Maxis & The Sims are far from over, according to the EA Careers WebsiteAfter our recent report that EA is laying off some of their veteran employees working at Maxis, it seems that new positions have opened up on the EA Careers website, talking offering opportunities to work on The Sims 4, “The Sims”, The Sims Mobile and Maxis’ yet-to-be-announced HD & Mobile titles. Here are the current openings on their website, with a highlight on certain aspects mentioned on each career opportunity that talk about the present and the future of The Sims and Maxis in general.In case you don’t know (and you’ll need this information as it’s going be mentioned a few times in the listings below), HD titles are PC titles and Mobile titles, are, well, mobile titles. Director, Analytics – Maxis You will manage our team of analysts to improve gameplay and product performance, as well as support business planning and strategy for the studio. You will support multiple products, from currently live titles like The Sims 4, The Sims Mobile, and yet unannounced major HD and mobile game launches. Senior Brand Manager, HD Product & Brand Lead – Maxis The Maxis Marketing team is looking for a dynamic, highly motivated Senior Brand Manager to serve as the Maxis Marketing HD Product & Brand Lead for The Sims and shape the future of a world-renowned, interactive entertainment brand that has entertained hundreds of millions of people around the globe for more than eighteen years. There will also be opportunities to manage other famous Maxis brands such as SimCity in this role and Maxis-wide initiatives such as Brand Partnerships. System Designer (Contract) – Maxis As a System Designer on The Sims, you’ll be working with a large (but tight-knit) team of enthusiastic industry professionals from all walks of life. Your job will be to design and create user-facing content for the Sims using our internal scripting tools. EA is also looking for a new Global Community Mananger for The Sims – a position which was previously ran by SimGuruDrake.Considering that there’s talks for both announced titles (The Sims 4, The Sims Mobile), and unannounced titles (“The Sims”, unannounced major HD and Mobile releases), as well as the fact that they’re looking into completely changing their marketing strategy and shaping the future of Maxis, it seems that The Sims, and Maxis in general, are far from over.Credits to: Jovan Jovic @ Sims Community for the article.Link:simscommunity.info/2018/04/24/maxis-the-sims-are-far-from-over-according-to-the-ea-careers-website/More links available at the above linked page.

"MiSFiT203;d-939060" wrote: Director, Analytics – Maxis You will manage our team of analysts to improve gameplay and product performance, as well as support business planning and strategy for the studio. You will support multiple products, from currently live titles like The Sims 4, The Sims Mobile, and yet unannounced major HD and mobile game launches. Senior Brand Manager, HD Product & Brand Lead – Maxis The Maxis Marketing team is looking for a dynamic, highly motivated Senior Brand Manager to serve as the Maxis Marketing HD Product & Brand Lead for The Sims and shape the future of a world-renowned, interactive entertainment brand that has entertained hundreds of millions of people around the globe for more than eighteen years. There will also be opportunities to manage other famous Maxis brands such as SimCity in this role and Maxis-wide initiatives such as Brand Partnerships. System Designer (Contract) – Maxis As a System Designer on The Sims, you’ll be working with a large (but tight-knit) team of enthusiastic industry professionals from all walks of life. Your job will be to design and create user-facing content for the Sims using our internal scripting tools. Zero mention of TS4, does this mean there’s hope for TS5 still? :smiley:

Zero mention of TS4, does this mean there’s hope for TS5 still? :smiley: @keylimepiesims I cant see why they would be hiring for a franchise they no longer plan to work on. so i would expect that all options are still on the table. TS4 or newer.The sims 4 still falls under "the sims" umbrella (though i hate to admit it) so not saying the sims 4 specifically, to me implies that its not just limited to one specific game.

looking deeper at the job descriptions sourced by the related article there is this...Director, Analytics - MaxisWe are looking for a passionate leader to turn data into insight and insight into business decisions and results. You will manage our team of analysts to improve gameplay and product performance, as well as support business planning and strategy for the studio. You will support multiple products, from currently live titles like The Sims 4, The Sims Mobile, and yet unannounced major HD and mobile game launches.and..Global Community Manager - The SimsThe Community Manager has the following primary responsibilities: This position will primarily work on The Sims 4, with a contributing role to the Sims ecosystem including The Sims 4, The Sims Mobile, and other Sims titles within the franchise.which both specifically mention the sims 4. Community manager mentioning "position will primarily work on The Sims 4"

The vision for the game of someone who has been working for this franchise for decades does not necessarily translate into features that will attract new players. Personally, I like CL, but many players do not. You can't go a week on the forum without a thread coming up about how someone dislikes the expansion (or any expansion). So I was not terribly surprised to find out this is something that at least one of the veterans who were let go, worked on.

