EA Closes SimCity Studio, Maxis Emeryville

The rumors are true: Maxis Emeryville will be closing, but at least The Sims franchise will continue.

Kotaku reports that Maxis Designer Guillame Pierre confirmed something that people had been wondering about for a few days now -- Maxis will be closing. Maxis Emeryville is the main Maxis studio, which features the talented team that brought games like SimCity and Spore to life.

If you're panicking because SimCity and The Sims are your favorite games, don't worry. EA has released an official statement that puts all of our fears to rest — the closing of the studio will actually be a consolidation and it will in no way halt or hinder the progress within SimCity or any of its sequels. We do feel for those at Maxis who will be out of work, though.

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. 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.

Although SimCity will live on, closing down this Maxis studio does raise suspicions. Will there be any other games besides The Sims franchise that will be affected? Only time will tell.