Walton Has Left the Building

Gordon Walton, the executive producer of The Sims Online has left Maxis (a website which infuriatingly redirects to thesims.ea.com and only casually mentions the stellar SimCity 4 as one of the "other" Sim games).

Anyway, now that the "other games deserve more attention" rant is over, Gordon, who helped head up development on the underselling Sims Online is out of the Maxis loop. Contrary to the speculation of any given Internet troll, the reasons given for his departure had nothing to do with the Sims at all. Reportedly, he and his wife have wanted to move back to Austin for some time, a move that naturally wouldn't allow Gordon to continue his role at Maxis since California is very far away from Texas.

So, those who like cranking the rumor wheel will be sad to find out that The Sims Online is not destroying the world. It's just a simple move, not a layoff, or a firing, or even some kind of conspiracy within the company that involves black helicopters and the disappearance of various company personnel, a problem we at IGN are all too familiar with.

Good luck, Gordon.

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