The industry’s top publisher sends forth a digital apology signed, free; with a CEO departure to boot. How do you like them pixels?
Announced today, EA Maxis is moving forward with the recent SimCity launch blunder by gifting a free game to anyone who has activated their copy of the title. In addition to this, EA’s CEO, John Riccitiello, has officially resigned amidst subpar sales.
“I have resigned my position as EA's CEO,” said John Riccitiello on EA’s blog site today. ”My decision to leave EA is really all about my accountability for the shortcomings in our financial results this year. It currently looks like we will come in at the low end of, or slightly below, the financial guidance we issued to the Street, and we have fallen short of the internal operating plan we set one year ago. And for that, I am 100 percent accountable,” Riccitiello admitted.
Simultaneously, in the wake of this relinquishment of responsibility, SimCity owners can redeem one free title from the list below:
- Battlefield 3 (Standard Edition)
- Bejeweled 3
- Dead Space 3 (Standard Edition)
- Mass Effect 3 (Standard Edition)
- Medal of Honor Warfighter (Standard Edition)
- Need For Speed Most Wanted (Standard Edition)
- Plants vs. Zombies
- SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition
The last name on that list certainly strokes an ironic cord and if you’re unfamiliar, I’m referring to the offline mode SC4 offers.
This promotion goes live on Friday, March 22nd; SimCity owners have from March 25th, 11:59pm PDT to register their copy of SimCity to qualify for a free game. The portal itself will be open until March 30th, 11:59pm PDT.
The free title is a nice gesture from EA, I must admit. Hopefully with the servers reignited, this can all be water under the bridge. After all, it’s all about the unhealthy amount of hours thousands will undoubtedly pour into what is essentially, a solid SimCity title. So, get your free game and play on friends.
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