Why won't Sim City launch?

Me too!

I'd posted something similar under a thread like 3 years ago: SimCity freezing on launch | EA Forums - 10455154

I have also just spoken to an EA customer representative about this issue, wen through all their suggestions. They have said they are flagging this as a bug to EA and will update me on the case soon. They have also said they will write in the case notes that I've had this issue for a few years now. 

Guys, honestly? I haven't been able to play this game properly for roughly 4+ years - namely after the Origin/EA app switch. I had reported this bug multiple times. I don't think they care. They likely won't fix the game because they already have their money and most people won't be able to get any sort of refund, despite it being their fault.

I think one of the bigger issues is that if you had purchased the base game [through EA or an external keys marketplace], especially marked as the 'Complete Edition', it crashes with the new EA app. This is because as of late, the full all-in-one version is marketed as the 'Digital Deluxe upgrade', as opposed to buying the add-ons individually. I didn't have to do that, as I had gotten the 'Complete edition' when it was origin.

I could be wrong, but I'm just making everyone aware that this has been an issue across the internet for at least 4 years, with no official fix.

:/

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 Edition

Warning Message: This game requires permissions

This game requires administrative privileges. Do you want to grant access and launch the game?

OK

Error Message: Failed to launch game

An error on our end caused the launch to fail. Try again a little later.

OK

Already tried all the troubleshooting steps including:

• Rebooting and Restarting app
• Repairing Game files
• Updating Drivers and Windows
• Uninstalling and reinstalling game
• Clearing EA App Cache
• Uninstalling and reinstalling EA App
• Clearing registry and reinstalling both

Nothing 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.

try this https://answers.ea.com/t5/Other-SimCity-Games/Solution-to-sim-city-not-launching/m-p/14416159#M11507

Thanks for the suggestion, but unfortunately the problem persists. I get the exact same sequence of error messages while running in compatibility mode & as administrator.

@88_K, thanks for providing further information. 

Regarding not being able to contact EA Help support. Please see the instructions below as they might help you with that: 

 As you mentioned, the game requires permission to run, and then you get the error message. Perhaps running it as an admin and in compatibility mode might help.

1. Right-click the game executable file.
2. Click Properties.
3. Click the Compatibility tab.
4. Enable the option Run this program in compatibility mode for Windows 7 and select the box to Run the game as administrator.
5. Select the compatible Operating System from the drop-down menu.
6. Click Apply.

I hope this helps, 

I tried a clean boot following the linked instructions. Even with all non-Microsoft services disabled I have the exact sequence of events occur. The error messages are the same.

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 CLOSE

3. 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. OK

I'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. 

Hey @LolloTK & @heatmeng, thanks for the further information and screenshots.

Could you please try a clean boot to see if there are any programs running in the background that might be conflicting with the game? How to clean or safe boot your computer

Let us know how that goes,