EA shuts down main Maxis studio, The Sims studio still open.
04 Mar 2015, 5:44 pm
EA has announced the closure of Maxis Emeryville, the main part of Maxis (was the company before the EA buyout).
Maxis was forced to find a buyer in 1996 or face liquidation by their creditors.
Maxis was forced to go EA after the other companies shot them down (including Nintendo and Activison).
EA bought bankrupt Maxis in 1997.
The only popular and decently profitable game Maxis made was The Sims, this delayed EA's restructuring of Maxis by almost 10 years.
Simcity 4 started the trend of Maxis' games struggling to sell enough to breakeven.
Their last game Simcity Build It (iOS/Android) didn't make that much profit either.
This was the final straw for EA's new management and shareholders.
Simulation games are expensive to make and cater to niche audience.
They've seen their sales gradually decrease since 2003.
The Sims studio will continue making The Sims.
The smaller Maxis teams in Redwood Shores and the other EA campuses will continue to operate for now...
Though I expect them to be shut down soon as well.
RIP Maxis 1987 - 2015!
http://kotaku.com/ea-shuts-down-simcity ... 1689454903
_________________
Something.... Weird... Something...
05 Mar 2015, 3:40 am
Feh, this one didnt surprise me. Saw it coming, both because of EA itself as well as for a pile of other reasons. It was inevitable. People getting more and more obsessed with shooters and ZOMG PRETTY CUTSCENES wasnt helping one bit, as things like this just got more and more niche (sort of). I hate shooters and cutscenes, I really do...
Ugh, I miss how Maxis used to be. They put out all sorts of creative and awesome stuff way back when. Hell, SimEarth was the game that led to me getting my first computer that actually had a harddrive; all of the previous ones hadnt had one. And it was worth it, that game was great.
Far as I'm concerned, Simcity 4 was their true final game; the things that have come since then just dont measure up to that and everything before it. Particularly the absolute disaster that was the recent Simcity.
Simcity, for me, ended up being replaced by Anno not long after the most recent Simcity's release. It was so bloody awful, after so many years of waiting, that in great anger I figured, you know what, I'm done, just done, time to find something to take it's place. Bought Anno 2070, which is freaking brilliant, havent looked back since.
At this point though, I'd already sworn off buying any more damn EA games, which would have included things from Maxis as it is, so.... feh. I feel kinda bad in saying so, but I just dont care all that much. What was shut down was just a husk of the former talent that it used to be.
....not that EA even puts out anything else that I'd give a damn about, though. They have FPS games, FPS games, FPS games, Dragon Age (ugh), and FPS games. Thanks, but no. I'm glad those games of theirs dont some to Steam anymore, so I dont have to wade through the damn things when browsing for new games to buy.
05 Mar 2015, 2:40 pm
Nintendo like the other companies didn't want to assume all the debt Maxis was burdened with, while keeping the existing Management in place.
Will Wright wanted to keep control as a condition of a buy out.
EA was the only one willing to accept their terms.
_________________
Something.... Weird... Something...
05 Mar 2015, 2:47 pm
Ugh, I miss how Maxis used to be. They put out all sorts of creative and awesome stuff way back when. Hell, SimEarth was the game that led to me getting my first computer that actually had a harddrive; all of the previous ones hadnt had one. And it was worth it, that game was great.
Far as I'm concerned, Simcity 4 was their true final game; the things that have come since then just dont measure up to that and everything before it. Particularly the absolute disaster that was the recent Simcity.
Simcity, for me, ended up being replaced by Anno not long after the most recent Simcity's release. It was so bloody awful, after so many years of waiting, that in great anger I figured, you know what, I'm done, just done, time to find something to take it's place. Bought Anno 2070, which is freaking brilliant, havent looked back since.
At this point though, I'd already sworn off buying any more damn EA games, which would have included things from Maxis as it is, so.... feh. I feel kinda bad in saying so, but I just dont care all that much. What was shut down was just a husk of the former talent that it used to be.
....not that EA even puts out anything else that I'd give a damn about, though. They have FPS games, FPS games, FPS games, Dragon Age (ugh), and FPS games. Thanks, but no. I'm glad those games of theirs dont some to Steam anymore, so I dont have to wade through the damn things when browsing for new games to buy.
Actually Maxis had it coming from a business stand point.
The Sims was widely profitable and successful, which delayed the inevitable.
Simcity 3000/3000U was the best selling Simcity game at 5M+, it made a decent profit, though it was an expensive project due to Maxis originally planning it to be the first full 3D city sim.
Simcity 4 was not only bug ridden on it's own, it also struggled to hit 1M sales and breakeven.
Simcity 4 was also intended to be the first full 3D city sim, after 3000 was forced to revert back to the statistical engine.
