Are Jeff Green and Chris Hecker still employed?
Jeff has been tweeting like normal throughout the day, so I would guess he is still employed.
Is the Sims division actually a part of Maxis? For some reason I always thought it is its own… ‘separate thing’ within EA now.
Anyway, good luck to those affected by the lay-offs. Same to the girls and guys from Raven.
That is correct, the series is no longer developed at Maxis.
And best of luck to those affected. It almost always sucks when “business” is the reason for something happening in the games industry…
Jon
Best wishes to them. Sad news.
Maxis being able to move on to other things is probably refreshing for those who are still working there.
So what exactly does Maxis still develop if not Sims?
Maxis is no longer “Will Wright and a bunch of other guys.” so I imagine they’re free to do whatever they’d like?
Yeah, but what DO they do now that they’re just “and a bunch of other guys”?
The sequel to SimEarth, of course, taking place after you’ve successfully developed your intelligent plants into a spacefaring civilization. SimMars: Revenge of the Triffids.
(Maybe Obama can contract them to do a SimHealth 2: Universal Edition.)
Spore expansions.
Jon
I was not aware of that Jon. I wish them luck and I’m sorry to hear about the layoff.
The articles I’ve read don’t talk about Maxis doing Spore “expansions” as much as they seem focused on making console games based on the franchise. Those, at least, are the next two Maxis titles being mentioned.
Which team would be working on the next SimCity game? Is a SimCity 5 even in development? Are other Sim (not Sims) games dead?
All signs point to Sim City being a franchise in hibernation at this point, though it’s possible that some of those laid off were working on unannounced projects that may have included that, I guess.
That seems odd, considering each iteration of the series has always sold well.
I suspect that the iminent CitiesXL probably canniablizes a huge chunk of the sim city potential market
SimCity 4 was six years ago. SimCity Societies, which they went to great lengths to define as NOT the new SimCity, was two years ago and didn’t sell all that well from what I understand. The various console spin-offs are a different matter.
I’d say it’s status is definately up in the air.
That’s sad. I was hoing with future Spore expansions they could make it more like SimEarth and give us more options. I’d certainly buy more.
Sims on PC I love and Simcity as well. Sad they’re focusing all their “sim” efforts on consoles.
Cliffski - I personally don’t think Cities cannibilizes the Simcity segment. 90% of the people who like Simcity are waiting for the next Simcity. With all the poor Tycoon and city sims of the past eveyrthing else is just a wannabe. The other thing about “Cities XL” is I don’t like its theme. I like zoning for buikldings and having no control of what will later develop. From what I’ve seen in Cities XL it appears your entire focus is on maintaining population size not on bringing in buildings.
I wouldn’t look at Societies as proof the SimCity franchise isn’t viable any more. Part of the reason it didn’t sell well is that it in no way catered to the core SimCity fan base. Most of the people who were still playing SimCity 4 took one look at Societies, said, “No thanks,” and went back to evolving their game with downloads from Simtropolis and SC4Devotion. As a result, the game had no fan support, and it was dead in the water from the start. Meanwhile, SC4 is still kicking.
I have some reservations about CitiesXL, but it does seem to be the heir presumptive to the throne.