SAN FRANCISCO -- The franchise that laid the foundations of the city building simulation genre is back, empowering players to create the world of their imagination. Electronic Arts announced that SimCity is breaking new ground in 2013. SimCity for PC, a brand new entry in the franchise is currently in development at Maxis Emeryville, and was revealed today during Game Changers @ GDC, a symposium that featured inspirational speeches from Academy Award-winning director Davis Guggenheim, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone, and charity: water CEO and founder Scott Harrison.

“We’d like to thank the millions of fans who have helped make SimCity synonymous with the city-building genre. This is a franchise that means the world to us at Maxis and we’re happy to be bringing it back home where we are reimagining it for an entirely new generation of players,” said Lucy Bradshaw, Senior Vice President of EA’s Maxis Label. “Using our proprietary GlassBox Engine, SimCity for PC will equip players with the tools to play the most sophisticated simulation of its kind. We are dedicated to making sure the experience – no matter the platform – has the fun, flavor and playability that has been intrinsic to the franchise since its birth." 

SimCity, slated for release in calendar year 2013 for PC, is a true rebirth of the franchise that brings the depth of simulation that has been the series hallmark for more than two decades and marries it with next generation accessibility and a robust multiplayer mode, giving players the power to change a world together. Fans can catch their first glimpse of the rebirth of SimCity by viewing the extended trailer at www.SimCity.com and can pre-order SimCity today on Origin to receive  SimCity Heroes &Villains content featuring a battle between Maxis Man and his longtime nemesis Evil Dr. Vu. 

For more than two decades, the king of city-building simulators has sworn in millions of virtual mayors from around the world. With its return in 2013, SimCity will engage an entirely new generation of PC gamers as they take charge of their own customized cities and build a world that co-exists alongside friends. For the first time in SimCity franchise history, players’ decisions will have long-lasting repercussions that will extend beyond their city limits. Together, players will address real global challenges such as climate change, the search for renewable resources and natural disasters.  It’s up to the players to decide whether to compete or collaborate to shape the world of tomorrow – for better or for worse.

About the Author

John Gaudiosi

Editor-in-Chief

John Gaudiosi has been covering videogames for the past 17 years for outlets like The Washington Post, CNET, Wired Magazine and CBS.com. He has focused on the convergence of entertainment and videogames for outlets like Video Business, Home Media Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, The Hollywood Reporter and Variety. He currently serves as Editor-in-Chief of Gamerlive.TV and is also a freelance game columnist for Reuters and writes for outlets like Playboy Magazine, NVISION Magazine, GamePro Magazine, Official PlayStation Magazine, EGM Now, Maxim.com, AOL GameDaily.com, GeForce.com, and Yahoo! Games. John also serves as the video game expert for NBC in Washington D.C. John was named one of the Top 50 Game Journalists in the world by Next-Gen.biz in 2007. He is the co-author of Scholastic Books' How to Get into Videogames, Prima Publishing's Madden: Twenty Years of Videogame Football and Electronic Arts: The Official History.