I must say reading that article yesterday calmed me down a little bit because it wouldn't make sense to hire new people to work on a game you want to let go of in the near future. Sadly that doesn't mean this is proof we're getting good quality packs in the future but then again keeping ppl who have been around for ages isn't either.I was annoyed to read they were shrinking down the team and moving people to the mobile game but if letting go of some older people means they can hire back more people, people with potentially fresh eyes, fresh motivation and ideas then this could be an oke thing.I really hope the team can be bigger in the future as in my opinion we needed a bigger team since so many ppl have left the team in the past two years etc. I really hope these new ppl (when hired) have fresh eyes and loads of ideas and motivation for this game.This game is nowhere near finished in my opinion.

You can relax, It's not over. | EA Forums

JanuaryGarnet08
New Spectator
7 years ago
"Lycius2018;c-16449708" wrote:
I didn't see anything in that about PC titles only mobile. Just look at what EA did to Mass Effect and gobs of other titles. I'll believe the franchise isn't dead on PC when TS5 comes out on something other than a phone.

It said HD titiles. HD titles are PC games, and it named TS4 specifically.
SimsAddict_244
New Spectator
7 years ago
As long as they let us enjoy the game without making us wait 6+ hours real time to take a simple bath, I think I'll stay cautiously optimistic for now for the future of the Sims on PC. We already have Sims FreePlay and TSM for that.
Erpeerpe
7 years ago
Actually “HD Titles” means high-definition titles and the term is usually used more for console games than for PC games. But here it likely doesn’t matter because when EA is hiring for “an unannounced major HD title” this likely just means that they are hiring for an upcoming new big game that will be released both for the PCs and for consoles.
stormsview
7 years ago

"bixters;c-16449230" wrote:
"jaletu2005;c-16448715" wrote:

But it is looking very promising according to this new info and I for one am relieved. So may we now look forward to brighter and better things for the Sims 4 and especially for the franchise! Back to Simming!! :p

What is promising? Replacing valuable, experienced employees with new employees who's work could be hit or miss? Sounds to me like EA doesn't know how to coordinate an effective Sims team. No offense, but there's nothing to be optimistic about

So they want 1000 new employees to replace their valuable, experience, employees, Is that possible, I don't think so. I do not care what type of degree they walk in with it will not replace years of dedicated experience + degrees.

Which Doctor would you choose one right out of Med school or one with 10 + years experience
Erpeerpe
7 years ago
"Stormsview;c-16450188" wrote:

"bixters;c-16449230" wrote:
"jaletu2005;c-16448715" wrote:

But it is looking very promising according to this new info and I for one am relieved. So may we now look forward to brighter and better things for the Sims 4 and especially for the franchise! Back to Simming!! :p

What is promising? Replacing valuable, experienced employees with new employees who's work could be hit or miss? Sounds to me like EA doesn't know how to coordinate an effective Sims team. No offense, but there's nothing to be optimistic about

So they want 1000 new employees to replace their valuable, experience, employees, Is that possible, I don't think so. I do not care what type of degree they walk in with it will not replace years of dedicated experience + degrees.

Which Doctor would you choose one right out of Med school or one with 10 + years experience

So you would set a graphic artist to do the programming, the sound or whatever just because the graphic artist had more experience with designing the graphics? ;)

The point is that there are many types of developers just like there is in a hospital where you wouldn’t like a medical doctor or a dentist to do heart surgery either. Look at http://creativeskillset.org/creative_industries/games/job_roles to see 12 different types of jobs in game development described.

Maybe EA needed more graphic artists instead of programmers or more programmers instead of game designers and producers or whatever. Even EA can’t give an experienced game developer a job which would have required this developer to have a different education.
fjb792
7 years ago
"Erpe;c-16450211" wrote:

So you would set a graphic artist to do the programming, the sound or whatever just because the graphic artist had more experience with designing the graphics? ;)

The point is that there are many types of developers just like there is in a hospital where you wouldn’t like a medical doctor or a dentist to do heart surgery either. Look at http://creativeskillset.org/creative_industries/games/job_roles to see 12 different types of jobs in game development described.

Maybe EA needed more graphic artists instead of programmers or more programmers instead of game designers and producers or whatever. Even EA can’t give an experienced game developer a job which would have required this developer to have a different education.

