UPDATE @ 8:00 PM EDT: According to the credits for the Courtyard Oasis Kit, some other positions at Maxis Europe may have already been filled. Isabelle Henriques, based out of Spain, is credited as a Senior Producer while Phill Ring, based out of the UK, is credited as an Executive Producer.
ORIGINAL POST:
Maxis is starting to expand its team into Europe! The EA Careers Website has numerous new job listings for a new development “studio” dubbed “Maxis Europe.”
To call it a new studio would be technically inaccurate. Unlike the newly opened Maxis Texas, based in Austin it seems that EA is hiring from a wide variety of countries in Europe, and most of the positions are labeled as remote work, either from home or from several EA offices based in Europe without a central Maxis presence at these offices.
Additionally, in the past day since this news was uncovered by Sims fans, the job listings have been edited to remove any direct references to “Maxis Europe.” Currently, the two new open job postings are for a Technical Lead and a Senior Development Director.
Here is an excerpt from the job listings:
The Sims 4 is looking to expand on providing a world-class experience for our players. As part of an initiative to provide broader coverage, we are looking to establish a distributed development team based in the EU region to complement our team in Redwood Shores CA, USA. We are looking for a strong Technical Lead to oversee tech planning and implementation of features/tools and to lead a team of cross-functional engineers.
While Maxis Texas seems to be working on a new game IP, the new positions in Europe seem to be specifically for further development on The Sims 4. This comes as no surprise, as new Maxis GM/VP Catharina Mallet recently stated that the studio is committed long-term to The Sims 4.
These new positions may also free up the flagship Redwood Shores office to continue development on the long-rumored 5th entry in the franchise. As previously reported, the Redwood Shores offices have been steadily hiring new employees to work on a “next-generation Sims game” since 2018.
Over several years, The Sims 4‘s team at Redwood Shores saw several layoffs. And just before the game’s launch in 2014, the entire Maxis team at EA’s Salt Lake City offices was axed. This team was responsible for many expansions to The Sims 3 such as University Life and Supernatural and freed up development time at the Redwood Shores office to shift its focus to The Sims 4 and allowed for more tech-intensive expansion packs such as The Sims 3 Seasons and Island Paradise.
If anything, these new studio expansions signal a long-term commitment to The Sims franchise by EA. We may see more frequent content for The Sims 4 over the next few years, among other developments.
Hat Tip: Lilly87 & NoahGLP
