Maxis GDC announcement sparks SimCity talk

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 16 February, 2012

EA to livestream "Game Changers" event next month.

EA has promised an announcement from Maxis next month - and sparked speculation that a brand new SimCity game is in the works.

EA will livestream a Game Developers Conference event on 6th March, and promised an announcement from the developer behind Spore, The Sims and the SimCity series. The stream begins at 2am UK time on 6th March.

After EA set its Game Changers countdown website live, EA PR Erik Reynolds tweeted: "MORE INFO! EA Maxis GDC announcement, huge event w/ special guests."

Then, on the Game Changer Facebook page: "How can we change the world together? Find out when EA hosts the Game Changers event at GDC. What would you do if you had the power to change the world?"

The power to change the world? Hmm...

Maxis' last title was 2011 Spore spin-off Darkspore. Its last entry in the main SimCity series was SimCity 4, which launched nine years ago in 2003. Is it ready to take the lid off SimCity 5?

At the event EA is expected to reveal Danger Close Studios shooter Medal of Honor 2, a game the company first teased via a slip inside copies of Battlefield 3. Invitations to the GDC event featured a MOH image.

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (13) Latest comment 3 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Der_tolle_Emil #1 3 months ago

    I could really go for a new SimCity game. For some reason I never really got along with SimCity 4 although I found the predecessors all very interesting; I especially spent ages with SimCity 3000.

  • djkav #2 3 months ago

    Its about time we had a new Simcity :)

    Last one I played was on my Amiga many years ago.

  • markyHD #3 3 months ago

    Are they teasing me with a multiplayer mode? Whereby my city has online neighbours, with their cities, and the whole thing dynamically interacts, e.g. crime spills over, trading, etc.

    /Ponders.......

  • Boki #4 3 months ago

    @Der_tolle_Emil
    me too I spent ages on simcity3000 (and don't even get me started on simfarm :), never really got into simcity 4

  • Eraysor #5 3 months ago

    I'd not complain if it was Spore 2 or SimCity 5. SC4 is still a masterpiece even today, and thankfully the style they used means it's still playable and good looking!

  • Nismo400R84 #6 3 months ago

    I had simcity3000 on psone spent alot of time on it recently got simcity4 deluxe on steam and I have really enjoyed.
    @markyHD that's sound like a excellent idea and I have no doubt they will make it use origin,so it looks like this would be the game to make me start using origin

  • Rezel #7 3 months ago

    /me is still playing Simcity 4 =3

  • niroe #8 3 months ago

    Please be Simcity 5 ... Not some stupid Free2Play web rubbish ... Please be Simcity 5 ... Not some stupid Free2Play web rubbish ... Please!

  • CheesecakeBobby #9 3 months ago

    Please have a mode where we can explore the city at person-height! I used to love SimCopter and Streets of Sim City despite the shit gameplay, just because I could build something and then wander around from street-view...

  • Matthew_Hornet #10 3 months ago

    I dunno... After the way that was teased, thinking it's "just" another SimCity seems like a failure of the imagination. You hear "game changer... change the world..." and you immediately think "SimCity sequel!" Really?

  • Skirlasvoud #11 3 months ago

    I'm hopeful, but also afraid that Maxis isn't capable of doing anymore what they once did. Simcity 4 was their last great product dedicated to the joy of simulation and did a good job at it, with a silver lining of humor and detail sprinkled through.

    Since then, they've tasted of their goose's own golden eggs too much. Nowadays, everything has a popular social quality or a shallow gimmick to it, that makes their games all hype and less substance. Sim city societies, Spore, the latest sims, darkspore.

    Their games used to feel like bold new experiments that succeeded through skill, not clever marketing ploys that succeed through mainstream popularity.


    I await their latest offerings with bated breath.
    Edited by Skirlasvoud at 16/02/12 @ 13:41

  • Whitster #12 3 months ago

    As long as it isnt anything like that terrible version of Theme Park on iOS.

  • robchilton #13 3 months ago

    @Skirlasvoud Sims 3, and Sim City Societies were not made or developed by Maxis. Sims 3 has it's own team of EA Developers and Societies (the worst game ever dare to call itself Sim City) was made by Tilted Mill. Although I never ended up buy Spore the time I spent playing it at a friends was enjoyable enough, certainly Maxis could pull it out of the bag. Maybe I'm the optimist though.

    If not Sim City 5 let them release the source for SC4 so the modders can have a go at getting it to run on Multicores and modern hardware at decent rates.