Problem

The play button in Origin stays gray and because of this I can’t start the game.

Cause

• Something is still blocking the button, making it think you didn’t update properly
• The game is already running in the background

Solution

• Open your task manager and look for a process called TS4.exe. Try running the game from there or kill the process.
• Exit Origin completely by clicking on Exit in the menu (clicking on X does not close Origin, it just minimizes it to the tray) and restart Origin as Administrator.
• Reinstall Origin (you won’t loose your game and the warning can be ignored since you’re reinstalling Origin right away). Make sure you download the newest version
• If you can, repair the game through Origin

Further Reading

• General Troubleshooting
• Installation and Start issues
• Origin Update Loop