SimCity and The Sims Creator Studio Closed

Thanks to Maxis' ten years of hard work, gamer can know franchise and legendary titles such as The Sims, Spore and SimCity. But in the midst of the excitement of GDC 2015, sad news was heard from the developer the old man. One of his studios again follows the fate of Westwood, Bullfrog, Pandemic and Black Box Games.

The news first emerged from tweet Guillaume Pierre as (former) designer and Lead Gameplay Scripter for SimCity. "12 years is a good time, but now it's time to turn off the lights and put the keys down pintu," wrote Pierre, not forgetting to put #RIPMaxisEmeryville. He also responded to some questions user another, stating that 'the shop is closed' and everyone is laid off.

Maxis was founded by Will Wright as developer independent in 1987. Their first work was SimCity. A decade later, they were acquired by Electronic Arts. Before long, The Sims appeared, which Wright called the 'digital dollhouse'. After finished game Spore, in 2009 Will Wright resigned from Maxis and the studio started operations in the city of Emeryville, California.

Follow tweet Pierre, Electronic Arts gave an official statement, "Today we merged Maxis' IP development into studios in Redwood Shores, Salt Lake City, Helsinksi and Melbourne following the closure of the Emeryville location. Maxis will continue to support and create new content for Sims players and SimCity at this time, also expand franchise us and create IP cross-platform new."

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"These changes do not affect our plans for The Sims," ​​continued EA. "Players will be presented with new experiences in The Sims 4, through expansion packs first we combined Update as well as additional content."

"All employees affected by today's changes are given the opportunity to explore other positions within Maxis and Electronic Arts. For those who decide to leave the company, we will ensure the transition is properly processed with severance pay and career assistance," concluded Electronic Arts.

Wait a minute, doesn't that mean EA just closed Maxis Emeryville and Maxis itself is still around? Yes and no. Even now brand Maxis is still around and development continues (under The Sims Studio), the Maxis studio we've known since 1987 is completely gone.

Is this related to design and technical issues in SimCity and the response is less warm from gamer on The Sims 4?

Sumber: Eurogamer.net. Picture: TheSims.com.