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EA Shuts Down ‘SimCity’ and ‘The Sims’ Developer Maxis
- bobbles 12y ago"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
- qmalxp 12y agoI 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/ http://www.formicarium.org/
- ForHackernews 12y agoSomebody could still make it. It's not like the concept of ants is copyrighted.
- JDShu 12y agoHah imagine taking over not just a house but the whole world!
- DanBC 12y agoPlenty of people would want that. I'd buy the game if it got to a working beta.
- spiritplumber 12y agohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_of_the_Ants_%28video_game%29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_of_the_Ants_%28video_gam... This came out in 2000. It's based off a French book series.
- byjess 12y agoWow, haven't thought about SimAnt in a long time. Loved that game, thanks. And SimTower too.
- kohanz 12y agoWas thinking the same thing about SimAnt. So many wonderful hours absorbed in my world ants.
- clayh 12y agoSimTower, aka Yoot Tower, is available on the iPad. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/yoot-tower/id379197311?mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/yoot-tower/id379197311?mt=8
- dblohm7 12y agoSimAnt is playable on that Computer History Museum archive. Just sayin'
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- byjess 12y agoJust found this... looks promising. http://www.java-gaming.org/index.php?PHPSESSID=jlcj75c7a3d1vabjg438n06fn5&topic=28940.msg264314#msg264314 http://www.java-gaming.org/index.php?PHPSESSID=jlcj75c7a3d1v...
- chris_wot 12y agoIntroduce some Yellow Crazy Ants. http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/scienceshow/exotic-ants-tips-the-balance-on-christmas-island/5822646 http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/scienceshow/exo...
- spiritplumber 12y agoYellow crazy ant? That's the player ant in game, pretty much!
- welly 12y agoI'd be interested in a Sim Cockroach game. I reckon that would be even more fascinating than Sim Ant.
- keyle 12y agoThere 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...)
- bstar77 12y agoPeople are what make game companies great, not names or logos. There's something to say for maintaining the direct line of employee descendants to the original Sim City.
- tsotha 12y agoAbsolutely true. I've purchased a few sequels over the years only to find somebody made the game in a different place with different people and turned my beloved franchise to crap.
- rancur 12y agoWasn't this a strategy one empire used to control the territories it annexed? Take over, split the population, and move them to other cities. Forced them to integrated, and made revolt impossible.
- chris_wot 12y agoPretty 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.
- csours 12y agoHP as well, but without the innovation.
- spiritplumber 12y agoWestwood, 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?
- delinka 12y agoEliminating competition.
- bottled_poe 12y agoI hope that is EA's strategy, as it will end them. The overhead of entering the games industry is cheaper than ever, and as a result we are seeing more and more independent game developers successfully penetrating the market.
- delinka 12y agoI personally agree. But consider none of this is on the radar of the stereotypical MBA/middle manager/C-level execs/...
- spiritplumber 12y agoEA has been around for 30 years though, so whatever they are doing, it works - what I don't understand is why does it work.
- interesting_att 12y agoEA survive off of Madden and FIFA licenses. They don't have to spend that much money on improving the game year after year, but millions of people purchase them almost religiously.
- chongli 12y ago
- jerf 12y agoAs 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
- dvhh 12y agoWhat about adding to the insult by using the studio name for their Steam rip-off ?
- kingmanaz 12y ago>As far as I'm concerned, the time to mourn is upon the acquisition by EA. Warning: Possible Spoilers Ahead Origin did mourn the EA acquisition; Ultima 7 Black Gate is littered with forebodings over EA. The serial killers Elizabeth and Abraham carry the initials of the company and leave a trail of butchery throughout Britannia. The shapes of the EA logo--a triangle, cube, and sphere--are re-purposed as "generators" which undermine magic everywhere. Even the horror lurking beyond the eponymous black gate--the Guardian--is possessed of a personality based on EA's hostile business practices. The EA buyout loomed over the whole production of Ultima 7, ultimately producing one of the series most conscienceless, unreasonable, single-minded villains. More info can be found here: https://casualaggro.wordpress.com/2014/03/03/ultima-vii-is-one-giant-reference-to-how-terrible-electronic-arts-is/ https://casualaggro.wordpress.com/2014/03/03/ultima-vii-is-o... >signed still bitter about Ultima 8 & 9 One can only dream what would have followed Serpent's Isle had Origin retained control of their creative processes. All the magic in Garriott's dreamworld stood for nothing against the dead-hearted accountants of EA.
- aetherson 12y agoSo, 18 years ago? Guys, EA is plenty easy to hate, and if you want to hate them, more power to you, but the idea that they snatched up maxis, killed it, and looted its corpse is just not compatible with the timeline. Will Wright got rich and bored and left. The fundamental landscape of computer games changed. The staff turned over in huge quantity, obviously, because 18 years. And the big new idea for the studio was interesting technology that never quite gelled as a game.
