Maxis closed by EA

Electronic Arts has announced it is closing Maxis, the studio behind the SimCity and The Sims franchise, and most recently known as Maxis Emeryville.

The publisher says the development of IPs that Maxis worked on will continue in studios in Redwood Shores, Salt Lake City, Helsinki and Melbourne locations. Support for current games and future projects is still going ahead.

"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," EA said in a statement.

Maxis was a subsidiary of Electronic Arts (EA), serving as one of its four major video game development labels. Maxis was founded in 1987 by Will Wright and Jeff Braun to help publish SimCity on home computers. Before then, the game was only available on a limited basis on the Commodore 64 due to few publishers showing any interest in porting it. Maxis is also the creator of one of the best-selling computer games of all time, The Sims (2000), its first major sequel The Sims 2 (2004), and the majority of their later expansions.

EA completed its acquisition of Maxis on July 28, 1997. Compared to other companies acquired by EA, such as Origin Systems and Westwood Studios, the absorption of Maxis took a slower pace, and the company staff was lost only gradually. Will Wright left Maxis in 2009.

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