By way of apology, EA is offering those who purchased SimCity a free game.

The always-online city builder had a nightmare launch across all territories last week, with many players unable to download the game or connect to servers to play, which forced EA to disable some of the game’s features.

“To get us back in your good graces, we’re going to offer you a free PC download game from the EA portfolio,” wrote Maxis general manager Lucy Bradshaw.

“I know that’s a little contrived – kind of like buying a present for a friend after you did something crummy.

“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 per cent.”

Bradshaw also elaborated on what exactly had gone wrong with the game’s servers.

“The short answer is: a lot more people logged on than we expected,” she wrote.

“More people played and played in ways we never saw in the beta.

“OK, we agree, that was dumb, but we are committed to fixing it.”

Server capacity had been increased 120 percent, said Bradshaw, resulting in the number of disrupted experiences dropping by roughly 80 per cent.

“So we’re close to fixed, but not quite there. I’m hoping to post another update this weekend to let everyone know that the launch issues are behind us.”

“The consensus among critics and players is that this is fundamentally a great game,” added Bradshaw.

“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.”

On March 19, SimCity players who have activated their game will receive an email telling them how to redeem their free game.

In related news, world builder Tropico 4 is currently 75 per cent off on Steam.