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117-412: Maxis is an American video game developer and a division of Electronic Arts (EA). The studio was founded in 1987 by Will Wright and Jeff Braun, and acquired by Electronic Arts in 1997. Maxis is best known for its simulation games , including The Sims , Spore and SimCity . Maxis was founded in 1987 by Will Wright and Jeff Braun to help publish SimCity on home computers. Before then,

234-505: A 3D engine to render its graphics. The landscape and moving props such as vehicles are modeled as fully polygonal and rotatable 3D objects. Small buildings and props are drawn as flat images, which are pasted onto billboards ; polygons with their surface normal facing into the camera. Larger buildings are modeled using a hybrid approach; a simple polygonal model defines the shape of the building, then textures are added to create detail such as doors, windows and rooftop clutter. Although

351-593: A database , Voice over IP , or add-in interface software; this is also known as middleware . Examples of this include SpeedTree and Havoc . Independents are software developers which are not owned by (or dependent on) a single publisher. Some of these developers self-publish their games, relying on the Internet and word of mouth for publicity. Without the large marketing budgets of mainstream publishers, their products may receive less recognition than those of larger publishers such as Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo. With

468-446: A public company . Heavy losses and lack of direction led Maxis to begin considering acquisition offers. In 1997, Maxis agreed to be acquired by Electronic Arts by means of a stock swap which valued Maxis at $ 125 million. In a press release , Maxis stated it agreed to the acquisition in order to take advantage of Electronic Arts' strong distribution channel. The transaction was complete on July 28, 1997, and triggered major changes at

585-441: A "shift across the entire games industry to support and nurture our communities long-term". Maxis is regarded for its innovative simulation games, in which there is no specific goal to the player, making its games almost endless. SimCity , released in 1989, was Maxis' first release. 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

702-402: A 'social engineering simulator' and criticized for the lack of SimCity ' s traditional formula. In 2013, Maxis Emeryville released a reboot, simply titled SimCity , to mixed reviews, due to technical issues at launch surrounding its mandatory online connectivity. TrackTwenty (formerly Maxis Helsinki) developed SimCity: BuildIt in 2014. Maxis' most successful series to date and one of

819-504: A 3D engine is used, the camera in SimCity 4 is restricted to a fixed trimetric orthographic projection for performance reasons. Additionally, a simulated city can now be seen at nighttime as well as during daytime. The time of the day does not affect the gameplay. The game includes over three hours of background music in MP3 format, ranging from three to eight minutes in length. The music

936-475: A 9.2/10 rating at IGN , calling it a "major evolutionary step in the series". The review commented that the addition of the region view mode adds more depth to SimCity 4 and that the gameplay has a "more accurate representation of city planning and maintenance" than of previous titles in the SimCity series. The game scored an 8.1/10 rating at GameSpot , stating that the game had a "sleek, attractive interface" and "great audio"; it added however that SimCity 4

1053-411: A city can exchange resources such as water , electricity and garbage disposal with other cities for money. Players may develop several inter-dependent cities at the same time, eventually populating the entire region. Upon selecting a specific segment in a region, the gameplay is divided into three "modes": god mode, mayor mode, and MySim mode. Mayor and MySim modes become available after establishing

1170-474: A city. God mode is available before establishing a city and afterwards, albeit with fewer functions. Obliterating the city resets the map and reactivates all functions in God mode. God mode allows players to design or terraform a selected tract of land where the city will be built and permits players to trigger disasters , including tornadoes and earthquakes among several others. Players can select an area where

1287-452: A culture of "toxic geek masculinity" within the workplace. In addition, the conditions behind crunch time are far more discriminating towards women as this requires them to commit time exclusively to the company or to more personal activities like raising a family. These factors established conditions within some larger development studios where female developers have found themselves discriminated in workplace hiring and promotion, as well as

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1404-556: A digital distribution service by Valve . The game is also available on GOG.com , Direct2Drive and Impulse as well as EA's own Origin service. On April 10, 2014, Aspyr released an updated version of their port of the Deluxe Edition on the Mac App Store . The updated version includes bug fixes and performance enhancements, native resolution support, and support for the latest versions of Mac OS X. Around 2014, it

1521-402: A disaster will occur and even control the direction of certain disasters. Most terraforming tools are disabled after the city is named and founded. The player still has some terraforming tools made available in mayor mode, although they become very limited and expensive, and they can still trigger disasters at will. In addition to these abilities, god mode also gives the player tools to reconcile

1638-571: A first-party company. As a balance to not being able to release their game for other platforms, second-party developers are usually offered higher royalty rates than third-party developers. These studios may have exclusive publishing agreements (or other business relationships) with the platform holder, but maintain independence so that upon completion or termination of their contracts, they are able to continue developing games for other publishers if they choose to. For example, while HAL Laboratory initially began developing games on personal computers like

1755-410: A fixed period and generally work similar hours as full-time staff members, assisting across all areas of video game development, but as contractors, do not get any benefits such as paid time-off or health care from the employer; they also are typically not credited on games that they work on for this reason. The practice itself is legal and common in other engineering and technology areas, and generally it

