Electronic Arts is shutting down the Maxis Emeryville studio. That's the team behind the remake of SimCity and The Sims 4, two of Maxis' least successful titles in the past decade, and both buggy messes at launch with missing features.

The news comes on the same week thousands of game developers and enthusiasts get together at the Game Developer Conference, making it one of the worst times to drop the ball that hundreds of people have lost their jobs.

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It's not confirmed if the devs involved in SimCity and The Sims 4 will get other jobs at EA studios or if they'll simply get a severance package for their service.

Maxis Emeryville has been one of EA's studios for 12 years. It represents the continued demise of EA studios over the past few years as the video game company looks to downscale following poor financial results.

EA released a statement regarding the closure:

"Today we are consolidating Maxis IP development to our studios in Redwood Shores, Salt Lake City, Helsinki and Melbourne locations as we close our Emeryville location. Maxis continues to support and develop new experiences for current Sims and SimCity players, while expanding our franchises to new platforms and developing new cross-platform IP.

"These changes do not impact our plans for The Sims. Players will continue to see rich new experiences in The Sims 4, with our first expansion pack coming soon along with a full slate of additional updates and content in the pipeline.

"All employees impacted by the changes today will be given opportunities to explore other positions within the Maxis studios and throughout EA. For those that are leaving the company, we are working to ensure the best possible transition with separation packages and career assistance."

SimCity was one of the biggest failures for EA. Not only did it fail to manage the always-online servers, but it lied to thousands of customers by saying always-online services needed to be active to keep the game working.

TagsEA, Maxis, Maxis Emeryville, SimCity, The Sims 4