EA expands Salt Lake City with Sims studio devs
Utah studio project joined by former Sims 3 creators
EA is to expand its Salt Lake City development team with former members of EA Redwood Shores' Sims Studio.
An unspecified number of Sims Studio employees will make the move, reports Gamasutra. A statement from EA said the company was still looking to fill various "critical leadership" positions.
"We're truly thrilled to expand into Salt Lake City and what is becoming a growing and dynamic videogame development scene," said Ben Bell, former executive producer on The Sims 3, who is one of the EA employees set to move to the Utah studio.
The Salt Lake studio - formerly Headgate Studios prior to EA's acquisition of it in 2006 - is currently working on a new, as yet unnamed, project. Prior to the acquisition it was best known for developing the PC versions of Tiger Woods PGA Tour. Since then it has worked on several Wii and DS titles, including The Sims 2: Pets and Littlest Pet Shop.
Sims Studio was one of the divisions affected when EA announced 1500 jobs were to go across the company at the end of last year. The restructures have impacted many of the company's internal studios, including Pandemic, which saw the complete closure of its office.