1872-403: A game on schedule. The complexity of workflow, reliance on third-party deliverables, and the intangibles of artistic and aesthetic demands in video game creation create difficulty in predicting milestones. The use of crunch time is also seen to be exploitative of the younger male-dominated workforce in video games, who have not had the time to establish a family and who were eager to advance within

1989-406: A game's profits. Current examples of first-party studios include PlayStation Studios for Sony, and Xbox Game Studios for Microsoft Gaming . Second-party developer is a colloquial term often used by gaming enthusiasts and media to describe game studios that take development contracts from platform holders and develop games exclusive to that platform, i.e. a non-owned developer making games for

2106-515: 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. A Mobile focused Maxis studio was opened in Helsinki by EA in 2012. Development of The Sims continued, and Maxis branding returned in 2013 with the launch of The Sims 3: University Life , and SimCity . While Maxis were focusing on graphical improvements with

2223-437: A position in a medium to large video game company. An experienced game-development employee, depending on their expertise and experience, averaged roughly $ 73,000 in 2007. Indie game developers may only earn between $ 10,000 and $ 50,000 a year depending on how financially successful their titles are. In addition to being part of the software industry, game development is also within the entertainment industry; most sectors of

2340-470: A rating of 7.25/10 from InsideMacGames . The review commented that the regional gameplay was a "new and welcome addition" and that it had detailed and realistic graphics; it was also said however that the game was not "revolutionary," had "horrendous bugs," and that the tutorial and manual lacked information. Urban planner Jeff Speck said that SimCity 4 ' s traffic model is "more advanced than what most traffic engineers use in real life". SimCity 4

2457-501: A road in order to function properly; streets are automatically created when zoning on large tracts of land. Buildings are classified into several wealth levels, zone types, and building size stages, which are affected by the region's population and the city's condition. The game simulates urban decay and gentrification with buildings deteriorating and refurbished accordingly. Buildings originally constructed for occupation by higher wealth tenants can now support lower wealth tenants in

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2574-649: A roundtable discussion with the International Game Developers Association (IGDA), the professional association for developers. Statements made by the IGDA's current executive director Jen MacLean relating to IGDA's activities had been seen by as anti-union, and Game Workers Unite desired to start a conversation to lay out the need for developers to unionize. In the wake of the sudden near-closure of Telltale Games in September 2018,

2691-415: A settlement which can grow into a city . Players can zone different areas of land as commercial , industrial , or residential development, as well as build and maintain public services , transport and utilities . For the success of a city, players must manage its finances , environment , and quality of life for its residents. SimCity 4 introduces night and day cycles and other special effects for

2808-407: A single publisher; one canceled game may devastate a small developer. Because of this, many small development companies are short-lived. A common exit strategy for a successful video game developer is to sell the company to a publisher, becoming an in-house developer. In-house development teams tend to have more freedom in game design and content than third-party developers. One reason is that since

2925-562: A small outcry from the SimCity 4 community on August 27, 2014, EA pushed an update that replaced the SimCity executable with the one being distributed on other platforms. However, on February 5, 2017, SimCity community members reported that their copy was once again downgraded to the unpatchable "digital version," to which EA provided no explanation. During this duration, the SimCity 4 storefront page utilized screenshots containing community-made mods which were impossible to use on this version of

3042-403: A strong STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) background for women at the secondary education level, but there are issues with tertiary education such as at colleges and universities, where game development programs tend to reflect the male-dominated demographics of the industry, a factor that may lead women with strong STEM backgrounds to choose other career goals. There

3159-619: A third-party application ( Gmax ) to function and was never bundled with SC4 's or the Rush Hour expansion pack, as SimCity 3000 Unlimited had with its own BAT. The Lot Editor (LE) is a tool which allows users to edit or design lots for SimCity 4 using available props. Because it was released several months before the BAT as a stand-alone version, users at the time were only capable of producing lots that consisted of built-in props from SC4 . The BAT provided users with an updated version of

3276-697: A unique case where nearly all parts of its labor force, including white-collar jobs such as video game development, may engage with labor unions under the Employment Protection Act often through collective bargaining agreements. Developer DICE had reached its union agreements in 2004. Paradox Interactive became one of the first major publishers to support unionization efforts in June 2020 with its own agreements to cover its Swedish employees within two labor unions Unionen and SACO . In Australia, video game developers could join other unions, but

3393-510: A year after launch. The reboot effectively ended the SimCity franchise, and was the last game to be developed by Maxis' core location in Emeryville. In the wake of the SimCity launch, Maxis went through a series of layoffs and studio closures, which continued throughout the late 2010s. This began with the 2014 restructure of EA Salt Lake , dissolving the Maxis group that had been headquartered there. A number of Maxis devs were migrated to

3510-635: Is a suite of tools developed for producing custom buildings. The suite consists of three applications: The Building Architect game pack for Gmax , which enabled users to render Gmax models into SimCity 4 sprites or props to be imported into the LE; an updated version of the LE; and the standalone Plug-in Manager, which enables users to modify simulation properties for new lots. Several modified versions have been released that have, in effect, served as bug fixes for various problems that had not been discovered before

