EA has closed another of its studios. This time around, it’s Maxis, the folks behind SimCity and creators of The Sims. The word comes from several developers around Twitter, but the one with the Tweet that’s taking off is Guillaume Pierre. EA hasn’t made any announcements regarding the closure yet. They also haven’t indicated what they have in mind for the Sim franchise, though it’s certainly valuable enough to keep around. I imagine the publisher will shift all things Sim to another studio. Before the most recent SimCity, Maxis had a great track record. Hopefully the developers from the studio find work quickly. Hey, maybe they’ll make a city sim without the restrictions they had in place for their last effort. Good luck to those affected.

--------------------- EAs statement------------------------------------------------

Today we are consolidating Maxis IP development to our studios in Redwood Shores, Salt Lake City, Helsinki and Melbourne locations as we close our Emeryville location. Maxis continues to support and develop new experiences for current Sims and SimCity players, while expanding our franchises to new platforms and developing new cross-platform IP. These changes do not impact our plans for The Sims. Players will continue to see rich new experiences in The Sims 4, with our first expansion pack coming soon along with a full slate of additional updates and content in the pipeline. All employees impacted by the changes today will be given opportunities to explore other positions within the Maxis studios and throughout EA. For those that are leaving the company, we are working to ensure the best possible transition with separation packages and career assistance.

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That sucks but the studio wasn't delivering the goods. SimCity 3000 was one of my first PC games. http://www.technobuffalo.com/2015/03/04/ea-closes-maxis/

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I agree with this sentiment.  There was a time when EA wasn't so bad.  I just realized one of my childhood PC games was made by them.  But as time has moved on, they've become the faceless corporation that just churns out disk drive filler year after year.  All we can do now is not buy EA games anymore and support creative, dedicated developers.  I hope we see something like Sim City 4 with modern advancements made by people who care about their work.