EA shuts down Maxis Emeryville(Spore/SimCity). Other branches staying open (.... for now)

[theRepublic]

TheJimbo1234 said:

noname2200 said:

TheJimbo1234 said:

theRepublic said:

Who said anything about firing the entire team?  You just have to threaten to fire the lead if he doesn't do what you want.

You seem to think Maxis was an independant developer working for EA.  Not true.  Maxis is part of EA. Or was part of EA.  They were one and the same.  EA has been pulling this anit-consumer crap for a decade now.  Not sure why you thought this would be any different.

You do know how management works right?

At many points someone could have brought up the problems with the game design and concepts and acted how I said (e.g. veto the retarded parts of the game). The fact that everyone went along with it is shocking.

I want to live in your world, where empirical data always persuades the folks in charge, and if it doesn't then doggoneit the nebulous shareholders
(few of whom give a damn about specific games, or games in general, and many of whom probably don't even know they own stock) will surely listen to a game designer when he brings this matter to their attention!

Unfortunately, in our world the company officers often prefer tight schedules and pet features, the directors are more invested in the officers whom they've chosen to run the company than some cog in the machine, the investors pay little attention to any but the biggest projects, and the employee who unilaterally "vetoes" his boss' commands quickly ends up in the unemployment line. And this is for the average company, not a titan of The Industry like EA who has proven, repeatedly, that it will raze entire well-known development studios if it so pleases, thank you very much.

Yes, many companies are ran like that, and they all end up the same way as Maxim. The few that are still about show that good management is the difference between success and failure, but one issue in gaming is that a lot of management have no idea what the hell they are doing, and fewer have the charisma needed to push an idea or concept to senior folks.

EA is the management of Maxis.  Or was, until they decided they were no longer worth keeping open.  They made the game the way it turned out on purpose.  Maxis was a part of EA for 18 years.  By that point, I am sure their cultures were completely intertwined.  While I am sure not everyone working on the games agreed, the leadership of EA certainly did.  EA had complete control of Maxis, and now they decided to shut them down.

EA has been pulling the same anti-consumer moves with all of their games for years.  This wasn't something Maxis decided to do on their own.  I am not sure why you are so intent at blaming Maxis for something EA has been pursuing with all of their studios.