EA has closed down Sim City studio Maxis

Maxis Emeryville, the main home of Sim City and The Sims creator Maxis, has been closed by EA.

EA insists that the move will not effect The Sims or Sim City, or even the Maxis brand. The studio as we know it, however, will cease to exist.

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,” the publisher said. 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.”

Maxis was founded in 1987, with the original Sim City. It was acquired by EA in 1997.

The studio’s recent releases have been troubled, however. 2013’s Sim City was beset by numerous issues, including controversial always-on DRM, city size limitations and a host of in-game bugs that prevented a number of the key systems operating as they should.

Last year’s The Sims 4 was technically smoother but was accused from the off of being paired back compared to previous entries in the series.