It's official. SimCity will finally have an offline version of the popular game, developer Maxis has announced.

Maxis announced the news in an official blog post by general manager Patrick Buechner, who announced that the feature will come with the free Update 10.

"Yes, Offline is coming as a free download with Update 10 to all SimCity players. When we launch it, all of your previously downloaded content will be available to you anytime, anywhere, without the need for an internet connection. We are in the late phases of wrapping up its development and while we want to get it into your hands as soon as possible, our priority is to make sure that it's as polished as possible before we release it," wrote Buechner. 

Buecher explained that the inclusion will not affect the existing modes found in SimCity, and that users will not have to worry about cloud saves or anything else preventing them from getting access to their saved games while playing offline.

"In Update 10, you can still play solo in Regions on your own, or in Multiplayer with people from around the world. What's new is the Single Player Mode, which allows you to play the game Offline by yourself. And because your saved games in this mode are stored locally, you can save and load to your heart's content."

This new mode will also allow the modding community to start modding the game offline and really get creative with altering the game, so long as the modders follow the guidelines Maxis has set for the community.

"Bringing the game Offline means big things for our wonderful community of Modders. They can now make modifications to the game and its components without compromising the integrity of the Online game. Modding is a big part of our studio's legacy and we're excited to see what you guys create...if you're interested in making your own content take a look at the Modding Policy. To get you started, we will be rolling out a series of tutorials from the studio that surfaces how we've created some of the content that you've seen so far in hopes of inspiring your creativity."

Maxis has not set a release date for Update 10 for SimCity.