3627-482: Is also a significant gap in racial minorities within the video game industry; a 2019 IGDA survey found only 2% of developers considered themselves to be of African descent and 7% Hispanic, while 81% were Caucasian; in contrast, 2018 estimates from the United States Census estimate the U.S. population to be 13% of African descent and 18% Hispanic. In a 2014 and 2015 survey of job positions and salaries,

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3744-507: Is based on early office towers from Chicago, Illinois , in the 1890s, the second era encompasses an Art Deco -based set from New York City based on the 1940s, the third includes a modernist/international style based on buildings from Houston, Texas in the 1990s, and the final is a modern European architecture based mostly around Germany in the 2000s. There are a number of buildings based on those found in San Francisco , including

3861-556: Is conducted. Several advisors may give advice to the player on how to best manage a city. Players can build transportation networks , which include roads , streets , avenues , highways , railways , subway lines , and bus stations , draw out building zones, construct civic buildings, and adjust city funding and tax rates. Players can also terraform and plant trees in this mode, but in a much smaller scale than in god mode and costing money. Zones are planned building plots that are empty at first but then populated by buildings depending on

3978-502: Is divided between that used in region mode and god mode, and that used in the city view in mayor mode and MySim mode. In addition, the game has a facility for players to use their own music in the game, also divided between the two views. The music, largely composed by Jerry Martin , was also released separately as a soundtrack. Following SimCity 4 's release, several add-ons and development kits were made available on its official site. New landmarks, including Rockefeller Center ,

4095-1244: 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 received a critic score of 84% on Metacritic , indicating generally positive reviews from critics. Electronic Arts confirmed the production of expansion packs due to Spore ' s financial success, later releasing Spore Galactic Adventures in 2009, as well as several spin-offs such as Darkspore . Video game developer A developer may specialize in specific game engines or specific video game consoles , or may develop for several systems (including personal computers and mobile devices ). Some focus on porting games from one system to another, or translating games from one language to another. Less commonly, some do software development work in addition to games. Most video game publishers maintain development studios (such as Electronic Arts 's EA Canada , Square Enix 's studios, Activision 's Radical Entertainment , Nintendo EPD and Sony's Polyphony Digital and Naughty Dog ). However, since publishing

4212-449: Is expected that this is meant to lead into a full-time position, or otherwise the end of the contract. But more recently, its use in the video game industry has been compared to Microsoft 's past use of " permatemp ", contract workers that were continually renewed and treated for all purposes as employees but received no benefits. While Microsoft has waned from the practice, the video game industry has adapted it more frequently. Around 10% of

4329-533: Is generally illegal, companies often target their oldest workers first during layoffs or other periods of reduction. Older developers with experience may find themselves too qualified for the types of positions that other game development companies seek given the salaries and compensations offered. Some of the larger video game developers and publishers have also engaged contract workers through agencies to help add manpower in game development in part to alleviate crunch time from employees. Contractors are brought on for

4446-494: Is still their primary activity they are generally described as "publishers" rather than "developers". Developers may be private as well. In the video game industry , a first-party developer is part of a company that manufactures a video game console and develops mainly for it. First-party developers may use the name of the company itself (such as Nintendo ), have a specific division name (such as Sony's Polyphony Digital ) or have been an independent studio before being acquired by

4563-474: Is usually conducted in a casual business environment, with t-shirts and sandals as common work attire. Many workers find this type of environment rewarding and pleasant professionally and personally. However, the industry also requires long working hours from its employees (sometimes to an extent seen as unsustainable). Employee burnout is not uncommon. An entry-level programmer can make, on average, over $ 66,000 annually only if they are successful in obtaining

4680-659: The AFL–CIO writing an open letter to video game developers encouraging them to unionize. In January 2020, Game Workers Unite and the Communications Workers of America established a new campaign to push for unionization of video game developers, the Campaign to Organize Digital Employees (CODE), in January 2020. Initial efforts for CODE were aimed to determine what approach to unionization would be best suited for

4797-733: The Brandenburg Gate , and Stonehenge were made available online. Later, landmarks were primarily used to demonstrate the capability of Gmax and the Building Architect Tool (BAT) around the time of the BAT's release. The Terrain Generator tool allowed users to create maps based on any of the 48 contiguous United States . The maps are based on data collected by the United States Geological Survey . The Building Architect Tool (BAT)

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4914-552: The Chevron Corporation , and SimHealth for the Markle Foundation . In 1994, Maxis decided to let this division go on its own; MBS rebranded itself as Thinking Tools Inc. and continued to produce similar simulation tools, but eventually closed down in 1998. Most of the information on MBS and Thinking Tools has been lost as upon being told of the company's closure, the few remaining employees burned most of

5031-595: The Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), indicating sales of at least 200,000 copies in the United Kingdom. Its Deluxe edition earned a "Silver" award from ELSPA, for at least 100,000 sales. Shortly after its release, the PC version of SimCity 4 garnered mainly positive reviews, gaining 84/100 from Metacritic , and an 85.09% overall score from GameRankings . The game got

