EA Maxis Will Wright

Capitalism is all about seizing opportunity, and that’s what publisher Kalyspo is doing right now.

Electronic Arts is dealing with a major technical and public-relations nightmare in SimCity. The city-builder’s servers continue to falter, which is preventing many players from accessing it. EA is adding additional servers to deal with the demand, but it is also cutting off its marketing campaign.

In response to the lacking customer support, many gamers are looking elsewhere for their municipal-planning gaming needs — that led Kalypso to discount its Tropico series of city strategy games by up to 75 percent on Steam.

Gamers can get Tropico 4 for only $7.49.

But it’s not all bad news for Electronic Arts. Frustrated gamers are also turning to previous entries in the SimCity franchise out of desperation. This drove SimCity 2000 to the top of the charts on the Good Old Games download service. SimCity 2000 Special Edition is available for $5.99 on GOG, and it doesn’t require any kind of Internet connection once you install it.

If the new SimCity left you feeling jilted, but you don’t like Tropico or SimCity 2000, you can always check out our list of recommended city-building alternatives. It has a few other suggestions.