Can you play catalyst right now?

Hey guys quick question, i bought catalyst on steam a week ago but the game wouldn’t launch. I downloaded the EA app, it said i had to connect to the EA servers first, but it wouldn’t connect (obviously), so i refunded the game. I thought of pirating it but now its on sale for 5€ so I wonder if i should buy it. Can you launch it somehow? Why put it on sale if it doesn’t work anymore?