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."
Check out our guide to the best city-building games for more excellent titles in the genre.
