increases the rate that time passes.
It’s possible — and this is pure conjecture — that Amazon is trying to avoid a situation similar to what happened to The War Z on Steam. That game made a few minor claims on its product page that weren’t actually true in the game yet. Angry players lobbied Valve for refunds until the company agreed and pulled the game from its shelf.
If SimCity’s product page says it has leaderboards on Amazon, and the game doesn’t have leaderboads, customers could demand a refund even if the situation is only temporary. Amazon is probably just trying to stay out of this mess while things are still so volatile.
SimCity is still available on EA’s own Origin service.