SimCity's beta EULA to be updated, EA: "players don't have anything to be concerned about"

News
By published

Yesterday, we brought news that, thanks to an overzealous clause in the SimCity beta agreement, EA were technically able to banhammer players out of their entire EA account for failing to report the bugs that they'd found. Last night, EA contacted Kotaku to assure that they hadn't gone power mad, and would be adjusting the EULA accordingly.

"The clause in the EA Beta Agreement for the SimCity beta was intended to prohibit players from using known exploits to their advantage. However, the language as included is too broad. EA has never taken away access to a player's games for failing to report a bug. We are now updating the Beta Agreement to remove this point."

That was then followed up with a clarification, stating that there was absolutely no possibility of such a petty ban being issued.

"We have never taken away access to a player's games for not reporting a bug, and quite simply it's not something we would ever do. Players don't have anything to be concerned about there – just some language that was far too broad in the original agreement, and is being updated now."

While we don't know what the revised EULA will look like but, assuming it's a straight removal of the link between non-reported bugs and bug exploitation, it's a positive step. While I don't think anyone believed that EA would start banning players over this, it's for that very reason that the offending over-broad language should be removed.

Phil Savage
Phil Savage
Editor-in-Chief

Phil has been writing for PC Gamer for nearly a decade, starting out as a freelance writer covering everything from free games to MMOs. He eventually joined full-time as a news writer, before moving to the magazine to review immersive sims, RPGs and Hitman games. Now he leads PC Gamer's UK team, but still sometimes finds the time to write about his ongoing obsessions with Destiny 2, GTA Online and Apex Legends. When he's not levelling up battle passes, he's checking out the latest tactics game or dipping back into Guild Wars 2. He's largely responsible for the whole Tub Geralt thing, but still isn't sorry.