Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

EA Pulls Hugely Popular New Simpsons Game Over Server Capacity Issues

MacRumors

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
63,515
30,791



simpsonslogo.jpg



Last week, EA launched The Simpsons: Tapped Out, a new title that is a big part of its expanded strategy into freemium. The game appears to be one part The Sims and another Tiny Tower.

Using the same writers and voice actors as the TV series, the game features a Springfield wiped out by a nuclear explosion caused by Homer. The town isn't actually destroyed, but players must rebuild the city, using quests to gain donuts -- the game's currency -- and unlock the town's various characters. Players who want to advance more quickly can use in-app purchases to buy more donuts.

The game, however, proved more popular than EA expected. The game has been pulled from the App Store just 4 days after it went live because overwhelming demand on the game's servers was causing a degradation in experience -- though players who have already downloaded the game can continue playing.
To make sure you current players have the best possible experience, we've temporarily removed The Simpsons: Tapped Out from the App Store. Yes, as a current player you can keep playing -- and things should only get better as we make improvements to connectivity. Once we have a solution, we'll return the game to the App Store so new players can join in the fun. Meanwhile, thank you for your patience and support.
Click to expand...
EA says it will post updates about The Simpsons: Tapped Out on the game's Facebook page.


Article Link: EA Pulls Hugely Popular New Simpsons Game Over Server Capacity Issues
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2012/03/05/ea-pulls-hugely-popular-new-simpsons-game-over-server-capacity-issues/
7o7munoz7o7

7o7munoz7o7

macrumors regular
Jun 30, 2010
181
0
Bay Area
I thought it was just Bart messing with me...

Good thing i wasnt the only one!
 

Attachments

  • IMG_7450.png
    IMG_7450.png
    356 KB · Views: 341
motoleo

motoleo

macrumors 6502a
Jan 27, 2012
904
1
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

I LOOVVVED this game!!!

Why did I delete it?!?!?!
 
M

MacFan23

macrumors 6502a
Feb 17, 2010
504
667
motoleo said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

I LOOVVVED this game!!!

Why did I delete it?!?!?!
Click to expand...

Are you not able to redownload it from purchased apps?
 
jacjustjac

jacjustjac

macrumors regular
Feb 12, 2008
241
364
New York, NY
Just good PR?

Sounds like a good publicity stunt to me. Everyone clambers for a pulled app!

As a Simpsons fan and an iPhone fan, I should have heard of this game sooner. But now that it's been "pulled" I not only know about it but I'll get it as soon as I can. :)
 
pauliaK

pauliaK

macrumors regular
Jan 16, 2012
142
56
Banff, AB
That's quite a strategy I'd say, to realease something expecting no one's gonna use it... Poor EA it turns out they've been wrong, now they'll have to work on this one once again, this time on making this product not only availabe but also usable, what a bad luck...
 
ArtOfWarfare

ArtOfWarfare

macrumors G3
Nov 26, 2007
9,560
6,059
John.B said:
LOL! Pun of the day!

But seriously, this is a huge capacity planning failure. How does EA, of all game devs, not have a contingency plan for success?
Click to expand...

Maybe I'm just a cynic, but I would guess EA is trying to generate a little bit of news. Deliberately launch a game with inadequate severs to support it, then when capacity is overloaded, pull an app and make a press release about how well it's doing. A week later, put out another press release about how your servers are now ready again, repost, and end up having a lot more people know about the game, and thus more players, than would have happened otherwise.
 
Yvan256

Yvan256

macrumors 603
Jul 5, 2004
5,081
998
Canada
The item you've requested is not currently available in the Canadian Store, but it is available in the US Store. Click Change Store to view this item.

:rolleyes:
 
M

Mechinyun

macrumors 6502
Jun 24, 2010
361
75
Is this really news? Nope...

This is EA drumming up HYPE to download it's new game.

How easy would it be for EA to add a new server in about half a minute. EASY.
 
BobbyRond

BobbyRond

macrumors regular
Dec 13, 2011
139
0
The Hague, The Netherlands
ArtOfWarfare said:
Maybe I'm just a cynic, but I would guess EA is trying to generate a little bit of news. Deliberately launch a game with inadequate severs to support it, then when capacity is overloaded, pull an app and make a press release about how well it's doing. A week later, put out another press release about how your servers are now ready again, repost, and end up having a lot more people know about the game, and thus more players, than would have happened otherwise.
Click to expand...

Although I'm missing out on Tapped Out, I do think it would be smart marketing. If demand isn't as high as anticipated, why not create free media attention like this?
 
John.B

John.B

macrumors 601
Jan 15, 2008
4,193
705
Holocene Epoch
ArtOfWarfare said:
Maybe I'm just a cynic, but I would guess EA is trying to generate a little bit of news. Deliberately launch a game with inadequate severs to support it, then when capacity is overloaded, pull an app and make a press release about how well it's doing. A week later, put out another press release about how your servers are now ready again, repost, and end up having a lot more people know about the game, and thus more players, than would have happened otherwise.
Click to expand...

I agree, though I would think you couldn't go to the well too many times with a strategy like that. Wouldn't they be better served doing that with a paid game than a freemium game?
 
0098386

0098386

Suspended
Jan 18, 2005
21,574
2,908
ArtOfWarfare said:
Maybe I'm just a cynic, but I would guess EA is trying to generate a little bit of news. Deliberately launch a game with inadequate severs to support it, then when capacity is overloaded, pull an app and make a press release about how well it's doing. A week later, put out another press release about how your servers are now ready again, repost, and end up having a lot more people know about the game, and thus more players, than would have happened otherwise.
Click to expand...

Cartmanland.
 
J

JHankwitz

macrumors 68000
Oct 31, 2005
1,911
58
Wisconsin
blackburn said:
It never worked for me. Always crashed on loading 2 of 6.
Click to expand...

Did you reboot your iDevice? That often fixes most problems found in new downloads.

----------
BobbyRond said:
Although I'm missing out on Tapped Out, I do think it would be smart marketing. If demand isn't as high as anticipated, why not create free media attention like this?
Click to expand...

If it works for Apple, it should work for ArtOfWarfare.
 
P

praetorian909

macrumors 6502
Aug 4, 2004
279
91
motoleo said:
It's working.

Why did it need to connect to a server? Is it some kind of online multiplayer game???
Click to expand...


It's multiplayer in the sense that many people connect and play. (I don't have the game so I don't know if you interact with other players, but usually you can with these types of games).

So yes it does need to connect to a server. For example, if you build something and it takes a few hours in game, even if you turn off your iPad completely it would still be building since it's running on EA's server.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom