Maxis

Maxis is the game studio that makes The Sims. Will Wright and Jeff Braun founded it in 1987. Electronic Arts (EA) bought Maxis in 1997, and Maxis is still a part of EA today. Its main work now is The Sims 4 and new Sims games.

Maxis also made SimCity and Spore. Today, EA’s Maxis page shows only one game: The Sims 4. The page describes the team as “Craftspeople. Storytellers. Tinkerers.”

Many people search for Maxis because of news about EA. A group of investors bought EA in 2026. Below, we explain what that sale means for The Sims, and what Maxis works on now.

This is the LifeSim blog. LifeSim is our game, and it is not a Maxis game. We opened every source on this page on November 13, 2026. When a source is a report and not an EA statement, we say so.

Will Wright and Jeff Braun founded Maxis in 1987, in Orinda, California. Wikipedia says that they started the company to publish SimCity on home computers.

Will Wright

Will Wright is the game designer. He designed SimCity, The Sims, and Spore. Wikipedia says that he met Jeff Braun in 1986, at a pizza party.

Jeff Braun

Jeff Braun was the investor and the business partner. He left Maxis after the EA sale in 1997.

The first years

SimCity came out in 1989. It was the first Maxis game. Maxis moved to Walnut Creek, California, in 1994. The company sold shares to the public on June 1, 1995.

Maxis made three big series: SimCity, The Sims, and Spore. The table shows the main games and the years from Wikipedia.

The 2013 SimCity needed an online connection, even for one player. Server problems at launch made players lose hours of work.

Not every Sims or SimCity game came from Maxis. For example, Tilted Mill made SimCity Societies in 2007. Read our guides to The Sims Online and The Sims Medieval for two spin-offs. The made-up language of the Sims is in our Simlish guide.

EA bought Maxis in 1997. Wikipedia says that the news came in June 1997, and the sale closed on July 28, 1997. EA paid in its own shares, not in cash.

After the sale, Jeff Braun left, and almost half of the staff lost their jobs. Will Wright stayed. He made The Sims and Spore at EA.

What EA changed at Maxis after 1997

• 2004: EA closed the Walnut Creek office. The staff moved to Redwood City and Emeryville.
• 2015: EA closed the Emeryville studio, the home of SimCity and Spore. The Redwood Shores team stayed.
• 2019: EA started Maxis Texas, in Austin, for a new game.
• 2021: EA started Maxis Europe, a remote team, to work on The Sims 4.

Wikipedia names Catharina Lavers Mallet as the general manager of Maxis since 2021. EA’s own Maxis page names no leader.

Yes. Maxis is still a part of EA. In 2026, EA itself changed owners. Three investors bought EA: PIF (the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia), Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners. Maxis came with EA.

The dates of the EA sale

• September 29, 2025: EA announced the deal. The value of EA in the deal was about $55 billion.
• December 22, 2025: EA stockholders approved the deal at a special meeting.
• August 4, 2026: EA announced that the deal “has successfully closed.” EA stock stopped trading.

The sale is closed, not only announced. EA is now a private company. Andrew Wilson is still the chairman and CEO. In the 2025 news, EA said that it will keep its headquarters in Redwood City.

What EA said about The Sims after the sale

On October 21, 2026, EA posted a letter to its staff. The letter closed BioWare. For The Sims, it said: “We’re going to prioritize our efforts on ‘Project Evergreen’ for The Sims.” It also said that EA is “pausing development on ‘Project Lotus.’”

The letter does not say what Evergreen or Lotus are. It does not name Maxis. Bloomberg reported about 400 job cuts at EA. An unnamed person gave that number. The letter gives no number. Gematsu called Lotus “canceled,” but EA’s word is “pausing.”

In January 2026, before the sale closed, The Sims team wrote a post on EA’s site. It said that its “creative control, guided by our values of inclusivity, choice, creativity, community, and play, has not changed.” The post did not name the sale.

What does this mean for players today? The Sims 4 is still free to play and still gets updates. We found no EA statement that ends a Sims game because of the sale. Anything more than that is a guess, and we do not repeat guesses.