5148-456: The International Game Developers Association (IGDA), are conducting increasing discussions about the problem; they are concerned that working conditions in the industry cause a significant deterioration in employees' quality of life. Some video game developers and publishers have been accused of the excessive invocation of "crunch time". "Crunch time" is the point at which the team is thought to be failing to achieve milestones needed to launch

5265-516: The MSX , they became one of the earliest second-party developers for Nintendo, developing exclusively for Nintendo's consoles starting with the Famicom, though they would self-publish their mobile games. A third-party developer may also publish games, or work for a video game publisher to develop a title. Both publisher and developer have considerable input in the game's design and content. However,

5382-528: The Me Too movement and have tried to address the symptoms of these problems industry-wide, the video game industry has yet to have its Me Too-moment, even as late as 2021. There also tends to be pay-related discrimination against women in the industry. According to Gamasutra 's Game Developer Salary Survey 2014, women in the United States made 86 cents for every dollar men made. Game designing women had

5499-504: The Screen Actors Guild‐American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) union doing work for video games struck several major publishers, demanding better royalty payments and provisions related to the safety of their vocal performances, when their union's standard contract was up for renewal. The voice actor strike lasted for over 300 days into 2017 before a new deal was made between SAG-AFTRA and

5616-872: The Shell Building (appearing as "Wren Insurance"), 450 Sutter Street (appearing as "Vu Financial"), and the Pacific Telephone & Telegraph Building also known as 140 New Montgomery Street (as "The Galvin Corp"). The May Company store (now LACMA West) in Los Angeles appears as "Dennis Department Store." The game also includes famous landmarks from various cities, such as the Empire State Building from New York City. Unlike its predecessors, which used an engine based on 2D isometric graphics and sprites , SimCity 4 primarily uses

5733-410: The SimCity reboot, EA wanted to make the game multiplayer and always-online, in part to combat piracy. The game was subject to "one of the most disastrous launches in history", as the game was released in a highly buggy state, with server failures plaguing players, and the open regions swiftly filling with abandoned cities. Maxis would continue to support the game with patches, but it remained buggy even

5850-506: The video game industry . He told the Los Angeles Times : "Someone who was part of the co-creation of that world and those characters isn't getting a credit or a nickel for the work they put into it. Maybe we need unions in the video game industry to be able to protect creators." SimCity 4 SimCity 4 is a city-building simulation computer game developed by Maxis , a subsidiary of Electronic Arts . The game

5967-446: The IGDA found that people of color were both underrepresented in senior management roles as well as underpaid in comparison to white developers. Further, because video game developers typically draw from personal experiences in building game characters, this diversity gap has led to few characters of racial minority to be featured as main characters within video games. Minority developers have also been harassed from external groups due to

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6084-465: The LE, which rendered the original LE utility obsolete . However, the old version is still made available in the official site. In addition to official tools, third-party programs were released for further accessibility in editing SimCity 4 contents, potentially allowing users to change the nature of the game itself. Following the release of the Lot Editor and the "BAT" (Building Architect Tool),

6201-509: The Maxis logo was not included on The Sims game covers until 2013, with the release of The Sims 3: University Life . On May 6, 2013, it was announced that Maxis would be developing The Sims 4 , and the game was released internationally in September 2014. Maxis also developed The Sims Mobile , until development was transferred to Firemonkeys in February 2019. Spore was released in September 2008. Players create species starting at

6318-584: The Redwood Shores studio. Maxis' principal studio in Emeryville was closed in 2015, leaving only the smaller Redwood Shores team and a newly opened mobile developer in Helsinki under the Maxis name. In September 2015, EA announced that the consolidated Maxis team would work alongside the EA Mobile division under Samantha Ryan. EA indicated that the "collaboration" would still see most of Maxis' future products available for personal computers . The group

6435-416: The United Kingdom's third-best-selling computer game for the period, or eighth across all platforms. At the time, Kristan Reed of GamesIndustry.biz wrote that its performance proved "you can still have big hits on PC". By the end of the year, British sales of the game had reached 105,000 units, which made it 79th-biggest seller across all platforms that year. The game later received a "Gold" sales award from

6552-535: The acquisition of Activision Blizzard , stated it supported these unionization efforts. After this acquisition, the employees of Bethesda Game Studios , part of Zenimax under Microsoft, unionized under the Communications Workers of America (CWA) in July 2024. Over 500 employees within Blizzard Entertainment 's World of Warcraft division also unionized with CWA that same month. Sweden presents

6669-572: The advent of digital distribution of inexpensive games on game consoles, it is now possible for indie game developers to forge agreements with console manufacturers for broad distribution of their games. Other indie game developers create game software for a number of video-game publishers on several gaming platforms. In recent years this model has been in decline; larger publishers, such as Electronic Arts and Activision, increasingly turn to internal studios (usually former independent developers acquired for their development needs). Video game development

6786-417: The best-selling PC games of all time is The Sims (2000). Maxis has developed seven expansion packs for the game, as well as an online spin-off titled 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 to 2013, all The Sims games and expansion packs were developed by The Sims Studio, and

