Maxis Emeryville, the core EA Maxis studio and SimCity developer, has been shut down by owner EA today. Maxis was one of five studios working under the EA Maxis umbrella, and over the last six years has release Spore, Darkspore and SimCity – all of which launched with a lot of criticism.
SimCity designer and lead scripter Guillaume Pierre broken the unfortunate news on Twitter this evening. “Well it was a fun 12 years, but it’s time to turn off the lights and put the key under the door,” he said.
After the news broke, EA issued a statement, clarifying that the three other studios in Redwood Shores, Salt Lake City, Melbourne and Helsinki would remain, and that Maxis was being consolidated into the others.
SimCity will continue to be supported and updated, and this won’t affect The Sims.
“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.”
Cheers, Kotaku.