Spores failed to do well, though it did make a small profit for EA/Maxis
Dark Spores flopped, it didn't sell enough to make any money
Simcity 2013 despite it's rocky launch, it is the second best selling mainline Simcity 3000 at ~3M sales.
Maxis really struggled to make profit for a myriad of reasons, even under EA.
Simcity 2013 is now a decent game (since update 6), it also has quite a few mods which improve the game further.
Add in the Cities of Tomorrow expansion pack, then you get a nice game to play with.
I've spent ~$110 on Simcity 2013 (including CoT), I still enjoy playing it and building futuristic cities.
I have put over 300 hours into it since launch.
Right now it is 50% on Origin and well worth $30 (CoT included).
_________________
Something.... Weird... Something...
05 Mar 2015, 3:39 pm
Ugh, I miss how Maxis used to be. They put out all sorts of creative and awesome stuff way back when. Hell, SimEarth was the game that led to me getting my first computer that actually had a harddrive; all of the previous ones hadnt had one. And it was worth it, that game was great.
Far as I'm concerned, Simcity 4 was their true final game; the things that have come since then just dont measure up to that and everything before it. Particularly the absolute disaster that was the recent Simcity.
Simcity, for me, ended up being replaced by Anno not long after the most recent Simcity's release. It was so bloody awful, after so many years of waiting, that in great anger I figured, you know what, I'm done, just done, time to find something to take it's place. Bought Anno 2070, which is freaking brilliant, havent looked back since.
At this point though, I'd already sworn off buying any more damn EA games, which would have included things from Maxis as it is, so.... feh. I feel kinda bad in saying so, but I just dont care all that much. What was shut down was just a husk of the former talent that it used to be.
....not that EA even puts out anything else that I'd give a damn about, though. They have FPS games, FPS games, FPS games, Dragon Age (ugh), and FPS games. Thanks, but no. I'm glad those games of theirs dont some to Steam anymore, so I dont have to wade through the damn things when browsing for new games to buy.
I'm not really a fan of Simcity but I will say that I will miss the series. I really hate EA, you know. They got rid of a lot of good developers some of which made games that I still keep around and play. As much as I love FPS games, I'm just not that drawn to what their FPS games have to offer. I find FPS games made by Valve and Croteam more fun.
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mr_bigmouth_502
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06 Mar 2015, 4:52 pm
Honestly, I think EA pretty much killed Maxis a long time ago, around the time The Sims 2 came out and they started releasing billions of commercial addons for it. The original game had a crapload of expansion packs as it was, but the number they released for TS2 was excessive. Spore was actually a pretty decent game though, aside from the DRM issues it faced.
I'll always have nostalgia for Maxis's early titles. I played the living crap out of them when I was a kid, and they were some of the first titles that really got me into PC gaming.
I hate EA. They've killed off so many good developers, especially in the PC gaming scene. Origin Systems, Bullfrog, Westwood, and now Maxis, among others. I'm a little bit surprised they didn't manage to kill off Squaresoft when they had their brief partnership in the late 90s, but then again, Japanese developers tend to be a bit more stubborn about such things.
06 Mar 2015, 4:59 pm
I'll always have nostalgia for Maxis's early titles. I played the living crap out of them when I was a kid, and they were some of the first titles that really got me into PC gaming.
I hate EA. They've killed off so many good developers, especially in the PC gaming scene. Origin Systems, Bullfrog, Westwood, and now Maxis, among others. I'm a little bit surprised they didn't manage to kill off Squaresoft when they had their brief partnership in the late 90s, but then again, Japanese developers tend to be a bit more stubborn about such things.
They never "killed off" anyone. They shut down developers who were no longer profitable, who would otherwise have faced their demise if EA didn't buy them. Anything used against EA can also be used against Square-Enix or Activision to a much larger degree.
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mr_bigmouth_502
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Joined: 12 Dec 2013
Age: 30
Gender: Non-binary
Posts: 7,028
Location: Alberta, Canada
06 Mar 2015, 5:17 pm
I'll always have nostalgia for Maxis's early titles. I played the living crap out of them when I was a kid, and they were some of the first titles that really got me into PC gaming.
I hate EA. They've killed off so many good developers, especially in the PC gaming scene. Origin Systems, Bullfrog, Westwood, and now Maxis, among others. I'm a little bit surprised they didn't manage to kill off Squaresoft when they had their brief partnership in the late 90s, but then again, Japanese developers tend to be a bit more stubborn about such things.
They never "killed off" anyone. They shut down developers who were no longer profitable, who would otherwise have faced their demise if EA didn't buy them. Anything used against EA can also be used against Square-Enix or Activision to a much larger degree.
How is that any different than killing them off? They lured them in, and finished them off.
06 Mar 2015, 5:37 pm
I'll always have nostalgia for Maxis's early titles. I played the living crap out of them when I was a kid, and they were some of the first titles that really got me into PC gaming.
