| Type | Subsidiary of Electronic Arts |
|---|---|
| Industry | Computer and video games Interactive entertainment |
| Founded | 1987 |
| Founder(s) | Will Wright, Jeff Braun |
| Headquarters | Emeryville, California, USA |
| Products | SimCity, Sim franchise, The Sims, Spore and Darkspore |
| Owner(s) | Electronic Arts |
| Parent | Electronic Arts |
Maxis is an American company founded as an independent video game developer in 1987. It is currently a subsidiary of Electronic Arts (EA). Maxis is the creator of one of the best-selling computer games of all time, The Sims and its first sequel, The Sims 2. These titles and their related products are the brand's most popular and successful lines.
Most Maxis titles are simulation-based, though none are considered traditional simulations. Maxis founder Will Wright likens them as "digital dollhouses." Maxis has also released games developed by other production houses, such as A-Train and SimTower.
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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. The reason for this is because SimCity wasn't a traditional game that had definite "win" and "lose" conditions. The title went on to become, statistically, one of the most popular and successful video games of all time.[1] The SimCity series has since been updated to include SimCity 2000 (1993), SimCity 3000 (1999), SimCity 3000: Unlimited (2000), SimCity 4 (2003).
Maxis has also released some non-sim titles, such as 1991's RoboSport and the well-known 1995 3D Pinball for Windows, which has been included as one of the standard system games in many Windows releases.
After such success with the SimCity series, Maxis tried various other Sim- titles. Some of these attempts include SimAnt, SimFarm, SimEarth, SimLife, SimTower, SimIsle and SimHealth. Maxis was also approached by companies to design business aids; SimRefinery is one example. The success of these franchises varies, but none matched that of the original SimCity. Maxis' hit The Sims is the only notable exception.
Maxis's name was derived from a formula suggested by Jeff Braun's father: computer game companies should have two-syllable names and should include an 'x'. This is confirmed in an interview with a Maxis employee on a bonus disc released with The Sims: Makin' Magic advertising The Sims 2 and also in early packaging of SimCity 2000 Special Edition.
The interview also addresses a rumor stating that Maxis is named after "six AM" in reverse, typically the time of day that a Sim's alarm clock wakes him/her up. The Maxis employee explains that it is just an interesting coincidence. An easter egg programmed in SimCity 3000 displays the message "Do you know that Maxis spelled backwards is Six AM?" on the game's ticker bar upon entering the cheat code "maxis" in the cheat entry box.
After the immense success of SimCity, Maxis experimented with different genres. However, their new games, including The Crystal Skull and SimCopter, were commercial failures. They also acquired Cinematronics to create a game called Crucible. Heavy losses and lack of direction led Maxis to begin considering acquisition offers.
Electronic Arts (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 has taken a slower pace, and the company has retained some of its original staff. The first prints of The Sims featured Maxis' logo prominently on the front, sides, and back of the box cover. Electronic Arts' logo, in contrast, was much smaller relatively, and was only visible on the back of the box. After the series proved to be a surprise success, Electronic Arts slowly replaced Maxis' logos with its own logo. This was first seen with The Sims: Livin' Large, where Maxis' logo was resized with a much more prominent Electronic Arts logo placed at the bottom center of the box cover. All releases from 2001 to 2003 bore the logos of both Electronic Arts and Maxis on the front and back of box covers. With the release of The Sims 2 in 2004, Maxis' logo was only displayed at the back of the box as well as the title screen at the launch of the game. The Sims 2: Pets, which was released in 2006, omitted Maxis' logo from the game's launch screen though the logo persisted at the back of the box. From The Sims 2: Seasons onwards, Maxis' logo is completely omitted from both the box and launch screens. Up until The Sims 2: FreeTime, the logo of Maxis was used for a button in the Options panel of the game to display the credits. In FreeTime, the Maxis logo was replaced by a symbol of the Sims plumbob. This was to signify the completion of all development responsibility transferals from Maxis to the then newly created division, The Sims Studio, by Electronic Arts.
Originally retaining its own online presence, Maxis' website has since been terminated with the website address redirecting to the website for Spore. All Spore products released thus far still bear the Maxis' logo on both the box and at game launch.
For many years, Maxis located in Walnut Creek, California (and before that, Orinda, California). Currently, the Maxis studio resides in Emeryville, California.
Maxis is widely regarded for its innovating simulation games, in which there is no specific goal to the player, making its games almost endless.
SimCity was Maxis' first release and innovated the conception of gaming as there was no specific goal to be reached, meaning that it could neither be won nor lost. In this franchise, the player is a mayor that may, at their leisure, take a city from a single village to a successful metropolis, laying down zones, taking care of the public services and stimulating the city's economy. The series includes five main games (SimCity, SimCity 2000, SimCity 3000, SimCity 4 and SimCity Societies) and three spin-offs (SimCity: The Card Game, SimCopter and Streets of SimCity). SimCity Societies, the fifth main release for the franchise, was not produced by Maxis, but by Tilted Mill Entertainment, being described as a 'social engineering simulator' and criticized for the lack of SimCity's traditional gaming formula.
Maxis' most successful series to date and the best-selling PC game of all time is The Sims (2000).[2] Maxis has developed seven expansion packs for the game as well as an online version (The Sims Online). Maxis released The Sims 2 in 2004, a sequel title that features a full 3D environment as opposed to the original's dimetric engine. Eight expansion packs and nine stuff packs have been released for the sequel. The third rendition, The Sims 3, was released by EA in 2009. However, production of the game, its expansion packs and stuff packs were left to The Sims Studio as Maxis focused on their Spore franchise. Five expansion packs and four stuff packs have been released for this third generation of the series.
Maxis' latest project, Spore, was released on September 7, 2008 (September 5 in Europe). Players create species starting at the single cell level, and develop them into sentient life. The goal is for them to eventually gain the intelligence to create spaceships. The Spore Creature Creator allows users to create species for later use in the game. This is one of few Maxis' games to feature goals on its plot as the player must complete five different phases and reach the space-traveling technology. There is also an ultimate goal, which is entering the galactic core, a massive black hole surrounded by a powerful and hostile cyborg species called The Grox. However, the player can stay in a single phase as long as they wish, even after completing it.
The game currently holds an 84 Metascore on Metacritic, indicating generally positive reviews from professional critics. EA Games confirmed the production of expansion packs due to Spore's financial success,[3] later releasing Spore: Galactic Adventures in 2009 as well as several spin-offs and "parts packs".
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