Maxis has listed a job posting for a creative director to work on a new project out of the studio based in Austin, Texas. And based on the content of the ad, we can make some guesses about what the new project is.
For starters, we can tell it’s probably not a Sims title. The Sims series is developed by a team based in Redwood Shores, California, rather close to EA’s main base. Having a Sims title in a relatively unknown office would be kind of weird, so this new video game is probably not a new expansion for, or version of, the life simulator.
And since its a creative director position, and the listing itself mentions pitching and the ability to “evangelize” for new projects, we can guess that this is a new project entirely from the ground up. The job listing also mentions PC and mobile games experience, suggesting future projects for both sectors of the industry.
“experience designing, launching, monitoring and evolving a live service title”, and says that experience working with “licensing partners” is preferred which lends credence to the idea that the project is some kind of licensed game. And also its’ likely that it features online components as a main feature, Other details are likely to be revealed soon, as soon as EA and Maxis make a formal announcement.
For those not in the know, live services is essentially industry speak for long-term support for a given product through in-game events and tie-ins. Electronic Arts has been one of many publishers, like major competitor Ubisoft, to push the idea very hard. Turning a major segment of the AAA industry into a machine for persistent development. This has of course met with both positive and negative outcomes.
But as far as Maxis goes, we will just have to wait and see what the future holds.
