SimCity 5 rumored for 2013

Maxis is reportedly working on SimCity 5, set for release next year. A leak provides some early details on what makes this SimCity different from the rest.

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SimCity 5 has supposedly been leaked by a German magazine. According to the rumor, Maxis is developing the game without series creator Will Wright leading the project. The game is scheduled for 2013, and will feature a spiffy new graphics engine and multiplayer mode among its various tweaks to the classic formula.

The Spanish-language site Rincon del Simmer (via NeoGAF) transcribed the alleged information from an article in Gamestar, a German magazine. Though unconfirmed, the details ring true and the supposed interview with Lucy Bradshaw lends further credence to the story.

If accurate, the new engine allows you to pan in close enough to read the signs on stores, or zoom out for a more traditional SimCity overhead view. Those buildings will be upgraded as you progress; catching 10 criminals upgrades the police station, for example. Roads can actually wind instead of being locked to a stiff grid, and you'll find complex relationships between various factors like population density and land value. Keeping an eye on crime will help quell the risk of fire and increase the value of land. Events in your city will be reported in the local newspaper in both single- and multiplayer.

That multiplayer mode lets you manage your areas cooperatively, and visit friends' cities to share resources and territory. You can visit a fellow player's City Hall to make an agreement that will spur job growth. The game will also offer global leaderboards for factors like economics or production of raw materials.

The game is reportedly only 30% done, so no screenshots are available yet. The source does show some concept art (above) that gives us a better idea of Maxis' graphical goals.

Shacknews has contacted EA and Maxis for a comment, and will update as more information becomes available.

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  • reply
    February 29, 2012 10:40 AM

    Steve Watts posted a new article, SimCity 5 rumored for 2013.

    Maxis is reportedly working on SimCity 5, set for release next year. A leak provides some early details on what makes this SimCity different from the rest.

    • reply
      February 29, 2012 12:35 PM

      [deleted]

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      February 29, 2012 1:02 PM

      remember when they tried to do this like 10 years ago where it's fully 3d and you could drive the streets? it might actually be possible now! then i can see them leveraging "the sims" market and add in functionality where you can import your sims family into the city you created.

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      February 29, 2012 1:03 PM

      Is anybody asking for multiplayer simcity? Or is this just them adding multiplayer to everything under the sun?

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        February 29, 2012 1:05 PM

        Cities XL tried that and failed horribly

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        February 29, 2012 2:38 PM

        I can't talk much about it and it might get changed before they ship, but one of their ideas for "multiplayer" was a really cool persistent mode where your friends' cities would be like neighbors and continue to exert economic and criminal influence even when you weren't both playing.

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      February 29, 2012 1:12 PM

      Excited because I still play SimCity 4.
      Disappointed because EA will try to shove Origin down my throat just to play it. (let the flame war begin...)

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        February 29, 2012 1:16 PM

        I'm trying to have a pragmatic approach to Origin. I only buy games that I really, badly want there (ME3, BF3). Stuff that I would impulse-buy on Steam (like ASSREV - paid full price for it) i just skip when it's only available on Origin - i.e. Syndicate. I'll buy it when it's $5 (or maybe never).

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        February 29, 2012 1:55 PM

        [deleted]

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          February 29, 2012 2:54 PM

          I couldn't agree more. I would imagine that at least one person involved in this project has a brain to know they potentially have a gold mine here.

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          February 29, 2012 6:01 PM

          I'd expect some mild streamlining but the fact that this is a numbered entry and not a spinoff, makes me think this will be a "true" SImCity. And it's about time.

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        February 29, 2012 9:29 PM

        I'm already passing on this if it's an Origin game in any form. It's so upsetting.

        I just wont buy EA games any more, I cant encourage their endless greed and terrible handling of, well, everything.

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          February 29, 2012 10:24 PM

          [deleted]

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            March 1, 2012 12:59 AM

            Origin is from EA, that is the main issue.

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              March 1, 2012 1:00 AM

              man you guys will flip out when Activision launches their own platform.

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                March 1, 2012 1:09 AM

                Its about what EA is and where they are coming from, not the platform.

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                  March 1, 2012 3:14 AM

                  you mean you don't like supporting soul-less corporate machinations profiting from gamers? what about all the good things ea did?

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        March 1, 2012 11:19 AM

        [deleted]

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      February 29, 2012 1:47 PM

      Do want.

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      February 29, 2012 1:51 PM

      Too bad Will Wright isn't at Maxis anymore

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        February 29, 2012 2:52 PM

        iirc he didn't really have a ton to do with SC4 anyway (or SC3000 for that matter), and that game was great, albeit very complex.

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          March 1, 2012 12:53 AM

          Complex is a good thing. Too many dumbed down games lately. I just hope Simcity 5 is a TRUE simcity game, and not just a Simtown game with the simcity label slapped on it like Simcity Societies.

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      February 29, 2012 2:49 PM

      That great news, cant wait for a new SimCity.

      Hopefully it is not some noobed game like Sim City Societies.

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      February 29, 2012 3:01 PM

      It is about time for a SimCity. I just hope they don't gut the complexity and strategy from the game to make it multiplatform. It would be interesting to see how maxis competes with games anno 2070 and Cities XL.

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      February 29, 2012 5:42 PM

      WOOHOO! and multiplayer mode! Cool.

      SC3000 is still my favourite of the series, although SC2000 holds a very special place in my heart...

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