EA Pulls Hugely Popular New Simpsons Game Over Server Capacity Issues

[MacRumors]

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.

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

 

[rnizlek]

Sounds like EA's server capacity is Tapped Out.

 

[blackburn]

It never worked for me. Always crashed on loading 2 of 6.

 

[7o7munoz7o7]

I thought it was just Bart messing with me...

Good thing i wasnt the only one!

 

[John.B]

Sounds like EA's server capacity is Tapped Out.

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?

 

[Eddyisgreat]

Sounds like EA's server capacity is Tapped Out.

yeeeeaaaaahhhh!!!

Sorry mods, I had to.

 

[motoleo]

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?!?!?!

 

[MacFan23]

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?!?!?!

Are you not able to redownload it from purchased apps?

 

[jacjustjac]

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]

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]

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?

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.

 

[Rocketman]

When server capacity is the most significant problem you have, you simply don't understand the internet. One can lease capacity, add servers to your home base, mirror, and spawn. This is so old skewl.

Rocketman

 

[Yvan256]

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.

 

[motoleo]

Are you not able to redownload it from purchased apps?

It's working.

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

 

[Mechinyun]

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.

 

[OrangeSVTguy]

They've been slamming this app all over facebook. I just never got around to installing it

 

[qCzar]

It's amazing how this game needs a server to play.

 

[BobbyRond]

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.

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]

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.

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?

 

[Bheleu]

It's amazing how this game needs a server to play.

Think they ran out of room grabbing everyone's videos and photos.

 

[0098386]

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.

Cartmanland.

 

[JHankwitz]

It never worked for me. Always crashed on loading 2 of 6.

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

----------

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?

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

 

[Virgo]

Is the game for iPhone too or just iPad?

 

[the8thark]

Image
yeeeeaaaaahhhh!!!

Sorry mods, I had to.

That image is so uncool it's not funny.

 

[praetorian909]

It's working.

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

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.