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EA ‘Consolidating’ Maxis Studios

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EA is shutting down and consolidating Maxis Emeryville studios which is responsible for SimCity franchise. Official word came this afternoon when lead gameplay scripter for SimCity, Guillaume Pierre took to Twitter and solemly said his goodbyes to the studio he has worked at for 12 years.

Founded in 1987 Maxis Studios has brought us the city-builder, SimCity over the years but the most recent reboot of the title didn’t really do so well. It is a pretty harsh blow that such a long-standing studio gets the cut. Kotaku reached out to EA and received the following statement regarding the closure.

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.

It seems like those affected will hopefully find a home with a new studio within EA. Fans can take some solace that The Sims series is safe and SimCity development will still be supported even after the consolidation.


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