Maxis was bought by EA. The End.
Not exactly, Maxis was with EA for a long time, both SimCity 3k and SimCity 4 were published under them, and the Sims would have never happened if it weren’t for EA.
However you’re right that EA (or more specifically, John Riccitiello) did eventually fuck Maxis over. SimCity 2013 got fucked over by always-online drm and tiny cities, while The Sims 4 - which wasn’t originally meant to be a mainline Sims game but instead a successor to The Sims Online - got cannibalized and made into The Sims 4 because Riccitiello wanted a new Sims game ASAP.
Why do I ascribe blame to Riccitiello and not EA as a whole? Because EA seems like they’ve improved since Riccitiello left. That’s not saying much, but it honestly seems like the quality of their games has improved since he left the company.
That still tracks though, Sim City 2000 was the Pinnacle of the series
Before CS, Sim City 4 nearly destroyed all interest in the city builder genre. The brand “Sim City” also has left a bad taste in everyone’s mouth despite 3 classic mainline entries that redefined the genre each time.
Thoroughly interested in this. But why can’t I just read it? I wish this wasn’t a video.