- ntaylor 12y agoBummer. 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.
- jedberg 12y ago> I'm not necessarily a fan of their titles today, but I grew up with them I suspect that is part of what led to their demise. I'm in the same boat. I'd much rather run classic SimCity than any of the new stuff.
- calcsam 12y agoWow, 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.
- saganus 12y agoIcon is the correct term. SimCity had one of the earliest form of DRM I remember. The almost-impossible to Xerox manual (highly reflective paper so photocopies would come black) was used to answer a question the game asked you, about the population of a specific city on a certain page of the manual. Loosing the manual was not an option. Farewell Maxis.
- prewett 12y agoI remember hand-copying the numbers from a black on dark dark grey crinkled photocopy acquired from a friend of a friend in my spare time during classes in high school. Boy was I glad to finish that... Then I discovered that the PC version didn't look anywhere near as good as the B&W Mac version :( Definitely iconic. Fond memories!
- swang 12y agoDRM is _digital_ though, it was just called copyright protection back then. And the Sierra adventure games had this form of copyright protection way before SimCity.
- saganus 12y agoYou are quite right! never thought about it but yeah, it's more copy protection. Thanks.
- mmastrac 12y agoWasn't it a black on dark maroon list of city populations? It's been a while, but that's what I remember.
- saganus 12y ago
- kenrikm 12y agoThis is just my opinion, though semi-backed by conversations I've had with people who work at EA. EA Gameplan in a nutshell. 1) Force studio to make changes to a game that benefit the EA but have no tangible (or very little) benefit to the customers (Forcing use of Origin, Sims being online only, etc..) 2) Act surprised when the proverbial shit hits the fan with angry customers. 3) Let said customers know that "you're sorry" and they "have been heard" "loud and clear". 4) Close studio that you forced to make the game breaking changes (or at a minimum lay off most of the staff) 5) Repeat 1-4 yearly.
- iamartnez 12y agoWhat about DICE? And BioWare? I wonder if DICE came to the negotiation table more prepared and/or with something up their sleeve. It could be that EA is hands off so long as a studio produces highly profitable titles. As soon as there's a dip, snip snip.
- sb057 12y agoIt's widely agreed that Battlefield has been on the decline since 3 (3 being the first game released under EA). Bioware has been putting out exceedingly mediocre games since their purchase, not to mention are the laughing stock of many gamers.
- parasubvert 12y agoThat's rather hyperbolic. Battlefield 4 has done reasonably well - about 70% of the sales of Battlefield 3 since its release (1.5 years vs. 4 years). As for Bioware, the success of the Dragon Age franchise both in terms of reviews and sales is indisputable. SWTOR is also profitable at a recurring revenue stream even though it's not huge. I have no love for EA but there is a reason they make money - they do just enough to crank em out.
- eropple 12y agoCalling Mass Effect 2 and 3 "exceedingly mediocre" puts you in a camp that is, by pretty much any metric, very fair from the mainstream. And I wonder who these "many gamers" are who think BioWare is a laughingstock. Do elaborate, please.
- sporkenfang 12y agoRight in the childhood :(
- jdfellow 12y agoIs not the original SimCity, now called Micropolis, open source and part of the OLPC project distro? Still, really sad to see Maxis axed.
- UnoriginalGuy 12y agoThe title (and of the article) is inaccurate. The title talks about Maxis as a whole closing, but the article and third party sources list just one (admittedly BIG) location closure. The Maxis brand may very well continue and appears to be operating at other physical locations.
- TazeTSchnitzel 12y agoMaxis Emeryville is Maxis. The Will Wright Maxis, the Sims, SimCity and Spore Maxis. The real Maxis, if you will. There are some other things EA does under the Maxis brand, but that's just rebranded EA Play stuff. The Maxis people cared about is dead. (Though The Sims isn't, that was spun off into its own studio before Spore was made.)
- stickfigure 12y agoMaxis split up when they closed the Walnut Creek office in 2004, with SimCity and Spore (and Will Wright) going to Emeryville, everyone else going to Redwood Shores. Will Wright left in 2009. There is no "real Maxis", and if there was, some Maxis expat older than me would tell you it died back in the 90s or whatnot. Maxis had a few big hits and a lot of colossal failures. Including some that never made it to the public. I guess the balance sheet just finally shifted too far in the wrong direction. This isn't necessarily EA's fault; studios that fail go out of business one way or another.
- TwoBit 12y agoThe modern version of what Maxis used to be is Minecraft. Developing those games is risky though. For every minecraft there are ten failures.
- TazeTSchnitzel 12y agoA real shame. I loved Spore (and Galactic Adventurea).