6903-440: The borders of the cities, so as to fix any discrepancies created during the terraforming process, and a day/night cycle adjustment, so that one can make it always day, always night, or alternate between day or night in accordance with the in-universe game clock. Both the ability to reconcile the city edges and the ability to modify the day/night cycle are available even once the city has been established. In mayor mode, city building

7020-558: The city the player has created. When moving a Sim into a city, the player can choose from a selection of characters or import others from The Sims . Sims can be killed by certain disasters or catastrophic events, leave the city if conditions are unfavorable, or die of old age. After they die, their "child" sometimes takes over for them by taking their name, house, and job. Buildings in SimCity 4 are based on four distinct architectural styles, which can be selected individually or simultaneously for buildings to be built from. The earliest era

7137-431: The closest equity, making 96 cents for every dollar men made in the same job, while audio professional women had the largest gap, making 68% of what men in the same position made. Increasing the representation of women in the video game industry required breaking a feedback loop of the apparent lack of female representation in the production of video games and in the content of video games. Efforts have been made to provide

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7254-491: The company's archives and only remnants of MBS' output exists. In what Kotaku later referred to as the "era of scattergun experimentation", Maxis released numerous titles throughout the 1990s, including "sim" titles as well as some non-simulation titles, such as RoboSport (1991) and 3D Pinball for Windows (1995), which was included as one of the standard system games in several Windows releases; however, these newer games were not successful. On June 1, 1995, Maxis became

7371-432: The company. Jeff Braun left, having received a sizeable amount of money during the purchase, and nearly half of the Maxis staff were laid off. 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. EA backed

7488-416: The console manufacturer (such as Rare or Naughty Dog ). Whether by purchasing an independent studio or by founding a new team, the acquisition of a first-party developer involves a huge financial investment on the part of the console manufacturer, which is wasted if the developer fails to produce a hit game on time. However, using first-party developers saves the cost of having to make royalty payments on

7605-508: The console. This established the use of licensing fees as a model for third-party development that persists into the present. The licensing fee approach was further enforced by Nintendo when it decided to allow other third-party developers to make games for the Famicom console, setting a 30% licensing fee that covered game cartridge manufacturing costs and development fees. The 30% licensing fee for third-party developers has also persisted to

7722-444: The developer if the game is not meeting expectations. When each milestone is completed (and accepted), the publisher pays the developer an advance on royalties . Successful developers may maintain several teams working on different games for different publishers. Generally, however, third-party developers tend to be small, close-knit teams. Third-party game development is a volatile sector, since small developers may depend on income from

7839-417: The developers are the publisher's employees, their interests align with those of the publisher; the publisher may spend less effort ensuring that the developer's decisions do not enrich the developer at the publisher's expense. Activision in 1979 became the first third-party video game developer. When four Atari, Inc. programmers left the company following its sale to Warner Communications , partially over

7956-421: The distance Sims are willing to walk in order to reach transit or their jobs). In some cases, both the skills of lot building and modding are combined, producing lots that are capable of affecting a city in a variety of ways. Some third-party content is only available to those with expansion packs or another mod. In the United Kingdom, SimCity 4 sold over 100,000 units during the first half of 2003. This made it

8073-567: The end of Maxis as it had been known in the past, with only the brand name persisting. EA announced two new studios that would bear the Maxis name over the following years – Maxis Texas in 2019 and Maxis Europe in 2021. The announcements only came in the form of job postings on the EA careers website. The Texas team was set up at the existing EA offices in Austin to work on a new IP, while the Europe studio

8190-467: The entertainment industry (such as films and television ) require long working hours and dedication from their employees, such as willingness to relocate and/or required to develop games that do not appeal to their personal taste. The creative rewards of work in the entertainment business attracts labor to the industry, creating a competitive labor market that demands a high level of commitment and performance from employees. Industry communities, such as

8307-444: The event surrounding factors forces the current tenants to vacate the building; this allows certain buildings to remain in use despite lacking its initial occupants. Buildings and lots can be constructed on slopes . Civic buildings can be constructed that need constant funding to work properly, such as schools , hospitals , parks , police stations , jails , and fire stations . These buildings come in two or more sizes compared to

8424-442: The expansion also included the ability to control vehicles, take on missions that can unlock reward buildings much faster, affect their rating with the city and sometimes acquire a cash bonus, and introduced the ability to change between four architectural styles - three of these focus on architectural styles of American cities of differing eras, while the fourth introduces a new range of contemporary European-inspired architecture. On

8541-558: The first time in the SimCity series. External tools such as the Building Architect Tool (BAT) allow custom third-party buildings and content to be added to the gameplay. SimCity 4 was praised for being the first game in the main SimCity series to primarily use a 3D engine to render its graphics, following the implementation of 3D graphics in SimCity 64 for the Nintendo 64DD . It received widespread acclaim, won several awards, and

8658-572: The first video game-specific union, Game Workers Unite Australia, was formed in December 2021 under Professionals Australia to become active in 2022. In Canada, in a historic move, video game workers in Edmonton unanimously voted to unionize for the first time in June 2022. In January 2023, after not being credited in The Last of Us HBO adaptation, Bruce Straley called for unionization of

