Just as we predicted – Maxis’ GM confirms the future of The Sims 4, as well as development on the next generation Sims Game
All the rumors are officially true.
I’ve been reporting on the development of the next generation Sims Game (or as I call it, The Sims 5 until we have an official name) for quite a while now.
It all began in September 2018 when we got a first confirmation that the next generation Sims Game is in development. At the beginning of 2020 we got a confirmation from EA’s CEO, Andrew Wilson, that Maxis is planning a next generation Sims Game. Having both single player and multiplayer in mind. A year later first clues about the development software of the next generation Sims Game surfaced – confirming that The Sims 5 is being prototyped in Unreal Engine. Later on new information started surfacing through the EA Careers website regarding features such as Story and Narrative Modes, Competitive Features, Cross-Platform Functionality and so much more. The last report that we’ve done was at the beginning of 2022, with talks about Cinematic Storytelling.
Maxis started expanding later in 2021 with new studios. The first one that we reported being Maxis Europe, supporting both the development of The Sims 4 and The Sims 5. Just last month Maxis has done a huge rebranding after almost 20 years.
The updated Maxis website also confirmed that Maxis now has several studios, including:
- Redwood City, California
- Austin, Texas
- Kitchener, Ontario
- Across United States and Europe
The rebranding has been done specifically in mind to attract a new generation of future Maxis employees, considering that the studio is growing drastically.
All of this packed together with an official blog post from EA and Maxis just recently released, talking about the future development of The Sims Franchise.
In the official blog post Catharina Mallet, Vice President and General Manager for Maxis and The Sims Franchise has shared exciting insight about the future of Maxis and The Sims.
Catharina has revealed the following in the official post:
- Maxis will be continuing to create entertaining and unexpected content for The Sims 4 for years to come.
- …All while developing the future of The Sims Franchise
The confirmation reveals what we’ve been reporting on all along – Maxis is getting big enough to support the development of both The Sims 4 and The Sims 5. Their updated Maxis Careers website proves just that, with tens of different open positions that are both for The Sims 4 and The Sims 5.
Come Build The Future of The Sims Franchise
A message from Catharina Mallet, Vice President and General Manager, Maxis & The Sims Franchise
Last week, I gave a talk at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) called “The Sims: Designing for Inclusivity,” about how the culture and practices we embrace at Maxis (the EA studio behind The SimsTM) contribute to the success and cultural impact of The Sims. It was my first time speaking to the games industry in several years and WOW, it reminded me how invigorating it is to be in such a creative and passionate space.
There’s nothing quite like working in games: the creative and talented people, the groundbreaking technology, the indies and the big shops, the art and the science. Most of all however, it’s about that moment when a player tells you “I love what you made, and playing it made my day better.” Our players are incredibly passionate about the stories they craft, and we love seeing the impact our games have on their lives, their senses of self, and their communities. This sense of purpose – inspiring everyone to make a better world through creative play – and our commitment to our players leads to a truly unique culture at Maxis.
The Sims franchise has been around 22 years, has more than 563 million cross-title installs since 2014, and The Sims 4 was played for 1+ billion hours last year alone. The game has become a platform for self-expression and discovery, and nearly every day we hear stories from our community about how the game has impacted their lives in positive ways. We’re just getting started with all we want to accomplish with this amazing franchise, and we’re looking to grow our team.
Diversity, equity and inclusion have always been important to us at Maxis. We know that our games have the power to impact reality, and shape kinder, more empathetic and inclusive people. We know that diverse perspectives challenge us to think differently and innovate, which inspires our players. And we know that representation matters, and that when players see themselves in our games, they feel empowered. So we work hard to create the diverse and inclusive studio environment that is best suited to give players the choices that reflect and even change their view of the world.
As we look towards our future, continuing to create entertaining and unexpected content for The Sims 4 for years to come while also building the future of The Sims franchise, we want to hear from all kinds of voices. We are committed to being more inclusive of different backgrounds, races, genders, geographies and ways of thinking than ever before. We, of course, want to attract gaming experts, but we also recognize there’s enormous talent potential outside the industry. We need fashion designers, artists, architects, e-commerce specialists, machine learning experts and so much more. We view nontraditional experience as an asset, not a drawback.
Exciting things are coming! Check out our careers page for current listings – we can’t wait to hear from you!
Maxis is encouraging people from all backgrounds and walks of life to consider applying to become a part of their team.
The latest Career Opportunity was published just a few hours ago titled Multiplayer Gameplay Software Engineer.
This Career Opportunity, among many others for the next generation Sims Game, hints to be prototyped in Unreal Engine. A powerful program and tool used by many video game development companies.
Although the next generation Sims Game will have a Multiplayer aspect attached to it, there’s plenty of more information that we listed in the beginning of the article. The next generation Sims Game seem to include plenty of different possibilities and modes for players, with Multiplayer being just one of them.
Here’s the description for the Multiplayer Gameplay Software Engineer, as well as responsibilities and qualifications that reveal new information about the next generation Sims development:
Maxis is looking for an engineer that can help us bring the next wave of simulation features to life. This engineer will work with an experienced team that has collectively built almost all Maxis games in the past two decades. You will work with multiple designers and simulation engineers prototyping and shipping different features that expand the gameplay possibilities of Sims games. Most of the work will be done in Unreal Engine, both in C++ and blueprints.
As a Gameplay ‘Simulation’ Engineer for a game at Maxis, you will report to a Development Director and will:
- Work with designers, producers, artists, and other core and backend engineers to build a framework that brings designs to life.
- Implement a data-driven simulation system to author player facing behaviors in C++.
- Build creative aspects of real life within a simulation game (e.g. socialization, careers, weather, and unique characters).
- Author technical design documents detailing software requirements.
- Build unique content for a game that supports a large demographic of simulation player patterns.
Qualifications
Please note that you do not need to qualify for all requirements to be considered. We encourage you to apply if you can meet most of the requirements and are comfortable opening a dialog to be considered.
- Bachelor/Master’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering or related field.
- 5+ year experience in a hands-on development role.
- Demonstrate technical abilities with large projects implemented in C++.
- Experience building and shipping AAA games in Unreal engine.
- Previous engineering experience overseeing major systems in code bases.
- Experience and willingness to create multiple short-lived prototypes.
- Experience developing for large-scale live products. Products that always update to provide higher quality, and feature set to expand the possibilities in the game.
- Experience building features and tools for games (or applications) that support a collaborative User Generated Content community.
- Experience working in collaborative environments with many-sided roles beyond engineering like design, production, art and product management.
- Experience optimizing performance and memory of real-time applications (like games).
- Experience with Windows platform and development tools.
With all of that being said, I’m happy to see that Maxis is finally getting its strenght back to work on multiple projects all at once.
As we keep reporting on the news about The Sims 5, it’s worth noting once again that Maxis has different teams working on different projects. There’s a team for The Sims 4, The Sims 5 and an unnanounced upcoming IP from Maxis rumored to be titled Lost Astral.
Exciting times seem to be ahead of us, and we’ll make sure to keep you updated on every step of the way!
