EA Closing Down Maxis's Main Studio

[P-89 Scorpion]

Why are we even blaming EA for this? The Maxis GM and the development team was 100% at fault for the online only DRM, the smaller cities and broken simulation. Every decision that completely destroyed the game was their fault alone, in this case EA didn't have to do anything.

http://www.cinemablend.com/games/SimCity-Lucy-Bradshaw-Defends-Always-DRM-Says-EA-Didn-t-Force-It-Them-53694.html

EA has owned Maxis since 1997 and there is no way the heads of Maxis are going to say that the people who pay them ordered them to do stupid things, that's not now business works unless you want to be unemployed.

But now expect lots of these unemployed devs to tell the truth that everything that was anti-consumer in SimCity and Sims 4 was EA's managements fault.

 

[Foehunter82]

Honestly when EA does decide to retire Bioware I feel that the Bioware staff are talented enough that they could open their own studio or they would get hired by Bethesda, CD Projekt Red, and/or Obsidian.

I agree it's possible, but:

Why are we even blaming EA for this? The Maxis GM and the development team was 100% at fault for the online only DRM, the smaller cities and broken simulation. Every decision that completely destroyed the game was their fault alone, in this case EA didn't have to do anything.

http://www.cinemablend.com/games/SimCity-Lucy-Bradshaw-Defends-Always-DRM-Says-EA-Didn-t-Force-It-Them-53694.html

I think any former member of the EA hegemony needs to spend some time with a cult deprogrammer before continuing with their career.

Why are we even blaming EA for this? The Maxis GM and the development team was 100% at fault for the online only DRM, the smaller cities and broken simulation. Every decision that completely destroyed the game was their fault alone, in this case EA didn't have to do anything.

http://www.cinemablend.com/games/SimCity-Lucy-Bradshaw-Defends-Always-DRM-Says-EA-Didn-t-Force-It-Them-53694.html

I don't buy that one bit. To believe that the Devs are given that much creative control goes completely against EA's modus operandi because every single developer they've assimilated becomes more and more into the EA slime, with online DRM (funny thing is Dragon Age Keep is perhaps the best version of DRM that they've came up with), tacked on multiplayer aspects and "freemium" bullshit/DLC vehicles.

Which is my point, also. EA's writing the checks. If they weren't, how could they close a studio? All they have to do is drop some subtle or not so subtle threats (without actually forcing anything) and everyone falls in line. When it fails, they grab a studio employee and have them argue that it's the studio's fault, knowing some people will actually assume that this is the case, when it was EA's stupid idea to begin with.

If nothing else, EA is at least partially responsible. Pretending otherwise is naive.

I guess this is part of that capitalist "Big Business does no wrong" bullshit that goes on here in America.

 

[Kahani]

Next int line:

Spoiler

RIP Maxis. SimCity 3000, The Sims and 2, etc. will be dearly missed. Thanks EA, keep being the jerks you've always been.

Beat me to it. Bullfrog, Westwood, Origin, Pandemic, Phenomic, Mythic, Danger Close, and now Maxis. Plus PopCap look to be going the same way. It really seems EA won't be happy until they've bought up and promptly shut down every developer they can. They haven't touched most of the IP those studios might have come with and they haven't kept most of the staff from them, so why do they even bother buying them in the first place? They really do seem to be desperately trying to be real life Hollywood villains being dicks just because they can; there doesn't seem to be any kind of sensible business strategy behind half their decisions.

Why are we even blaming EA for this? The Maxis GM and the development team was 100% at fault for the online only DRM, the smaller cities and broken simulation. Every decision that completely destroyed the game was their fault alone, in this case EA didn't have to do anything.

Why are we blaming EA for closing down one of their development studios? Because it's EA who did it. As Notshauna says, EA certainly had far more influence over Maxis' decisions than you give them credit for (enforced multiplayer and always online DRM are things EA proudly states it demands in its games, so it's rather naive to think that Maxis came up with those ideas completely independently), but that's largely irrelevant because this article isn't about Simcity being bad, it's about the studio being closed down which absolutely is EA's sole decision. Whatever criticism they may have come in for, SimCity sold over 2 million copies in its first couple of months and The Sims 4 sold over 1 million in its first two months, and both games have been supported with expansions and DLC well after release so clearly they haven't been simply written off as failures. Even if they didn't live up to EA's hopes, very few companies would bin one of their historically most profitable subsidiaries because of one or two under-performing releases. And given that EA have a well established history of doing this with previously successful and well-liked developers, it really can't be dismissed as a one-off thing that Maxis brought on themselves.

 

[Trooper924]

<url=https://twitter.com/jimsterling/status/501450244857794560>Jim Sterling predicted this a while back.

As the man himself said in light of this news, "EA runs like shitty clockwork."

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

So does EA get to sit on their IPs whilst throwing the studio out to the wolves? That is pretty horrible business practice. Complete artistic culling.

