Maxis

EA Maxis
Formerly called
 Maxis Software
Maxis
Subsidiary
Industry
Genre Simulation
Founded 1987 (as Maxis Software)
Founders
Headquarters Redwood Shores, California, U.S.[1]
Key people
  • Samantha Ryan (Senior Vice President, EA Mobile and Maxis)[2]
  • Rachel Franklin (General Manager, Maxis)
Products
Parent Electronic Arts
(1997–present)
Divisions The Sims Studio
Website http://www.maxis.com/

EA Maxis is a subsidiary of Electronic Arts (EA), serving as one of its four major video game development labels. The company was founded in 1987 as Maxis Software, an American independent video game development company, and later became known as Maxis.

Most Maxis titles are simulation-based. Maxis founder Will Wright likens them to "digital dollhouses". Maxis has also released games developed by other production houses, such as A-Train (1992, for Artdink) and SimTower (1994 for OPeNBook Co., Ltd.).

Maxis is the creator of one of the best-selling computer games of all time, The Sims (2000), its first major sequel The Sims 2 (2004), and the majority of their later expansions. After much restructuring of The Sims series development after The Sims 2, which saw development relegated to the new The Sims Studio (which later became absorbed into Maxis), the company released The Sims 4 in September 2014.

Maxis' Emeryville studio was closed in March 2015, moving development of Maxis titles to other EA studio locations. Employees of the Emeryville studio were "given opportunities to explore" other positions within Maxis and other EA studios.[3] In an organisational restructure later in September, the now consolidated Maxis team was moved to function alongside EA Mobile.[4]

History

Origin and early acclaim

Will Wright, Maxis co-founder

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.[5] The SimCity series has spawned multiple sequels and spin-offs. Following the broad success of SimCity 2000, Maxis moved from Orinda, California, to Walnut Creek[5] in 1994.

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 also released some non-simulation titles, such as 1991's RoboSport and the well-known 1995 3D Pinball for Windows, which was included as one of the standard system games in several Windows releases.

Origin of the name

The former logo of Maxis

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'.[6] 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. Another homage is featured in SimCity 2013: the moving truck company is named SixAM, with a similar logo.

Decline

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 and Full Tilt! Pinball. Heavy losses and lack of direction led Maxis to begin considering acquisition offers.

Acquisition by EA

In 1997 Maxis agreed to be acquired by Electronic Arts by means of a stock swap which valued Maxis at $125 million.[7] The transaction completed on July 28, 1997.[8] Compared to other companies acquired by EA, such as Origin Systems and Westwood Studios, the absorption of Maxis took a slower pace, and the company staff was lost only gradually.

Over 1998 Maxis was allowed to finish SimCity 3000 on its own time; following this, Wright's efforts were thrown into The Sims, at the time seen as a major gamble for the company, as the dollhouse game was not seen as a match for the video game market's demographics. The Sims was released in February 2000; its massive success buoyed Wright's reputation and saved Maxis as a separate working unit. For the first half of the decade, Maxis continued to produce expansions and sequels to The Sims. In 2004, Maxis' longtime studios in Walnut Creek were officially closed,[9] and the staff moved to EA offices in Redwood City.

SimCity 4 was released in 2003. It was the first title in the series to implement true 3D, as well as the first where Wright was not directly involved with work.

Spore, hiatus, and revival

As The Sims became a steady success, Will Wright began to focus on Spore. With the spin-off of The Sims Studio, it was Maxis' only project (In 2006, Maxis.com simply redirected to The Sims[10]). The three years between its public announcement and its release were protracted enough to attract use of the term "vaporware" by some,[11] and upon its 2008 release, found itself subject to harsh criticism and the target of a consumer protest against Electronic Arts.[12] Despite the poor launch publicity, Spore still sold 1 million units in its first month.[13]

Will Wright left Maxis in 2009. Maxis' only new standalone title until 2013 was Darkspore. During this time, Maxis.com redirected to the Spore website, then later once more to the website for The Sims.[14] Throughout this period, the studio continued to operate in Emeryville.

At the 2012 Game Developers Conference, EA announced a new SimCity along with a new logo for the Maxis brand. Maxis became one of four primary labels at EA, replacing the "EA Play" brand.[15] Development of The Sims continued with The Sims Studio, which was reintegrated with Maxis in 2012,[16] and Maxis branding returned in 2013 with the launch of The Sims 3: University Life,[17] and SimCity (2013).

EA Maxis as a subsidiary, label and brand, now includes: The Sims Studio (Redwood Shores), EA Salt Lake (Salt Lake City) and Maxis Helsinki (Helsinki, Finland), a studio focused on The Sims for mobile platforms.

Maxis Emeryville Studio closure

In March 2015, it was revealed by Guillaume Pierre (Lead Gameplay Scripter - SimCity) that the Maxis Emeryville studio was being closed.[18] On September 25, 2015, Electronic Arts announced that in an organisation restructure, the consolidated Maxis team would continue their work alongside the EA Mobile division, under Samantha Ryan, Senior Vice President for EA Mobile and Maxis. However, the CEO of Electronic Arts added that the "collaboration" would still see most of Maxis' future products available for personal computers.[19][20]

EA Maxis as a subsidiary, label and brand, now includes: The Sims Studio (Redwood Shores), The Firemonkeys (Melbourne, Australia) developing The Sims FreePlay and TrackTwenty (Helsinki, Finland) developing SimCity BuildIt.

In September 2016, EA Mobile, Maxis and BioWare join EA Worldwide Studios[21]

Notable creations

Maxis is widely regarded for its innovative simulation games, in which there is no specific goal to the player, making its games almost endless.

