Rejoice! SimCity's offline mode is rolling out today

The long-awaited Offline mode for Maxis' city-building game SimCity is rolling out today around the world, the developer has announced. Maxis began the rollout at 6 a.m. PDT and the developer warned players that some servers will be unavailable for the first few hours.

Of course, you'll need an Internet connection to download the Offline mode, included with Update 10, but after your download is done you can play offline to your heart's content.

SimCity's Offline mode is entirely optional. Access to multiplayer, SimCity World, and Online Save Games is entirely unaffected by the arrival of the Offline mode. In addition, all of your previously downloaded content is available in single-player and multiplayer.

SimCity's launch last year was plagued by widespread server woes that left the game--which required an online connection--completely unplayable for some. Maxis general manager Lucy Bradshaw said in March 2013 that an offline mode "didn't fit" with the company's vision for the game and later explained that introducing such a mode would require significant engineering work. But in January 2014, Maxis finally revealed that an offline mode would indeed come to SimCity.

For more on SimCity's Offline mode, check out a detailed FAQ from EA.