8775-478: The funding to all buildings, allowing users to specify how much money should be spent to supply a service in accordance to the local population. Maintenance expenses for public utility facilities will increase as they age. The maximum output of facilities also decreases as they get older, with the rate dependent on the facility's percentage of its capacity being used and level of funding. MySim mode enables players to create user-defined Sims, who will live and work in

8892-457: The game for casual players" including performance and difficulty. 1UP.com rated the game at B+ and praised the region view feature as well as the detail of the graphics which create a "deeper sense of simulation." The review however criticizes SimCity 4 for suffering crashes and performance issues. SimCity 4 received further reviews after the release of the Mac version. The game received

9009-483: The game was only available on a limited basis on the Commodore 64 due to few publishers showing any interest in porting a non-traditional game without definite "win" and "lose" conditions. The title went on to become one of the most popular and successful video games of all time. The SimCity series became a staple for the company and spawned multiple sequels and spin-offs. To name the company, Braun required that

9126-435: The game. On June 1, 2023, EA once again upgraded the game to the version sold on other platforms. SimCity kind of worked itself into a corner, [because] we were still appealing to this core SimCity group. It had gotten a little complicated for people who had never played SimCity . We want to take it back to its roots where somebody who had never heard of SimCity can pick it up and enjoy playing it without thinking it

9243-404: The gaming industry, while a 2017 IGDA survey found that the female demographic in game development had risen to about 20%. Taking into account that a 2017 ESA survey found 41% of video game players were female, this represented a significant gender gap in game development. The male-dominated industry, most who have grown up playing video games and are part of the video game culture , can create

9360-457: The industry by working long hours. Because crunch time tends to come from a combination of corporate practices as well as peer influence, the term "crunch culture" is often used to discuss video game development settings where crunch time may be seen as the norm rather than the exception. The use of crunch time as a workplace standard gained attention first in 2004, when Erin Hoffman exposed

9477-442: The initial release. First released in February 2004, it enabled the modding community to produce custom buildings and props for SC4 . SimCity 4 's Building Architect Tool is similar in function to SimCity 3000 's Building Architect Tool and SimCity 2000 's Urban Renewal Kit ; however, previous programs of this kind were created from scratch by Maxis and used completely different interfaces. The SC4 BAT required

9594-431: The lack of respect that the new management gave to programmers, they used their knowledge of how Atari VCS game cartridges were programmed to create their own games for the system, founding Activision in 1979 to sell these. Atari took legal action to try to block the sale of these games, but the companies ultimately settled, with Activision agreeing to pay a portion of their sales as a license fee to Atari for developing for

9711-437: The majority of add-ons in circulation consist of user-created content; most are buildings and lots, including real-life landmarks, chain stores, extra houses, etc., while others include cosmetic changes for terrain, flora, custom vehicles and modifications in the game's behavior. Some even fundamentally change the mechanics of the game (for instance, by introducing multi-function transportation networks and stations, or by modifying

9828-559: The movement again called out for the industry to unionize. The movement argued that Telltale had not given any warning to its 250 employees let go, having hired additional staff as recently as a week prior, and left them without pensions or health-care options; it was further argued that the studio considered this a closure rather than layoffs, as to get around failure to notify required by the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act of 1988 preceding layoffs. The situation

9945-523: The name was "from 5-7 letters, mean nothing, be easy to remember and contain an x, z, or q"; the name "Maxis" was presented by Braun's father. Following the broad success of SimCity 2000 , Maxis moved from Orinda, California , to Walnut Creek in 1994. One of the unintended successes of SimCity was recognition of the means to gamify the intersection of multiple real-world systems that could be used for planning and development, such as using SimCity -type simulations for urban planning . Around 1992, Maxis

10062-448: The nature of the video game culture. The industry also is recognized to have an ageism issue, discriminating against the hiring and retention of older developers. A 2016 IGDA survey found only 3% of developers were over 50 years old, while at least two-thirds were between 20 and 34; these numbers show a far lower average age compared to the U.S. national average of about 41.9 that same year. While discrimination by age in hiring practices

10179-540: The news, there have typically been followup discussions towards the potential to form a union. A survey performed by the International Game Developers Association in 2014 found that more than half of the 2,200 developers surveyed favored unionization. A similar survey of over 4,000 game developers run by the Game Developers Conference in early 2019 found that 47% of respondents felt the video game industry should unionize. In 2016, voice actors in

10296-436: The option of starting the city in a segment of any of three area sizes. In real measurements, the smallest has a length of one kilometer on a side, and the largest has a length of four kilometers on a side. The size of a region and its layout of segments can be changed in a bitmap file provided for each region. Neighbor cities play a larger role than in the previous versions of the game. Neighbor deals can be established where

10413-694: The present, being a de facto rate used for most digital storefronts for third-party developers to offer their games on the platform. In recent years, larger publishers have acquired several third-party developers. While these development teams are now technically "in-house", they often continue to operate in an autonomous manner (with their own culture and work practices). For example, Activision acquired Raven (1997); Neversoft (1999), which merged with Infinity Ward in 2014; Z-Axis (2001); Treyarch (2001); Luxoflux (2002); Shaba (2002); Infinity Ward (2003) and Vicarious Visions (2005). All these developers continue operating much as they did before acquisition,