SimCity series

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 six main games (SimCity, SimCity 2000, SimCity 3000, SimCity 4, SimCity Societies and SimCity) and three spin-offs (Sim City: 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. In 2013, EA Maxis label (Emeryville) released a new version of SimCity.

The Sims

Maxis' most successful series to date and the best-selling PC game of all time is The Sims (2000).[22] 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. From 2006, production of the game, its expansion packs and stuff packs began to transfer to The Sims Studio, as Maxis (Emeryville) started to focus on their Spore franchise. Eight expansion packs and nine stuff packs were released for The Sims 2; the earlier releases developed by Maxis, later releases by both Maxis and The Sims Studio, and by the time the next major sequel was under development, Maxis no longer had involvement in producing The Sims.

The third edition in the series, The Sims 3, was released by EA in 2009, entirely developed by The Sims Studio. However, in 2012 an EA restructure saw The Sims Studio reintegrated with the revitalised EA Maxis label, and since the 9th expansion of The Sims 3, University Life, which was released in early 2013, the Sims franchise was back in development control of EA Maxis, including expansion packs and new developments, with The Sims Studio operating inside EA Maxis.

On May 6, 2013, it was announced that Maxis would be developing The Sims 4.[23] The game was released internationally in September 2014.

Spore

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 holds an 84 Metascore on Metacritic, indicating generally positive reviews from professional critics which is tempered by the overwhelming number of negative user reviews, mostly relating to the game's unusually large amount of technical issues. EA Games confirmed the production of expansion packs due to Spore's financial success,[24] later releasing Spore: Galactic Adventures in 2009 as well as several spin-offs and "parts packs", plus the addition of the spin-off of Spore, Darkspore.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "EA Redwood Shores". Archived from the original on March 12, 2016.
  2. ↑ "EA Executives l Electronic Arts". www.ea.com. Archived from the original on May 15, 2016. Retrieved 2016-05-19.
  3. ↑ Sarkar, Samit (March 4, 2015). "EA shuts down Maxis Emeryville, studio behind SimCity". Polygon. Archived from the original on March 4, 2015. Retrieved March 4, 2015.
  4. ↑ "Maxis Organizational Update". Electronic Arts. Archived from the original on May 2, 2016. Retrieved 2016-05-19.
  5. 1 2 Keighley, Geoff. "Simply Divine: The Story of Maxis Software". GameSpot. Archived from the original on October 12, 2008. Retrieved June 7, 2008.
  6. ↑ Keefer, John (March 31, 2006). "GameSpy Retro: Developer Origins". GameSpy. Archived from the original on April 27, 2012. Retrieved October 23, 2016.
  7. ↑ "Electronic Arts Will Buy Maxis in Swap". New York Times. 5 June 1997. Archived from the original on November 28, 2016.
  8. ↑ "Maxis Now Under EA's Wing". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. July 28, 1997. Archived from the original on April 23, 1999. Retrieved November 28, 2016.
  9. ↑ Feldman, Curt (February 11, 2004). "Electronic Arts moves Maxis". GameSpot. Retrieved August 5, 2012.
  10. ↑ Jon, Scott (2006-11-13). "interviews Spore's Chaim Gingold and Chris Hecker". Joystiq. Archived from the original on November 15, 2013. Retrieved 2013-04-29.
  11. ↑ Calore, Michael (December 27, 2006). "Vaporware '06: Return of the King". Wired. Archived from the original on November 13, 2012. Retrieved August 5, 2012.
  12. ↑ Naraine, Ryan (2008-09-25). "EA Spore backlash could help end DRM". ZDNet. Archived from the original on April 4, 2011. Retrieved 2013-04-29.
  13. ↑ Quillen, Dustin (2008-09-24). "Spore Sales Skyrocket Beyond One Million". 1up.com. Retrieved 2013-04-29.
  14. ↑ "Maxis.com Now Redirects to The Sims Franchise Site?". BeyondSims. 2012-02-11. Archived from the original on November 15, 2013. Retrieved 2013-04-29.
  15. ↑ "EA Company Labels l Electronic Arts". Ea.com. 2012-04-09. Archived from the original on April 29, 2013. Retrieved 2013-04-29.
  16. ↑ "Forums - Community - The Sims 3". Forum.thesims3.com. Archived from the original on June 1, 2013. Retrieved 2013-04-29.
  17. ↑ "The Maxis Logo Returns To The Sims 3 - Simified.com - Latest news and more for The Sims 3 & SimCity!". Simified.com. Retrieved 2013-04-29.
  18. ↑ Jason Schreier. "EA Shuts Down SimCity Developer Maxis". Kotaku. Gawker Media. Archived from the original on May 5, 2015.
  19. ↑ Makuch, Eddie (September 24, 2015). "The Sims Boss Lucy Bradshaw Leaves EA After 23 Years". GameSpot. Archived from the original on September 25, 2015. Retrieved September 25, 2015.
  20. ↑ "Maxis Organizational Update". Electronic Arts. Archived from the original on May 2, 2016. Retrieved 2016-05-19.
  21. ↑ "Organizational Update". Electronic Arts. Archived from the original on September 16, 2016. Retrieved 2016-09-14.
  22. ↑ Walker, Trey (March 22, 2002). "The Sims overtakes Myst". GameSpot. Archived from the original on April 1, 2012. Retrieved March 17, 2008.
  23. ↑ "The Sims 4 moves into fall 2014". edge-online.com. Archived from the original on May 11, 2013.
  24. ↑ Bogost, Ian (March 31, 2008). "Opinion: Is Spore 'For Everyone'?". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on October 19, 2012. Retrieved August 5, 2012.

Further reading

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