Hiya Folks,

I know you like to be informed about how things are going and that we’re not always the best at doing that, but with this post I want to shed some light on one of the current outstanding talk points, that being the 2 Million Likes code. Now this thread will be pretty long, so you may want to grab a coffee or something before you start.

As no doubt the majority of you know we reached 2 Million likes on Facebook last weekend. As with past milestones we have given out codes/gifts for helping us reach these milestones and this one will be no different. I do want to stress however that with this current milestone there may be some delays… and with this post I hope to shed a little light on why that might be.

So… to start I’ll point out that there are a couple of methods whereby we can give out codes. The first and most manageable for us is via e-mails, and the second and most risk prone is via a global code posted on our various communications channels. Both have their pros and cons.

Now I think I’m safe in saying that the e-mail variation is less desirable for the broader community as a fair number of you are not subscribed to our e-mails and from the last code we gave out it seems that a large number of you didn’t get the e-mail even though you were. This wasn’t the case for a good portion of the claims but still, some of you didn’t get the code even though you have been subbed for some time.

That leaves the global or “universal” codes which are generally more desirable, but being the energetic bunch you are, it holds some pretty hefty risks for us, for a number of reasons.

This brings me to the 2 Million Likes code, and what the plan will be for this. As with anything that involves giving something away to potentially 20+ million people… we need to make sure that we’re synced here and we can move ahead with the plan. As all those involved are busy, we don’t have luxury of dropping everything we’re doing just to make this happen straight away, so it can take a little time to gather up the info, and get the confirmations in place.

Having discussed the pros and cons of the 2 methods we usually use to send out codes, we got a virtual nod to go ahead with giving out a global code for the various items we have planned. The problem with this however is that it will take some time… I’m talking a couple of weeks. Or… the alternative is to send out an e-mail within a few days.

Fix and myself have decided that we’d rather push the Universal code approach, and wait it out rather than disappoint so many people when the e-mails are not delivered properly, but that still doesn’t explain the delay.

To answer that, the reason is the timing. The team we need to help bolster the servers to handle the load are working full force on preparing for E3 one of the biggest events of the year for any game studio or publisher. Because of this they do not have the free time to drop what they are doing to take on our ad-hoc request in the time frame we would prefer, at no fault of their own.

I’m sure many of you are thinking “Why can’t you just release the code?”, right? Well, as capable as our servers are at coping with the thousands upon thousands of daily code redemptions, they are not ready to get hit with the kind of load you guys put on them when we release codes. You know… the website crashing and the code redemption errors etc. and as mentioned previously the guys who work with these services are really busy on some important stuff. Since NFSWorld like so many other EA titles are all linked to a shared backend, it doesn’t just hurt you guys… but many others as well.

“But can’t you just add more servers?” That’s normally what we do… among other things, but it takes a few days for the networking folks to set that up for us and isn’t just done at the flip of a switch. We then need to have these folks on standby when we actually give out the code too, so they can stop everything from exploding and setting on fire and causing the universe to implode.

“Why didn’t you plan for it?” Well it’s tricky to plan for something that’s not on a fixed time line, and we can’t really say “Can you guys keep your calendar open for the next week? Because we think there’s a chance that we might possibly hit 2 Million likes sometime this week…ish….maybe.” And then have them twiddle their thumbs until we reach it. These are busy people, with a lot to do. They’re supporting a network of millions of people using a system all at once after all. It’s because of this that the allotted time needs to be fairly specific.

“Why didn’t you set the servers up earlier?” Again with the timing… Additionally the servers required to handle this load require a watchful eye, and they’re not free to run. They would just be sitting there essentially burning money… not really a viable option for a company seeking to make the stuff.

“Enough of the excuses, when will I get my code?” Having spoken to the folks in the know, the masters of hamsters, and the almighty serverlords. We’re estimating that we’ll be ready to send out this code sometime in the 3rd week of June… maybe the 2nd. Unless something wonderful happens.

So that’s about it… I think, though I went on for so long I have now forgotten what I actually said… aaaaand I may have gone a little overboard with the rambling.

If anything is amiss however, if you’re not happy with the info or if you there is a mass disagreement with the universal code and everyone wants an e-mail code then mention it all below.