The player may make deals with neighbouring cities to sell or buy services, as long as a connection is made to the neighbour for that service, such as electricity cables.

The primary source of income is taxation, though some income can be generated by legalizing gambling or placing certain 'special' buildings such as military bases or prisons. Inadequate funding of these services can lead to strikes or even urban decline. These are provided by building relevant buildings or infrastructure, with each building covering a circular 'range' in its vicinity. Proper management of the city requires citizens to be provided with basic utilities (electricity, water and sometimes waste management) along with public services such as health, education, safety, parks and leisure facilities. As the city matures, the player may be able to add government and other special buildings (such as a mayor's house or courthouse), depending on how large the city is. Across most titles, the player (acting as mayor) is given a blank map to begin and must expand the city with the budget provided. SimCity titles are real-time management and construction simulators. A 2013 EA-Maxis reboot was subject to what has been described as 'one of the most disastrous launches in history', which may have triggered the 2015 shutdown of Maxis Emeryville and the end of the franchise. EA commissioned various spinoffs from other companies during the 2000s, focusing on console and mobile releases. Maxis developed the series independently until 1997, and continued under the ownership of Electronic Arts until 2003. The first game in the series, SimCity, was published by Maxis in 1989 and were followed by several sequels and many other spin-off ' Sim' titles, including 2000's The Sims, which itself became a best-selling computer game and franchise.

SimCity is an open-ended city-building video game series originally designed by Will Wright. SimFarm, Sim City: The Card Game, SimCopter, Streets of SimCity, SimsVille, The Sims Windows, Linux, Mac OS, Wii, PlayStation, Nintendo 64, Nintendo 64DD, Nintendo DS, Saturn, PlayStation 3, Palm OS, Archimedes, Acorn Electron, Amiga, CDTV, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, BBC Micro, Commodore 64, DESQview, MS-DOS, EPOC32, FM Towns, iOS, Android, PC-98, Game Boy Advance, OLPC XO-1, OS/2, NeWS, web browser, Super NES, Tk, Unix, X11 TCL, ZX Spectrum Maxis, Tilted Mill Entertainment, Aspyr Media, Full Fat, Infogrames, Nintendo EAD, Babaroga, HAL Laboratory, Track TwentyĮlectronic Arts, Brøderbund, Maxis, Nintendo, Superior Software, Acornsoft, Infogrames Entertainment, SA, Zoo Digital Publishing Construction and management simulation, city-building

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