The Creators of The Sims, Maxis Emeryville, Close Down

Sad news today. Maxis' main HQ in Emeryville, the developers of The Sims and Sim City, has been closed, according to Guillaume Pierre, a designer of SimCity.

https://twitter.com/MaxisGuillaume/status/573205881837367296

Here's a press release:

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. ​

I wonder what the future of the Sims games is going to be like with EA shutting down Maxis' main studio. They're still developing Maxis games in Redwood Shores, Salt Lake City, Helsinki and Melbourne's Maxis locations.

 

I foresee Visceral Games coming to the same conclusion unfortunately. Dead Space 3 was not well received, and Battlefield: Hardline even less so. Really hate when EA does this to great studios.

 

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