That's not what we're saying at all. New employees should be placed where they're most experienced in all situations. But getting rid of experienced and knowledgeable employees, who have been with the game for 20 YEARS, seems unwise. They have the most knowledge about what SHOULD be in a Sims game and what has been successful in the past. The Sims team is not like a hospital or a regular business. It is very specialized for employees with specific traits who actually KNOW the game. The Sims is not some basic game where anyone can just jump in and know everything, it's much more complicated than most games. Getting rid of alumni who know the ins and outs of the game is foolhardy. These employees, instead of being laid off or voluntarily leaving, should have been promoted for their experience with the game into leadership positions. In leadership positions, these seasoned employees could train newer employees and make the game better for everyone involved.
Erpeerpe
7 years ago
"bixters;c-16450293" wrote:
"Erpe;c-16450211" wrote:

So you would set a graphic artist to do the programming, the sound or whatever just because the graphic artist had more experience with designing the graphics? ;)

The point is that there are many types of developers just like there is in a hospital where you wouldn’t like a medical doctor or a dentist to do heart surgery either. Look at http://creativeskillset.org/creative_industries/games/job_roles to see 12 different types of jobs in game development described.

Maybe EA needed more graphic artists instead of programmers or more programmers instead of game designers and producers or whatever. Even EA can’t give an experienced game developer a job which would have required this developer to have a different education.

That's not what we're saying at all. New employees should be placed where they're most experienced in all situations. But getting rid of experienced and knowledgeable employees, who have been with the game for 20 YEARS, seems unwise. They have the most knowledge about what SHOULD be in a Sims game and what has been successful in the past. The Sims team is not like a hospital or a regular business. It is very specialized for employees with specific traits who actually KNOW the game. The Sims is not some basic game where anyone can just jump in and know everything, it's much more complicated than most games. Getting rid of alumni who know the ins and outs of the game is foolhardy. These employees, instead of being laid off or voluntarily leaving, should have been promoted for their experience with the game into leadership positions. In leadership positions, these seasoned employees could train newer employees and make the game better for everyone involved.

What I am saying is that for simmers a developer is just a developer. But that isn’t true at all. There are artists who make the graphics. There are audio engineers who make the sound and the music. There are programmers who write code. There are producers who make sure that the progress goes according to plans and within the budget. And there are testers and so on. The developers are very specialized and can’t just be moved around to a different kind of job. But their skills and experiences can be used by EA in other games too.

Things just aren’t as simple as simmers most often assume.
fjb792
7 years ago
"Erpe;c-16450335" wrote:

What I am saying is that for simmers a developer is just a developer. But that isn’t true at all. There are artists who make the graphics. There are audio engineers who make the sound and the music. There are programmers who write code. There are producers who make sure that the progress goes according to plans and within the budget. And there are testers and so on. The developers are very specialized and can’t just be moved around to a different kind of job. But their skills and experiences can be used by EA in other games too.

Things just aren’t as simple as simmers most often assume.

And you apparently have no problem with these specialized developers being moved to the mobile division, right? You just proved our point.
fjb792
7 years ago
"princess_kaguya;c-16449918" wrote:

the issue with mass effect is that it was made by a bunch of newbies who were new on the industry... im not saying we shouldnt give a chance to people who are just starting developing games but the final product can be rather...raw (yes im looking at you, No Mans Sky)
~~corret me if im wrong~~

This is exactly my concern with getting rid of old, experienced employees and hiring newbies. How will it end up effecting the overall product?
Erpeerpe
7 years ago
"bixters;c-16450360" wrote:
"Erpe;c-16450335" wrote:

What I am saying is that for simmers a developer is just a developer. But that isn’t true at all. There are artists who make the graphics. There are audio engineers who make the sound and the music. There are programmers who write code. There are producers who make sure that the progress goes according to plans and within the budget. And there are testers and so on. The developers are very specialized and can’t just be moved around to a different kind of job. But their skills and experiences can be used by EA in other games too.

Things just aren’t as simple as simmers most often assume.

And you apparently have no problem with these specialized developers being moved to the mobile division, right? You just proved our point.

As @Writin_Reg has written we only know very few of the developers because most of them have chosen not to be simgurus. But you don’t like new names among the simgurus?

A developer has a specialized education and can use this education to make all kinds of games. Some developers came from sports games or small casual games before they was moved to the Sims team. Would moving them back to sports games have been better for you than moving them to mobile games or console games? Why do you even care?