10530-414: The primary differences being exclusivity and financial details. Publishers tend to be more forgiving of their own development teams going over budget (or missing deadlines) than third-party developers. A developer may not be the primary entity creating a piece of software, usually providing an external software tool which helps organize (or use) information for the primary software product. Such tools may be

10647-415: 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, was not produced by Maxis, but by Tilted Mill Entertainment , being described as

10764-429: The publisher's wishes generally override those of the developer. Work for hire studios solely execute the publishers vision. The business arrangement between the developer and publisher is governed by a contract, which specifies a list of milestones intended to be delivered over a period of time. By updating its milestones, the publisher verifies that work is progressing quickly enough to meet its deadline and can direct

10881-467: The publishers. While this had some effects on a few games within the industry, it brought to the forefront the question of whether video game developers should unionize. A grassroots movement, Game Workers Unite , was established around 2017 to discuss and debate issues related to unionization of game developers. The group came to the forefront during the March 2018 Game Developers Conference by holding

10998-486: The same day that the expansion pack Rush Hour was released, a bundle pack combining both the main game and the expansion pack was released, entitled SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition . On August 25, 2004, Aspyr Media released SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition for Mac OS X . A year later, the expansion was released for Mac OS X on September 4, 2004. On July 20, 2010, Electronic Arts released the Deluxe Edition ( SimCity 4 and its Rush Hour expansion) for digital download on Steam ,

11115-426: 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

11232-611: The single, universal types that were used in previous games. Settlements also need public utilities such as electricity with more or less polluting and more or less expensive types of power stations, water pumps, water purification plants, and waste management services. Facilities that had previously provided citywide coverage, such as educational facilities and medical facilities , have been modified to provide more limited coverage, as it has been with police stations and fire stations in previous SimCity titles. Funding can be adjusted for individual buildings rather than having to change

11349-482: The target of a consumer protest against Electronic Arts . Despite the poor launch publicity, Spore sold 1 million units in its first month. Will Wright left Maxis in 2009, with Maxis going on to produce the poorly received spinoff Darkspore in 2011. During this time, Maxis.com redirected to the Spore website, then later once more to the website for The Sims . At the 2012 Game Developers Conference , EA announced

11466-545: The target of sexual harassment. This can be coupled from similar harassment from external groups, such as during the 2014 Gamergate controversy . Major investigations into allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct that went unchecked by management, as well as discrimination by employers, have been brought up against Riot Games , Ubisoft and Activision Blizzard in the late 2010s and early 2020s, alongside smaller studios and individual developers. However, while other entertainment industries have had similar exposure through

11583-417: The title on the basis of the economic potential for expansion releases. In 2000, Maxis South (Austin, Texas) was closed. The Sims was released in February 2000 to widespread success, and would become one of Maxis' core focuses until a 2006 reorganisation shifted it away from their core team. SimCity 4 was released in 2003, the first title in the series to implement true 3D, as well as the first where Wright

11700-484: The toxic nature of the video game culture. This racial diversity issue has similar ties to the gender one, and similar methods to result both have been suggested, such as improving grade school education, developing games that appeal beyond the white, male gamer stereotype, and identifying toxic behavior in both video game workplaces and online communities that perpetuate discrimination against gender and race. In regards to LGBT and other gender or sexual orientations,

11817-488: The type and density of the zone. Areas of land can be zoned as residential , commercial or industrial areas in various densities where the city will begin to grow. Agriculture is a separate industrial zone-type, unlike previous versions of SimCity , enabling farms to grow regardless of high land value , so long as demand exists for agriculture and agricultural zones have been provided. Zones are now automatically aligned towards roads and most buildings must be adjacent to

11934-487: The use of crunch time at Electronic Arts , a situation known as the "EA Spouses" case. A similar "Rockstar Spouses" case gained further attention in 2010 over working conditions at Rockstar San Diego . Since then, there has generally been negative perception of crunch time from most of the industry as well as from its consumers and other media. Game development had generally been a predominately male workforce. In 1989, according to Variety , women constituted only 3% of

12051-508: The video game industry typically shares the same demographics as with the larger population based on a 2005 IGDA survey. Those in the LGBT community do not find workplace issues with their identity, though work to improve the representation of LGBT themes within video games in the same manner as with racial minorities. However, LGBT developers have also come under the same type of harassment from external groups like women and racial minorities due to

12168-678: The video game industry. Whereas some video game employees believe they should follow the craft-based model used by SAG-AFTRA which would unionize based on job function, others feel an industry-wide union, regardless of job position, would be better. Starting in 2021, several smaller game studios in the United States began efforts to unionize. These mostly involved teams doing quality assurance rather than developers. These studios included three QA studios under Blizzard Entertainment : Raven Software , Blizzard Albany , and Proletariat; and Zenimax Media 's QA team. Microsoft , which had previously acquired Zenimax and announced plans to acquire Blizzard via

