SimCity Mac Version Due June 11

Everyone’s favorite city-building simulator, SimCity, will hit the Mac platform on June 11. Developer Electronic Arts (EA) announced that the Mac version will be available exclusively as a digital release and that the popular game will from now on support cross-platform play.

The Mac version will cost $60 and will be available as a digital download on EA’s online store Origin and other digital retailers. The download will be free of charge for those who already own the game for PC. Owners of the Mac version will also get the PC version for free, as part of the developers’ push to allow users cross-platform access to their cities.

All users will be able to play the game on the same servers via Origin, regardless of what version they have. By logging into the same Origin account, players will be allowed to continue building their cities and will have access to their entire playing history, achievements and progress across the Mac and PC platforms.

The PC version of SimCity was released in March, with over 1.3 million copies sold since. EA insists that the Mac release is not merely a port of the Windows game, but a native version optimized and designed especially for this platform.

This year’s release marks the return of series creators Maxis, currently an EA division, and boasts about delivering the most personal and immersive SimCity experience ever. The game sees a significant departure from previous releases, offering full 3D graphics, a wide range of new features and gameplay changes, and the online multiplayer mode.

The game’s Mac version was initially scheduled for February, but the release date was eventually pushed back to June, which will hopefully give EA time to consolidate its servers to allow for smoother gameplay across both platforms. After its launch for PC, the game performed rather poorly as its servers were overwhelmed, drawing criticism of EA’s decision to turn the veteran city-building simulator into an online-only game.

[Image via EA]