Sad News. Maxis Emeryville Shut Down.

[Hannodb]

Hope the employees get a job at a company more deserving of their talents.

 

[Seny Androide]

Maybe this will then reflect on the failure of SimCity 5. What a chance, when CO are about to launch Cities: Skylines, Maxis closed.

 

[Sn3ipen]

Who is this SimCity?

 

[Polarisan]

I never had doubts in PI's business model and Colossal Order's capacity at making a city game after cities in motion, however I hope that this now pushes more people to support this game.

 

[Seny Androide]

Who is this SimCity?

Good ironic comment.

Well, it's a good game that EA and Maxis have wrecked and abandoned.

 

[Samlow]

Just read a article on the escapist magazine (they also streamed this game last night) about the work conditions at big studios like EA... So by getting rid of Maxis, a few leads and names might need a new job, but also a lot of young game school grads that have been churning out code are now back to flipping burgers. Sad times.

 

[Tooms]

Here is a list of all the great developers EA destroyed over the years

http://kotaku.com/an-updated-list-of-studios-ea-has-bought-and-then-shut-1689498614

.............

In my opinion you can put Bioware in that list too.

 

[NorthStars]

Why is everyone so sure that when EA publish a disappointing game it's the people "up the top" who are to blame rather than poor workmanship lower down? I think the truth is we just don't know.

You make a good point... we don't know who precisely to blame. However, my experience with organizational decision-making leads me to believe that any time a large number of people outside an organization (particularly the customers) are mostly united in trying to give a strong message to that organization, but the message is being ignored, usually the ones calling the shots are relatively few in number. EA or Maxis blatantly ignored much of their core customer base in the lead-up to 2013. I find it very difficult to believe that there weren't some heated internal discussions around that matter. I expect that either one or two people at the top of Maxis were responsible for those poor decisions, or it was imposed upon them by EA.

I think one of those two scenarios is the most likely, but without inside knowledge, this is just a good guess based on knowing something about corporate decision-making.

Either way, I expect that the majority of Maxis people were simply following the direction they were told to support. Whether the poor decisions belong with someone over in EA, or at the top of Maxis, I know I am ticked off at SOMEONE (one or the other) for messing it all up, and I also feel empathy for the rest of the team at Maxis... best of luck to them.

 

[cRAGGLE]

Oh great.. how will we get our SimTower/YootTower remake now?

 

[Earlwolf]

I am quite curious as to why the Studio was shutdown, Simcity did have good sales numbers for a PC exclusive. I have to imagine the rocky launch played a large role but even EA had to know that the reason was in large part due to EA shoving Origin down our throats. It is a very bittersweet thing for me as Simcity has provided me hundreds of hours of enjoyment over the years yet Cities:Skylines is poised to overtake it. Hopefully everyone over at Maxis lands on their feet.

 

[fefenc]

And the third golden poo goes to...

 

[leonel1982]

Well it's all up to Colossal Order and Paradox to carry the city building game torch now. We're all counting on you!

 

[ali.usman]

https://twitter.com/MaxisGuillaume/status/573203901081509888

There's a lot of strong feelings about that Sim City series on this forum, but a long-standing studio shutting down and it's employees being out of a job is never a good thing.

Let's be honest - Sim City was likely a huge inspiration for the game we're all excited about. Without seeing what worked in Sim City and what didn't, we might not have as great a game on our hands as we now do come March 10th.

Best of luck to the hard working employees.

EA is their name and $$$ are their game

Its all EA's fault, EA could support the franchise but as we all know "$$$ is their game"

 

[BStyles]

The world has literally turned all of its attention towards Colossal Order and Paradox Interactive. Maybe putting it in that perspective doesn't help the developers, but it's something to think about. The city-builder that everyone wanted, and it's jam-packed with opportunities. It may very well be a smash hit on opening day, because with the way pre-orders were handled, it's sure looking that way. The question now is, now that Maxis has been shut down will Simtropolis and CiM Exchange pick up support for this game as well?

I just hope that this community continues to respect the developers and doesn't go bonkers with the requests for content as they have with the 25 tiles fiasco.

 

[crabby]

I'm not sad at all. Good riddance.

 

[Lobau]

No sequel for SimAnt, ever.

 

[Inge Jones]

However, my experience with organizational decision-making leads me to believe that any time a large number of people outside an organization (particularly the customers) are mostly united in trying to give a strong message to that organization, but the message is being ignored, usually the ones calling the shots are relatively few in number.

But the point is, it's equally possible that the reason they ignored our requests is they (the EA bosses) put them to the development team (Maxis) and were told, for example, "We don't have anyone who knows how to do that" or "I'd never get this lot to shift their asses in time to complete that" etc etc. Unless you're a fly on the wall, we don't really know, and all scenaria are open.

 

[Kanimir]

Who is this SimCity?

Its one of the best game series in the history. Too bad you haven't heard about it.

 

[Urbanexboi]

sad to hear this hope the staff find new jobs quickly but on wards and upwards for skylines which is looking really good

 

[Eurofighter1200]

So no good Simcity from Maxis anymore like sc4 ? But its ok we have CSL iam, sad for the peopel from Maxis but its EA they dont care about that and the last sc was so bad maybe its better for all....