 

[alj]

So let me see if i have this correct.

EA buy you and give you a load of money to make 1 or 2 good games. They then interfere and screw up your next 2 titles trying to milk them for all they are worth. They then blame you for the failure that they caused and then close you down ?

I think i have that right yes ?

 

[loa]

Better make the sims mobile with microtransactions everywhere while the corpse is still warm!

 

[Foehunter82]

Precisely.

They want to buy up the IP for the cheapest possible price and sit on it. They're a holding company now, nothing more.

 

[Seishisha]

Im pretty sure EA only needs one more sacrifice to complete the pact and summon forth demon's from the enth dimension, thus creating a permant bridge so they can travel back to the darkend pits of lazalgor and wallow in all their blood-money.

Honestly though, i hope those that have lost job's are able to pick up again and carry on after this.

 

[alj]

Precisely.

They want to buy up the IP for the cheapest possible price and sit on it. They're a holding company now, nothing more.

Indeed, fuckers.

If i was a studio no matter what they offered me i would give them the finger. Better to die free that live as a slave.... and then die anyway.

As the late Mr Spock once said.

"As it is logical that you will kill us in any event, I chose not to cooperate."

 

[kannibus]

Next int line:

RIP Maxis. SimCity 3000, The Sims and 2, etc. will be dearly missed. Thanks EA, keep being the jerks you've always been.

gonna add this here.

I fear that if Bioware fucks up at all in the near future they'll be next on the chopping block...and on that day i'll cry tears of blood and rage!

Dude, that was awesome.

If I'm reading things correctly, doesn't this mean that most of the "classic" game dev houses are now extinguished?

 

[The Great JT]

Thanks for the memories, Maxis. EA, I can only hope you close your doors soon.

 

[fix-the-spade]

Better watch your back, Bioware, because EA is running out of lambs to sacrifice...

There is still Visceral and DICE yet to go.

I expect Visceral next, since they're making a spin off to someone else's IP (Battlefield), they aren't making the whole product and after BF4's year and Hardline's muted response expectations are pretty low (except for EA's suits, who expect it to sell more than BF3).

Then DICE if they cock up the Star Wars license launch, which based on every DICE release ever they surely will.

Then Bioware once Mass Effect 4 fails to meets sales predictions or Disney gets annoyed and takes the Star Wars license away like they did to Sony.

 

[Rattja]

"Dun-dun-dun,another one bites the dust
And another one gone, and another one gone
Another one bites the dust
Hey, I'm gonna get you, too
Another one bites the dust"

It's not really a surprise at this point, it is just sad I think. All those studios that made those great classics are just dying off one by one.
But at some point they will all be gone, then what? What will EA do when there are no one left to buy?
I suggest they merge with Ubisoft or something, now that would be a sight.

 

[Callate]

It's increasingly hard for me to feel that EA wouldn't be better off as multiple smaller studios, rather than one big ill-conceived megalith with the turning radius of a SUV tied to a water buffalo. Whatever studio staff might say (with a gun to their heads, metaphorically speaking?), the trend is uncomfortably clear: keep the brand, offload much of the staff, features, and feel in the name of making a game more profitable, double down when the new offering fails to pay out.

There was little wrong with Sim City or The Sims 4 that couldn't have been fixed before it came to market, had a few people with sense felt empowered to ask the simple question: "Is there anything other than chrome that would make someone choose this product over its previous iteration?" But clearly, either that question was never asked, or it was buried under a mound of marketing double-speak about how players want to pay for features they've already experienced, buy content they've already paid for, and be shackled to a system that prevents them from playing their game in the name of a multiplayer version of a solitary experience that doesn't work.

 

[Frankster]

Another one to add to EA's list of studios it killed.

Fuck EA, the absolute master of getting awesome studios and fucking them over.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Do we care? Are we caring about this?

I'll never understand how one minute we're all berating companies for their shit games, but then 'Oh no! Maxis please come back! We need more poorly received SimCity games!'

So either we gamers are masochists, or we're all in our own little Molyneux cycles about always wanted better but unable to let the bad go away.

I for one won't miss Maxis. So long, and I would say don't let the door hit you, but the servers are down and the doors won't load.

 

[killerbee256]

Do we care? Are we caring about this?

I'll never understand how one minute we're all berating companies for their shit games, but then 'Oh no! Maxis please come back! We need more poorly received SimCity games!'

So either we gamers are masochists, or we're all in our own little Molyneux cycles about always wanted better but unable to let the bad go away.

I for one won't miss Maxis. So long, and I would say don't let the door hit you, but the servers are down and the doors won't load.

You have to keep in mind those of us who are upset remember what maxis, westwood, bullfrog etc were like before EA bought them for their IP and gutted them. We are upset at the lost quality, creativity and love that use to go into those products before EA got there hands on them and treated them like shovelware.

 

[disgruntledgamer]

Well we're going to have to add another one to the EA Graveyard. Is there an editor around?