- DigitalSea 12y agoI seem to be sensing a recuring theme here with EA buying well-loved studios and then slowly killing them off before eventually shutting them down for good.
- angersock 12y agoYOU CAN'T REDUCE FUNDING TO MAXIS YOU'LL REGRET THIS
- ChuckMcM 12y agoKind of sad when I think back of some really awesome Maxis games like SimLife and SimAnt. But Maxis hasn't really been in a position to make the kinds of games they used to have they? Seems really odd to shut it down during GDC though, could make for some awkward badges over at the convention center.
- parasubvert 12y agoI'm thinking the SimCity Online debacle probably had something to do with this.
- comrh 12y agoI played so much SimCity, SimTower, SimAnt and SimGolf. They always had quality games in the beginning.
- KVFinn 12y agoI wonder if sales were down since they started making the games exclusive on 'Origin'.
- mimighost 12y agoPlease leave Bioware alone...Shame you EA!
- meddlepal 12y agoFuck you EA. Mid 90's Maxis was my childhood.
- guncheck 12y agoI was talking to a friend who works at EA and said most of them were just being moved to EA Redwood Shores. The Maxis studio was a satellite studio out of Emeryville and teams were being migrated to Redwood Shores. "Nothing has changed, Sims 4 and such are still being made" -EA Employee The internet has made this seem blown way out of proportion.
- stickfigure 12y agoThese laments are a bit overblown. I worked for Maxis during the big closure in 2004, when the company was in Walnut Creek. A small group moved to Emeryville, many people (including the Sims teams) moved to Redwood Shores, and some some people didn't make the transition. Think of it like layoffs, following on the colossal failure that was The Sims Online (although, ironically, what's left of that team had already moved to EARS). This is pretty much the same thing. Spore was a disappointment, SimCity was never a massive moneymaker, and whatever games they've been working on since got cancelled. The Emeryville shop has had a decade to produce a hit and it hasn't worked out. Some folks have already been laid off. Some folks will get moved to EARS. Some folks will be looking for a new job. The cycle continues. It's unlikely that any of the individuals responsible for the specific versions of whatever old game you fondly remember playing are still around. At the end of the day, what you're lamenting is the loss of an office building and a logo.
- TwoBit 12y agoYep. And what people don't understand here is that EA isn't killing Maxis, they're shutting down the Emeryville studio. Half of Maxis was already at the Ears studio on the Sims and other work. Sim City will be maintained and probably be a slow but steady seller for the next 7 years. All the best developers from that studio will simply be moved to jobs in other studios.
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- cLeEOGPw 12y ago> Spore was a disappointment Spore was a textbook example of bad management. They spent 80% of time, money and effort on creature designer - a feature that did not make up even 20% of game, closer to 5%. Game had complex and massive functionality for libraries, various downloadable creatures, even tunes for cities, outfits for citizens - all things that were not just unnecessary, but one might say even made game less attractive (because usually you end up not being such great designer and all cities look equally generically bad). Essential features, such as autosave, were lacking. It is hard to fathom how detached from reality the managers were.
- Paul_S 12y agoPeople always make EA out as some comic book villains but they're not doing this to spite gamers or against the wishes of the previous company owners. The creators go into these deals willingly and sometimes it's either that or bankruptcy. What I'm saying is EA are less like lions hunting studios in their prime and more like hyena's going for the weak and wounded, or ones who just want out. My analogies are worse than EA.
- phatbyte 12y agoI hate EA with all my energy. Maxis, Bullfrog...all amazing companies that created some classic games in the 90s turned into DRM corporate BS. What I don't get it is why are people still buying EA games...
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- blueskin_ 12y agoEA are basically the comedy supervillain of gaming.
- bluehex 12y agoReticulation of splines complete.
- Vanayad 12y agoJust going to leave this here. Better than SimCity by miles. http://store.steampowered.com/app/255710/ http://store.steampowered.com/app/255710/
- Paul_S 12y agoIt's not even released yet but it's better? When will this early access bubble burst? There's cities xl as well (with the benefit of having actually been released), how would you rate it?
- codemod 12y agoC&C - Red Alert 2 is the best RTS game I have played so far. The thing about EA is, its probably right. If a game does not perform well, its better to cut losses as the game industry is very unforgiving. But somehow all these studios closing down, does feel like the original theme or charisma of the game that they are associated with is lost.
- kxo 12y agoCompany of Heroes - 1500+ hours played. I miss it so.
- acjohnson55 12y agoSimCity probably changed my life. I grew up with SimCity on DOS and then Super Nintendo, and then SimCity 2000. Then The Sims came out when I was a teenager and blew my mind all over again. As an adult, I consider myself to be very strategic and analytical. I believe I can attribute some of my refinement in this sense to games like SimCity and Civilization. It's sad to see such a storied label gutted.