12285-504: The workforce in video games is estimated to be from contract labor. Similar to other tech industries, video game developers are typically not unionized . This is a result of the industry being driven more by creativity and innovation rather than production, the lack of distinction between management and employees in the white-collar area, and the pace at which the industry moves that makes union actions difficult to plan out. However, when situations related to crunch time become prevalent in

12402-535: Was SimCity Societies , which was developed by Tilted Mill Entertainment and released on November 13, 2007. The second was SimCity , which was announced in March 2012 and was released in March 2013. During the Republican presidential primaries of 2012 , candidate Herman Cain 's 9-9-9 taxation proposal was widely attributed to a similar tax structure presented in SimCity 4 ; the CNBC cable networks relayed

12519-496: Was "rather rushed" and that the MySim mode "seems like an afterthought." The review concluded that it was a "complex and detailed strategy game," "though not as polished as it could have been." The publication later named it the best computer game of January 2003. GameSpy gave the game a score of 75/100, commenting that SimCity 4 is "graphically stunning"; the review also criticized the game for having issues "that will likely kill

12636-510: Was approached by corporations and government agencies who wanted the company to use the same system simulation principles of SimCity to develop non-game simulations that they could manipulate for similar planning purposes. To support this, Maxis bought a small company, Delta Logic, and its owner John Hiles, who had been focused on more immediate business simulation software, and rebranded it as Maxis Business Simulations (MBS) for this work. Among works developed under this included SimRefinery for

12753-668: Was argued to be "exploitive", as Telltale had been known to force its employees to frequently work under "crunch time" to deliver its games. By the end of 2018, a United Kingdom trade union, Game Workers Unite UK, an affiliate of the Game Workers Unite movement, had been legally established. Following Activision Blizzard 's financial report for the previous quarter in February 2019, the company said that they would be laying off around 775 employees (about 8% of their workforce) despite having record profits for that quarter. Further calls for unionization came from this news, including

12870-748: Was chosen as one of IGN's "Editors' Choice" games for January 2003. It was also given the Parents' Choice Award by the Parents' Choice Foundation. On September 22, 2003, Maxis released an expansion pack for SimCity 4 dubbed Rush Hour . The expansion pack enhances the range of transportation facilities available to the player, such as being able to build four-lane avenues and elevated rail networks, as well as allowing them to trace traffic flow, while also allowing them to construct larger civic facilities; some such facilities have greater capacities, but all have increased maintenance costs. Additional features with

12987-502: Was created specifically to support The Sims 4 . Unlike the Texas office, Maxis Europe is a "distributed development team", composed of staff working remotely. The move came amid a number of job postings at the Redwood Shores studio for a new The Sims title, as well as EA CEO Andrew Wilson hinting at an online multiplayer-focused iteration of the franchise. In 2021, EA reaffirmed their commitment to long term support for The Sims 4 , citing

13104-459: Was discovered that the copy of SimCity 4 sold on EA's own digital distribution platforms (Origin and later the EA App) was an outdated "digital version" that had a different checksum , rendering the game unpatchable even by Maxis' own update utilities. This version of the game lacked the stability and modding capabilities compared to those sold on other platforms, such as Steam or GOG.com. Following

13221-582: Was not directly involved with work. In 2004, Maxis' longtime studios in Walnut Creek were closed, and the staff moved to EA offices in Redwood City and Emeryville . As The Sims became a steady success, Will Wright began to focus on Spore . The three years between its public announcement and its release were protracted enough to attract use of the term " vaporware " by some, and upon its 2008 release, found itself subject to harsh criticism and

13338-475: Was one of the top ten selling PC games of 2003. However, it was criticized for its difficulty and its demands on computer performance. As with previous SimCity titles, SimCity 4 places players in the role of a mayor , tasked with populating and developing tracts of lands into cities , while fulfilling the needs of fellow Sims that live in the cities. Cities are located in regions that are divided into segments , each of which can be developed. The player has

13455-445: Was really, really hard. Will Wright Will Wright stated in an interview on May 16, 2003, that there would probably be more expansion packs after Rush Hour , but none were ever released. In another interview on May 22, 2004, Wright stated that Maxis was attempting to work out a "new direction" for SimCity after new versions had become "steadily more complex". Two SimCity games for PC have followed SimCity 4 . The first

13572-443: Was released in January 2003 for Microsoft Windows and in June 2003 for Mac OS X . It is the fourth major installment in the SimCity series . SimCity 4 has a single expansion pack called Rush Hour which adds features to the game. SimCity 4: Deluxe Edition contains the original game and Rush Hour combined as a single product. The game allows players to create a region of land by terraforming , and then to design and build

13689-509: Was then reorganised under EA Worldwide Studios in 2016, with the rest of Salt Lake shut down in 2017. Redwood Shores faced further layoffs in 2018, which included 15-20 Maxis staff. Development of The Sims Mobile was relocated away from the remaining Maxis developers in 2019, with Firemonkeys taking over. This left continued support for The Sims 4 as the sole Maxis-fronted project at EA. The closure of Emeryville in particular—as Maxis' long-lived core location—was described by commentators as

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