Fans Angered by New SimCity Direction
Forums erupt as EA hands the city simulation series to a new developer.
Before The Sims, Will Wright spent his time courting the mainstream with city-building series SimCity. Now EA is giving the series another look - in all senses of the word.
The series in its SimCity 4 days
For starters, series developer Maxis is out - they're still working on Spore, after all - and in comes Tilted Mill, which finished up work on
The title hints at the changes to come too. EA is straying from its own convention and going with SimCity Societies rather than the expected SimCity 5, which appears to be related to a new emphasis on the people that inhabit the city rather than the city itself.
Not everyone is happy about the change.
Die-hard SimCity fans have already taken to their favourite message boards to vent their disgust at perceived changes. This spread to Tilted Mill's own forum, where Chris Beatrice, the company's president, came to his team's defense.
In a post on the forum, Beatrice said: "This SC is not a realistic urban simulation, which I understand, to many, represents the heart of what SC is."
He added that he respected the opinions of hardcore SimCity fans - the "lifeblood of the gaming industry" - upset by the news but said that the developers "make no apologies" for the game they've made.
According to 1Up, SimCity Societies is due this winter.
Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo
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