To be fair, the game is actually pretty good the couple of times I've managed to get in. But EA forgot that infrastructure is still a feature. Doesn't matter how good your game is if nobody can play it.

I'm not terribly interested in the free game. Maybe I'll take it because they're handing it out, but no more purchasing EA games at launch.
 

Surely anyone buying Sim City already paid the price of two games?

A check on the Origin site reveals a price of 44.99GBP.

Going rate for a pre-order on Steam would be 26 to 30GBP (I paid 26.99 for Tomb Raider).

I suppose I could have bought Torch Light 2 on top of Tomb Raider and considered it a "free game".

Regardless of the horrendous server issues, I can't believe consumers were daft enough to pay 44.99.

Why do that? You are setting a precedent and other companies will start trying to charge that much.

I can see no justification for that price point. When I consider that Guild Wars 2 cost me 35.99GBP and is absolutely MASSIVE and obviously has server farms at their end to be maintained.
 

Kind of reminds me of the old joke ... "First prize is a free EA game. Second prize is two free EA games."
 

I guarantee the free game offering will be something hideous like Medal of Honor or Mercenaries 2. You'll be lucky if it's Mass Effect 1 or 2! Though come to think of it they might hand out ME3 or Dead Space 3 on the off chance someone will spend money in the monetized portions of those two games. EA never does anything nice without a price.