Maxis works on The Sims 4 and on new Sims games. On January 9, 2026, EA said that “more than half” of its global Sims team works on “The Sims 4 and the next evolution.”

The Sims 4

The newest expansion pack is Royalty & Legacy. It came out on February 12, 2026. On February 24, 2026, EA posted a roadmap of fixes for 2026. The roadmap names Sim behavior, infants, crashes, meals, and family trees. Our Sims 4 patch notes guide follows each update.

Project Rene

Project Rene is a code name, first shown on October 18, 2022. In January 2026, EA said that Project Rene “has evolved to focus on social multiplayer play.” EA also said that it “is not the successor to The Sims 4.” Read more in our Project Rene guide.

The Sims Labs

The Sims Labs is the name for small public tests of new ideas. EA named two tests: The Sims Labs: Life Together and The Sims Labs: Town Stories. In March 2026, Sims Community reported that Town Stories was canceled. That report came from a former designer’s post. EA and Maxis made no statement.

The Sims 5

EA has not announced a game with the name The Sims 5. Our Sims 5 release date page tracks what EA has said.

No. Will Wright left EA and Maxis in April 2009. Engadget reported the news on April 8, 2009. He does not own The Sims; EA owns it.

Wright left to run Stupid Fun Club, a small company for new ideas. EA had a share in it equal to his share. EA also had the first right to anything that Stupid Fun Club made.

Gallium Studios and Proxi

Later, Wright started Gallium Studios with Lauren Elliott, the designer of Carmen Sandiego. Their game is Proxi, a game about your own memories. Wikipedia says that the studio let its staff go in October 2024, when the money ran out. Wright kept working with a small group who help for free.

Today the Gallium Studios home page shows a game named MyMems. It says: “From The Sims creator Will Wright.” The page gives the date “Powering up in 2027.” The page does not use the name Proxi. We found no source that says if MyMems is Proxi with a new name. Our Proxi guide has the full story.

For a Maxis game, play The Sims 4. It is free to play, with paid packs. Check the store page for the cost of each pack. For other studios, our games like The Sims list and our alternatives to The Sims page compare the main choices.

We make LifeSim. It is not a Maxis game, and it is not like SimCity or Spore. It is free, with no ads and nothing to buy, in the browser and on iPhone. You live one life in a real city on a 3D map of Earth. The people there are AI characters who answer in their own words and remember you. The Sims 4 does better if you want to build houses and control a whole family.

Use this rule. If you want to build cities, houses, or creatures, choose a Maxis game. If you want to talk with the people in your life sim, try LifeSim.

• The Sims 4 Get Together
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• The Sims Bustin’ Out
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• Sims 4 save files: install, all worlds, backup
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• Is The Sims 4 on Game Pass?
• Sims 4 system requirements
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• How long does a Sim live in The Sims 4?
• Is The Sims Mobile still playable?

• Wikipedia: Maxis
• EA: Maxis studio page
• EA: EA announces completion of acquisition (August 4, 2026)
• Advanced Television: EA acquired by PIF, Silver Lake, Affinity Partners (September 29, 2025)
• Gematsu: EA announces completion of acquisition (August 4, 2026)
• EA: Building EA’s next chapter (October 21, 2026)
• Gematsu: EA to lay off 400 staff, shut down BioWare (October 21, 2026)
• EA: The future of The Sims (January 9, 2026)
• Wccftech: Maxis says The Sims values remain unchanged (January 9, 2026)
• EA: The Sims 4 quality of life roadmap 2026 (February 24, 2026)
• EA: The Sims 4 Royalty & Legacy expansion pack
• Sims Community: EA cancels The Sims Town Stories (March 13, 2026)
• Wikipedia: The Sims
• Wikipedia: SimCity
• Wikipedia: Spore (2008 video game)
• Wikipedia: Will Wright
• Engadget: Will Wright leaves EA, mostly (April 8, 2009)
• Wikipedia: Proxi
• Gallium Studios