SimCity Societies Not Developed By Maxis

A new developer and a departure from the original franchise means the fifth SimCity game could be a bit different than we might expect.

The SimCity franchise is making a comeback, but it may not exactly be what fans expect. News of SimCity: Societies broke yesterday from Games for Windows Magazine, but as further details trickle out, it appears we’re in for something quite unlike the original SimCity games.

For one, the game won’t be developed at Maxis at all, leaving any hope of Sid Meier’s heavy involvement squashed. Instead, Tilted Mill Entertainment will handle its development, creators of Children of the Nile and Caesar IV. Both games use a top-down perspective and SimCity-like interface, so there’s even a possibility we’ll see the newest incarnation borrow an engine.

Perhaps a bigger disappointment to fans might be that the fifth SimCity won’t attempt to follow in the path of the earlier titles. Chris Beatrice, Tilted Mill president and director of development, preemptively took to his company’s forums to clear the air about the game before any rumors started. “I do not want to mislead anyone: This SC is not a realistic urban simulation, which I understand, to many, represents the heart of what SC is,” he wrote.

How far will it stray from the path? After a blowout on the Titled Mill forums following Beatrice’s orginal post, he clarified, “I must make it crystal clear that, like all SimCity games, this game is a city-building game. It is a city-building simulation. It is a city simulation. It is an urban simulation game. It is a game in which you build cities. Its focus is not on realism and detail (but that’s not to say it lacks those things either).”

Exactly what this means, we’ll have to wait and see.