Electronic Arts is trying to slow the runaway public-relations nightmare that is SimCity’s launch.
The publisher continues to patch and add servers to alleviate the stress that is keeping many gamers from accessing the city-building title. Meanwhile, one of EA’s advertising affiliates provided GamesBeat with an email from EA that asks them (and all other marketing affiliates) to stop actively promoting the game.
The e-mail reads as follows:
Hello Affiliates,
EA Origin has requested to pause all SimCity marketing campaigns temporarily, until further notice. We have deactivated all SimCity text links and creative and we ask you to please remove any copy promoting SimCity from your website for the time-being. To be clear we are continuing to payout commissions on all SimCity sales that are referred, however we are requesting that you please stop actively promoting the game. We will notify you as soon as the SimCity marketing campaigns have been resumed and our promotional links are once again live in the Linkshare interface. We apologize for any inconveniences that this may cause, and we thank you for your cooperation.
LinkShare is a marketing-affiliate network that connects companies like EA with web outlets that would show text or image ads. If a user then uses one of those ads to buy a product, the website gets a share of the cash.
The e-mail also refers to multiple campaigns that EA is suspending. We’ve reached out to EA to determine if this means it is ending its television marketing blitz — something it usually needs to pay for ahead of time.
Meanwhile, EA is still selling the game on its Origin digital-distribution service, but it isn’t offering refunds to customers who feel that the product doesn’t work as advertised.