EA Shuts Down ‘SimCity’ and ‘The Sims’ Developer Maxis

#1

Post by taytus » Thu, Mar 05, 2015, 1:46 AM UTC

EA Shuts Down ‘SimCity’ and ‘The Sims’ Developer Maxis
gamerant.com

Re: EA Shuts Down ‘SimCity’ and ‘The Sims’ Developer Maxis

#2

Post by bobbles » Thu, Mar 05, 2015, 2:09 AM UTC

"EA have a nasty habit of closing studios associated with poorly received projects."

ie. Any studio they take over and force to change gameplay to pay-to-win

Re: EA Shuts Down ‘SimCity’ and ‘The Sims’ Developer Maxis

#3

Post by qmalxp » Thu, Mar 05, 2015, 2:18 AM UTC

I was just thinking today about how cool a modern open world version of SimAnt would be. Oh well.

Edit: Someone posted a link to this but then it got deleted: http://www.formicarium.org/

Re: EA Shuts Down ‘SimCity’ and ‘The Sims’ Developer Maxis

#4

Post by keyle » Thu, Mar 05, 2015, 2:20 AM UTC

There seems to be a lot of misinformation going around.

They're chopping off the people of Maxis but the name will remain (ahem!). Same for the IP, it will live on and be farmed to (an)other studio(s).

(I don't side with EA. Sad day for SimCity lovers. Maxis is a mammoth of history and should not be chopped up. My thoughts for the devs that lost jobs...)

Re: EA Shuts Down ‘SimCity’ and ‘The Sims’ Developer Maxis

#5

Post by chris_wot » Thu, Mar 05, 2015, 2:21 AM UTC

Pretty much typical behaviour for a massive corporation who buys out an innovative company. EMC has done this to more companies that I care to list.

Re: EA Shuts Down ‘SimCity’ and ‘The Sims’ Developer Maxis

#6

Post by spiritplumber » Thu, Mar 05, 2015, 2:21 AM UTC

Westwood, Origin, Bullfrog, Maxis....

EA's strategy seems to be "Buy studio, make them shovel a couple incomplete games out of the door, close studio, repeat."

Okay, they're asshats. What I don't get is, how does this make them any money? They're basically strip-mining the games industry, is this really more profitable than actually making good games?

Re: EA Shuts Down ‘SimCity’ and ‘The Sims’ Developer Maxis

#7

Post by jerf » Thu, Mar 05, 2015, 2:21 AM UTC

As far as I'm concerned, the time to mourn is upon the acquisition by EA. On that day, the studio is already dead to me. By the inevitable day the name has finally had all "value" squeezed out of it by the corporate behemoth that is now EA, I have long since done my mourning.

signed still bitter about Ultima 8 & 9

Re: EA Shuts Down ‘SimCity’ and ‘The Sims’ Developer Maxis

#8

Post by ntaylor » Thu, Mar 05, 2015, 2:21 AM UTC

Bummer. I'm not necessarily a fan of their titles today, but I grew up with them and they have a very special place in gaming history. Maxis, you will be missed.

Re: EA Shuts Down ‘SimCity’ and ‘The Sims’ Developer Maxis

#9

Post by calcsam » Thu, Mar 05, 2015, 2:23 AM UTC

Wow, an icon of my childhood gone.

If you're an affected developer, shoot me an email & I'll be happy to put you in our pipeline.

Re: EA Shuts Down ‘SimCity’ and ‘The Sims’ Developer Maxis

#10

Post by ForHackernews » Thu, Mar 05, 2015, 2:25 AM UTC

qmalxp wrote: post #3

I was just thinking today about how cool a modern open world version of SimAnt would be. Oh well. Edit: Someone posted a link to this but then it got deleted: http://www.formicarium.org/

Somebody could still make it. It's not like the concept of ants is copyrighted.