EA closes SimCity developer Maxis Emeryvill

[HEXUS]

But both SimCity and the Sims development will continue.

Read more.

[shaithis]

EA strikes again.

[Chadders87]

So, EA bought maxis then milked it to within an inch of its respectability...then shoved it over the respectability edge before finally killing them off.

Thought they had at leaset another 2 games at least left to ruin :/

Oh, and it must be pointed out that it is only the Maxis Emeryvill office. Maxis as a company will still exist and likely still have games made under the brand name by other offices.

[BlackDwarf]

Add that to the list of once-loved studios eaten up and shat out by EA:
Origin
Westwood
Virgin Interactive (which was then shat out again when they closed EA Pacific
Bullfrog
Mythic & Pandemic (both of which were then shuttered)

Bunch of dicks.

[bae85]

To be honest, all anybody wants with simcity is quite simply simcity 2000/3000/4 with better graphics and modern OS support. I would gladly hand over my money if they did that (and yes I still play Simcity 2000 thanks to GOG), instead we get rubbish covered in rubbish wrapped up in rubbish and you are not allowed to play it offline (later fixed after uproar). Gaming is a little bit like the film world at the moment, reboots, rehash's and regurgitations that all miss the point and the actual reason we loved the original in the first place.

Add that to the list of once-loved studios eaten up and shat out by EA:
Origin
Westwood
Virgin Interactive (which was then shat out again when they closed EA Pacific
Bullfrog
Mythic & Pandemic (both of which were then shuttered)

Bunch of dicks.

Westwood studios, ahh the old days with Red Alert and C&C when games were well made, fun and original.

[Brewster0101]

Bullfrog

[simonpreston]

EA really have a knack of sucking all the joy out of successful game franchises.

[abaxas]

EA really have a knack of sucking all the joy out of successful game franchises.

It's weird but when they have competition they tend to at least try. FIFA / PES etc.

[crossy]

EA really have a knack of sucking all the joy out of successful game franchises.

Hmm, I'm not so sure that's an EA-specific disease. Activision have long been slammed for turning CoD into a dreary annual money-go-round, and then there's Ubisoft, or as they're known in some circles - Bugs R Us. At least EA are doing some decent things - the freebies on Origin, low cost tablet games like PvZ2.

Getting back to the article though, it's usually pretty miserable news when yet another development house closes - there seem to have been too many of these "X to close" announcements in the recent past, this unarguably being bad news for gamers. Where's this "recovery" that all the politico's have been talking about?

[herulach]

Its also a shame that with cities:skylines coming out there won't be a simcity 5 to compete with it. I've been watching a huge number of streams of it and its the first thing I've preordered in a while (I'm single handedly responsible for the death of PC gaming as a result, obvs).

The problem with big developers/publishers is that they don't deliver the niche content. I love BF4 (I have a disgusting 620 hours in it) but I wouldn't expect EA to be able to deliver something like CK2, Factorio or KSP.

[MercutioUK]

Oh look, EA's typical MO strikes again.

Hands up those that are surprised... Anyone?.. ANYONE?!

[MercutioUK]

Westwood and Bullfrog were absolutely godly.
Westwood invented RTS.
Bullfrog, well, Syndicate immediately comes to mind.


(apologies, meant to edit the above)