EA shuts down Maxis Emeryville
SimCity studio closed as franchise IP development redistributed to other studios worldwide
The studio behind the always-online SimCity reboot has been closed. Electronic Arts today shut down Emeryville-based Maxis, confirming the news in a statement to Polygon.
"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," the company said. "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."
The company said the closure would not impact its plans for The Sims franchise, which is being developed out of Electronic Arts' Redwood Shores campus. The Emeryville location produced the 2013 SimCity, which endured a troubled launch as the result of its requirement that players be constantly connected to EA servers and an inability to keep the servers up and running. Nearly a year after the launch, EA dropped the always-online requirement. Despite the issues, the game reached 2 million copies sold.
"All employees impacted by the changes today will be given opportunities to explore other positions within the Maxis studios and throughout EA," the company said. "For those that are leaving the company, we are working to ensure the best possible transition with separation packages and career assistance."