I hate EA. They've killed off so many good developers, especially in the PC gaming scene. Origin Systems, Bullfrog, Westwood, and now Maxis, among others. I'm a little bit surprised they didn't manage to kill off Squaresoft when they had their brief partnership in the late 90s, but then again, Japanese developers tend to be a bit more stubborn about such things.
They never "killed off" anyone. They shut down developers who were no longer profitable, who would otherwise have faced their demise if EA didn't buy them. Anything used against EA can also be used against Square-Enix or Activision to a much larger degree.
How is that any different than killing them off? They lured them in, and finished them off.
They didn't lure anyone. The companies were broke, and had two choices: shut down, or let EA run the business hereafter. EA doesn't owe it to any gamer to keep a company alive if it's not making profit.
_________________
“He who controls the spice controls the universe.”
06 Mar 2015, 8:29 pm
I'll always have nostalgia for Maxis's early titles. I played the living crap out of them when I was a kid, and they were some of the first titles that really got me into PC gaming.
I hate EA. They've killed off so many good developers, especially in the PC gaming scene. Origin Systems, Bullfrog, Westwood, and now Maxis, among others. I'm a little bit surprised they didn't manage to kill off Squaresoft when they had their brief partnership in the late 90s, but then again, Japanese developers tend to be a bit more stubborn about such things.
They never "killed off" anyone. They shut down developers who were no longer profitable, who would otherwise have faced their demise if EA didn't buy them. Anything used against EA can also be used against Square-Enix or Activision to a much larger degree.
They killed them off by not handling them right.
Seriously, there's been article after article after article written a million times over about EA's nasty business methods, and the reasons why everyone hates them, and of all of the different developers that have gone down in flames under them. It's not like EA buys a company and then DECIDES to just set them in front of a firing squad and execute them. But they tend to handle things so wrongly that inevitably, that company will be destroyed. There's a reason it keeps happening over and over and over JUST within EA itself. It's impossible to make a profit as a developer if your publisher isnt doing their job, isnt giving you the tools you need, isnt handling things like advertising well, is doing stupid marketing stunts that actually HURT things rather than help (like Evolve's recent DLC fiasco, caused by 2k thinking it's a good idea), and all sorts of other things. The publisher has a BIG job to do, and it can utterly WRECK a project if they dont do it in the right way or give it enough priority, or if they do things that further THEIR interests while ignoring the possible plight of the ones actually making the game.
Though yes, Activision is even worse (much worse). Square I have no opinion of: I hate their games so much that I just pretend they dont exist, so I know little of their business methods, and care even less.
mr_bigmouth_502
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Joined: 12 Dec 2013
Age: 30
Gender: Non-binary
Posts: 7,028
Location: Alberta, Canada
06 Mar 2015, 11:39 pm
I'll always have nostalgia for Maxis's early titles. I played the living crap out of them when I was a kid, and they were some of the first titles that really got me into PC gaming.
I hate EA. They've killed off so many good developers, especially in the PC gaming scene. Origin Systems, Bullfrog, Westwood, and now Maxis, among others. I'm a little bit surprised they didn't manage to kill off Squaresoft when they had their brief partnership in the late 90s, but then again, Japanese developers tend to be a bit more stubborn about such things.
They never "killed off" anyone. They shut down developers who were no longer profitable, who would otherwise have faced their demise if EA didn't buy them. Anything used against EA can also be used against Square-Enix or Activision to a much larger degree.
They killed them off by not handling them right.
Seriously, there's been article after article after article written a million times over about EA's nasty business methods, and the reasons why everyone hates them, and of all of the different developers that have gone down in flames under them. It's not like EA buys a company and then DECIDES to just set them in front of a firing squad and execute them. But they tend to handle things so wrongly that inevitably, that company will be destroyed. There's a reason it keeps happening over and over and over JUST within EA itself. It's impossible to make a profit as a developer if your publisher isnt doing their job, isnt giving you the tools you need, isnt handling things like advertising well, is doing stupid marketing stunts that actually HURT things rather than help (like Evolve's recent DLC fiasco, caused by 2k thinking it's a good idea), and all sorts of other things. The publisher has a BIG job to do, and it can utterly WRECK a project if they dont do it in the right way or give it enough priority, or if they do things that further THEIR interests while ignoring the possible plight of the ones actually making the game.
Though yes, Activision is even worse (much worse). Square I have no opinion of: I hate their games so much that I just pretend they dont exist, so I know little of their business methods, and care even less.
I couldn't have said it better myself; EA may not intentionally try to kill failing companies, but that's what they usually end up doing.
Sweetleaf
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Joined: 6 Jan 2011
Age: 34
Gender: Female
Posts: 34,470
Location: Somewhere in Colorado
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