That's why I'll be skipping this one, which is too bad. I like making a mega-city that is self-sustainable instead of relying on a bunch of friends to make small towns and hoping they log on to continue playing on a regular basis so my city doesn't stagnate. I simply do not see this game lasting a long time due to forcing multiplayer. It seems that the entire game should have simply been the multiplayer mode of a proper Sim City game. It won't have the legs of Sim City 4, which is still fantastic to this day.