For those of you who purchased and then tried to play EA's latest SimCity iteration and found the game lacking in more ways than those found in typical urban planning thanks to server problems that left you with disconnections and error messages, guess what? You've finally gotten an apology - more or less - from EA.
You'll also be receiving a free PC download game from EA's portfolio. EA refers to the gift as "Something Special For Your Trouble."
"The good news is that SimCity is a solid hit in all major markets," EA's Maxis Label General Manager Lucy Bradshaw announced on Friday, March 8.
"The consensus among critics and players is that this is fundamentally a great game. But this SimCity is made to be played online, and if you can't get a stable connection, you're NOT having a good experience.
"So we're not going to rest until we've fixed the remaining server issues."
Bradshaw's Maxis Label is a branch of EA that is responsible for all things Sim, including the popular The Sims franchise in addition to SimCity.
Only a day earlier, on Thursday, March 7, EA made a different kind of announcement via twitter in which it stated it would not give refunds for SimCity buyers who discovered the online-always approach was causing problems that left them, well, unable to play their own game.
"In general we do not offer refunds on digital download games," EA said, suggesting players refer to its hidebound policy on the subject.
As soon as this latest version of SimCity was released on Tuesday, March 5, gamers began complaining with a clarion call that resonated throughout the Web and the world. Amazon.com stopped selling the game due to the claims made by angry users.
"What went wrong?" Bradshaw asks in her recent posting.
After admitting that "we agree, that was dumb" as regards the online-only protocol of the game that met with "a lot more people log[ging] on than we expected," Bradshaw assures players that "[i]n the last 48 hours we increased server capacity by 120 percent."
According to Bradshaw, the increase is already seeing successful results, with the number of disrupted experiences having dropped roughly 80 percent.
On March 18 SimCity gamers will receive an email from EA telling them exactly how they can retrieve their free PC download game.
"I know that's a little contrived - kind of like buying a present for a friend after you did something crummy," Bradshaw continues.
"But we feel bad about what happened. We're hoping you won't stay mad and that we'll be friends again when SimCity is running at 100 percent."
Further updates, Bradshaw says, will continue to be made "throughout the weekend," as well.
What do you think? Is this enough of an apology/gift for your trouble? Let us know in the comments below.
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