Unable to create your city at this time. Please claim a city again later

I had the same problem as everyone last night. I closed down the program, and then restarted it. This time, it came up with the tutorial as the only main menu option. After completing the tutorial, everything worked perfectly. So it almost appears that the tutorial loading on first run could be the real issue. I'm not sure if it's set to be complete before anyone can play a "normal" game, which would be causing the city creation problems.

did the tutorial first run, hasnt popped up for me to do it again

I was having the same problem as everyone else last night. After getting frustrated, I closed the game down and restarted it. When it loaded this time, the only main menu option was the tutorial. I completed the tutorial, and after completing, everything worked perfectly. It would seem like this could be the issue or at least part of the issue. It would make sense, especially if the tutorial was meant to be completed before engaging in normal gameplay. I'm not saying that is the only reason, but it is a possibility.

EA didn't roll out enough servers to handle the load which is to be expected, IMO, with these DRM only games.  Blizzard had the same issue with Diablo III on release.  I had this "unable to create city" issue as well but once another server rolled out last night the game worked like a charm.  If you're having this issue or the other where the tutorial loads but won't let you do anything, just quit the game and try a different server, eventually you will get to play the game.  Unfortunately, this isn't something that a patch can fix, just more servers needed based on the demographics.  Be patient, the game is worth it.

Bump, still happening... I have restarted the game and picked different servers...

EA's greed and imcompetence is only helping them create a world in which their children will be scammed and disappointed at every turn

still happening...however i got it to work last night and had a good 3 hours of playtime.  Now im trying again and it wont work.  This is miserable. When will these companies learn to ALWAYS have more servers available/ready to go just in case.  Or is it just a monetary issue caused by scrimping with budget?  Either way its just awful.

Well, I got a refund for Diablo 3 for the exact same reason as this failure. Always online might save you money from pirates for now but you'll pay the price in the long run, I promise you. There's no wonder you guys have the reputation that you have.

Never again.

It's really sad how EA only replies like "Don't swear". How about Don't Scam EA and give us solution. It's a day after release, and we still have problems 

Personally, I've had enough.

If I can't connect and build tonight, I'm going back to the store for a refund.

This feels like theft to me.  I paid good money for a product that I can't even use.  It was bad enough to have spent a half hour last night applying an update to a game that was released THAT DAY!

But to not even be able to play.....!!!

If this were a car on the showroom floor and it didn't run, would they expect consumers to buy it anyway and then have it towed around???

I can appreciate the extras that online component brings, but I can appreciate playing offline more.  If this was done primarily to prevent theft....well done.  Rather than prevent theft, you're preventing sales in the first place.  And in my case, all future sales too!!!

I can assure you that I will never buy another game from EA.