SimCity reboot announced at GDC, coming to PC in 2013

SimCity 5 was revealed during a suspiciously vague event tonight billed simply as "EA Game Changers," with the potentially hyperbolic tagline of "Power to Change a World Together." Actually, it sounds like EA is going full reboot and the game is known simply as "SimCity."

SimCity 5 was revealed during a suspiciously vague event tonight billed simply as "EA Game Changers," with the potentially hyperbolic tagline of "Power to Change a World Together." Actually, it sounds like EA is going full reboot and the game is known simply as "SimCity."

Lucy Bradshaw, SVP at EA Maxis, says, "It's been about ten years since we shipped the last true Maxis SimCity." That time period means a lot is changing in the SimCity world; that said, some things aren't changing. SimCity is "going back to Maxis," will be "on the PC in 2013" and while Will Wright is nowhere to be found, it is being developed by "a set of veterans" with experience spanning the SimCity franchise.

In response to fan feedback over the years, Bradshaw said that SimCity would feature a franchise first: "curvy roads." But curvy roads aren't the only new feature after the series' ten-year hiatus. Bradshaw says, "Your city sits side-by-side with those of your friends," and calls it the "most playful and most responsive SimCity yet."

The SimCity reveal is being followed by a series of "Game Changers" interviews featuring the likes of Davis Guggenheim, the director of the Academy Award-winning documentary An Inconvenient Truth, and Biz Stone, the co-founder of Twitter and The Obvious Corporation.

Update 9:57pm – Wondering if SimCity would make it to Apple's Mac OS in addition to the standard Windows release? The game's YouTube description states, "SimCity is a PC/MAC online city building simulation game from Maxis Studios."

Update 10:50pm – We spoke with an EA representative following the event, who told us that the YouTube description was erroneous. "We're focusing on the PC release at the moment and have nothing to announce regarding Mac OS," the spokesperson told us.