To be honest, the virus might actually be more apt, if you change the kind of virus. Take HIV for example: it attacks the immune system of the host, but is fai

To be honest, the virus might actually be more apt, if you change the kind of virus. Take HIV for example: it attacks the immune system of the host, but is fairly difficult to transmit and relies on insufficient protection for that. A studio that accepts a buyout from EA is like a person mainlining heroin using a needle that's been passed around a hundred different HIV+ heroin addicts. It gets the bug. Sometimes it takes years for symptoms of illness to show. Some studios last decades before they waste away - and they last longer if they have proper treatment (in the case of Maxis, this was having Will Wright stay on board). But in the end it's incurable and terminal once treatment ceases, and the studio becomes weaker and skeletal before finally passing.