] Today, sources at Electronic Arts confirmed what has been
] rumored for the past week: EA is folding Maxis into its
] central corporate offices. Currently, Maxis operates out
] of a now-cramped building in Walnut Creek, California.
] Their new digs will be in EA's Redwood Shores
] headquarters, some 30 miles to the east.
]
] "Maxis was running out of space at Walnut Creek," an EA
] spokesperson told GameSpot this morning. The current
] management team at Maxis, Luc Barthelet, Lucy Bradshaw,
] and Sinjin Bain, will relocate to Redwood Shores, as will
] most of Maxis' 300 staffers.

The official spin is, "They were running out of space." But the buzz I've been hearing is different. The Maxis office in Walnut Creek is basically being shut down by Electronic Arts. Hundreds of people are being relocated to the Redwood office, which means they'll now face a lengthy commute (well over an hour), or of course they can just choose to quit. Duplicated positions are being eliminated. The Walnut Creek office will continue with a small staff including Will Wright and a couple dozen people who are working on his next project.