EA closes the doors on 'SimCity' developer Maxis

Shawn Knight

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shuts simcity developer maxis developer ea the sims sim city simcity maxis closed maxis emeryville

Electronic Arts has shut down its primary Maxis game studio in Emeryville, California. Although the brand will live on through other branches around the globe, the decision will no doubt tug at the heartstrings of hardcore SimCity fans.

News of the closure first came via Twitter with EA later confirming it in a statement.

In it, the company said they are consolidating Maxis IP development to their studios in Redwood Shores, Salt Lake City, Helsinki and Melbourne as they close the Emeryville location. Maxis will continue to support and develop new experiences for current Sims and SimCity players. The planned Sims 4 expansion pack is still in the pipeline and coming soon, we're told.

EA added that all employees impacted by the changes will be given the opportunity to explore other positions within the Maxis studios and throughout EA. Those that are leaving the company will receive separation packages and career assistance.

Maxis was founded in 1987 as Maxis Software by Will Wright and Jeff Braun. After going public in 1995, Maxis was purchased by EA two years later. In addition to the SimCity franchise, Maxis also spawned the immensely popular “digital dollhouse” franchise The Sims.

Despite those two smash hits, Maxis has had a sketchy track record over the past decade or so. Spore was one of the most hyped games in recent history but ultimately ended up being a flop. The 2013 remake of SimCity carried a ton of promise as well but was ultimately marred by a catastrophe of a launch, lots of missing features, small maximum city sizes and an always-online controversy.

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EA is just one annoying company. They need to sell the rights to Sim City and Command & Conquer. Plus consumers should have a choice if they to to buy games on Steam or Origin. EA just likes to piss everybody off.
 
Another reason I do not waste my money on anything touched by EA. Just so sick of their garbage. Every company makes the sure thing that flops. At least every one with a record. I just wish EA would implode...
 
Agree with the guest above; very sad about this. It wasn't my main game, but I played all the SimCities since the SimCity 2000. The only actually good C&C was the first one they made as EA (C&C 3), RA3 was a lot less awesome but still decent, C&C 4 was the nail in the coffin.
 
This shouldn't come as a surprise, EA has been destroying good games for the last decade, and now the studios responsible for them too. I remember as a kid there was so much variety in the games available, now that everything is owned by EA the quality of games has been decreasing ever so steadily. Until they get to the point of shutting down the studio responsible, or absorbing it completely, re-purpose them to suit their needs. It would be nice to open a class action lawsuit against the bastards and return things to the way they use to be. But I'm just dreaming.
 
Let maxis go their own way and people might buy more of their games.
I do not buy any game associated with EA due to their Origin delivery platform and habit of releasing unfinished products.
 
What's to keep the geniuses behind these games (Will Wright, Cid Meyers) from starting again? Start up another game development company and instead of going through EA for publishing and distribution, go directly to the internet.
 
I hope DICE is next.
Makes you wonder though. What drove Maxis to release SimCity in the form it was in? Or DICE to drop BF3 & BF4 so unpolished?

I can't believe the devs would have been advocating BF4 release. SimCity? Who knows. The market spoke tho. If DICE were to release a sequel to BF4 the same way, I'd have to agree with you. They won't have learnt.
 
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