Everytime I try to launch Sim City 2014 version, I get a message that the problem is on your end. When will this be resolved?

I have been experiencing the same issues since November or December of last year. All other games accessed via the EA app launch just fine, only SimCity fails. The error messages occur as follows:1. I login to my EA app, select SimCity, and click Play. 2. An error message pops up that reads, This game requires permissions This game requires administrative privileges. Do you want to grant access and launch the game? OK CLOSE3. Selecting OK results in another error message pop-up that reads, Failed to launch game An error on our end caused the launch to fail. Try again a little later. OKI've done every single thing I can find to troubleshoot/resolve this issue, including every step listed on this page: https://help.ea.com/en/help/ea/ea-app/game-download-install-load-troubleshoot/I've also followed a fix recommended by the chat advisor, which was to uninstall the EA app and delete the associated registry keys.Nothing has worked, I keep getting the same error messages described above.I also cannot resume my case or begin a new one, only the CLOSE CASE option is available via help.ea.com. Clicking RESUME CASE just puts me in to a loop of redirects back to the My Cases page.I also attempted to get a refund for SimCity since I am no longer able to access the game that I paid for, but that option is also unavailable to me.

this is so pathetic of EA. seriously you have bunch of people struggling here to make very primitive game to run and you have no comments or fixes. Please do your job and fix the problem you are paid to solve.

Same Issue here:SimCity (2013) Complete EditionWarning Message: This game requires permissionsThis game requires administrative privileges. Do you want to grant access and launch the game?OKError Message: Failed to launch gameAn error on our end caused the launch to fail. Try again a little later.OKAlready tried all the troubleshooting steps including:Rebooting and Restarting appRepairing Game filesUpdating Drivers and WindowsUninstalling and reinstalling gameClearing EA App CacheUninstalling and reinstalling EA AppClearing registry and reinstalling bothNothing works. If I recall correctly, some of the older games required EA Origin in order to activate so clearly some of these older games have not been properly updated to support the new EA App without Origin running in the background. I even tried installing on a different PC and the issue persisted.laurarose1991's Solution did not work for me. It resolved the "This game requires permissions" but did not resolve the "Failed to launch game" dialog.

Hi,I currently have the same problem with the same error message posted above.I tried all the troubleshooting steps in the article: Games that won't download, install, or load in the EA appNothing works.

Why won't Sim City launch? | EA Forums

27 Replies

IMDUI
Rising Rookie
1 month ago
i am on win11 pro 25h2, and so far, since Jan. 18 of this year, only way i can get simcity to run is by going and enabling the normally disabled 'Administrator' account and logging in with that and then load the game from there.
IMDUI
Rising Rookie
1 month ago
following other's suggestions, i enabled windows built in admin account, and running the game from that. the launch failure messages still appeared, but after several attempts, it did indeed load up. was even able to go online with it. but it would not launch a second time, until i restarted windows.

since this seems to be a windows security type issue, it makes me wonder if microsoft's gradual removal of NTLM functions is the culprit in this case.

i have a strong feeling that EA NEVER, EVER intends on fixing or even dealing with the issue.

well... it is EA we are talking about here... so none of us should be all that surprised.
IMDUI
Rising Rookie
1 month ago
have you tried creating a new user account with admin privileges (as opposed to a limited account) and seeing if the game will run from that?
IMDUI
Rising Rookie
1 month ago
i am the having same issue. sim city worked when i last ran it back on jan, 18 2026, but now it won't run, giving same two error messages as above. i tried setting program compatibility with 'run as admin' settings, as OS options for XP SP2, XPSP3, Win7, and Win8. i have also tried directly running simcity.exe using the 'run as administrator' option, but the same to dialogs from EA client get shown.
bitpump
Seasoned Newcomer
3 months ago
Finally got it working. Logged into Administrator account and launched everything as Administrator. In my normal Windows account, launching everything as Administrator didn't work, like it did for others here. Somehow retaining granted credentials after the app is launched is a bug in the game?
bitpump
Seasoned Newcomer
3 months ago
Tried, successfully provided Administrator credentials to both the EA app and SimCity. Same result - failed to launch trouble on their end.
Chris28285255
Rising Newcomer
3 months ago
Try doing what this guy does.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGdpb4uhpTc
It worked for me. Cheers!!
bitpump
Seasoned Newcomer
3 months ago
Same error here on 2 different Windows 10 systems and a Windows 11 system. I tried:
Take ownership of EA library directory with my Windows account
Grant Full Access to account in EA library directory and subdirectories
Ran EA Games as Administrator, launch SimCity
Clear Cache as Administrator
Run in compatibility mode for Windows 8, Windows 7
Repair as Administrator
Repair as logged in Windows account
App Recovery as Windows account
App Recovery as Administrator
Take ownership of SimCity directory and subdirectories with my Windows account (previously owned by Administrator)

None of these worked. However, Bejeweled 3 plays fine and that's around the same age as SimCity. You have more players that want to play Bejeweled 3 than SimCity???
ElliotkciD
New Novice
8 months ago
Same.
yagwit
Rising Vanguard
9 months ago
Still happening. It constantly says try again later. When t f is later? EA is mess!

tried 17 fixes thus far