One of SimCity's lead developers says he was "thrilled to see Cities: Skylines pick up the mantle" after EA called it a day on Maxis' city-building series.
While it didn't invent the city-building genre, SimCity is responsible for making it popular. It laid the foundation for the wave of city builders that came after, including the hugely successful Cities: Skylines.
Following the disastrous launch of SimCity 2013 a decade ago, and the subsequent closure of developer Maxis Emeryville, the SimCity series came to a rather abrupt and undignified end in 2015, the same time that the newly launched city builder Cities: Skylines was gaining a massive following of fans. With the once groundbreaking series reduced to rubble, SimCity veteran Ocean Quigley says he was happy that Cities: Skylines could continue pushing boundaries for city-builders.
Speaking to PC Gamer, Quigley, who worked as creative director on SimCity 2013, said, "I was thrilled to see Cities: Skylines pick up the mantle because EA pretty much said, 'We're done with this for now.'" He added, "So if it wasn't Cities: Skylines doing something ambitious with it, then these ideas were just going to fall by the wayside and never really go anywhere."
Just yesterday, Cities Skylines developer Colossal Order announced its acclaimed city builder is getting a sequel. Cities: Skylines 2 is launching later this year on PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC, and if its achievements list is anything to go by, the studio has some intriguing new gameplay elements in store.
Check out our guide to the best city-building games for more excellent titles in the genre.
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