Due to its MMOG-esque “player progression” system, Command & Conquer 4 will require a constant internet connection to play, even in single-player modes, Electronic Arts confirmed.
If you were hoping to make Command & Conquer 4 your new game for killing time while waiting to board a plane, think again. EA Los Angeles’ recently announced PC-exclusive RTS will require players to have an internet connection to play. That’s not just for multiplayer, but all single-player modes as well. If you’re not online, you can’t play C&C4.
“As of right now, you need to be online all the time to play C&C 4,” community leader APOC said. “This is primarily due to our ‘player progression’ feature so everything can be tracked. C&C 4 is not an MMO in the sense of World of Warcraft, but conceptually it has similar principles for being online all the time.”
EA is making this out to be not that big of a deal. They’ve done their research, and their findings tell them this isn’t going to drastically change how people play C&C4 around the world. Even if you don’t have a broadband connection, C&C4 will still work, so no worries there.
“While some may be taken aback by this, we’ve been testing this feature internally with all of our world-wide markets, we wanted to make sure it wouldn’t take away any significant market or territory from playing the game,” APOC said. “We have not found or seen any results that have made us think otherwise.”
In the end, EA thinks that the strides they’ve made with this new C&C will be worth having to get used to new things like this. “What we are doing for multiplayer for the game and with our infrastructure for this game is unlike any we’ve produced before and I think you will finally see the culmination of a lot of key learnings from past projects in C&C 4, in this respect,” APOC said.
This could be hugely annoying, potentially. I know I’m rarely offline these days, but what if your connection’s spotty or you just want to play offline for whatever reason? Why not just have the option to have an offline player account that’s wholly separate from whatever information is tracked online? APOC does use the phrase “as of right now,” so things could change. Maybe somebody should start a petition.
[Via Ars Technica]
