So, Tim LeTourneau, one of the big names behind The Sims, has passed on. I stumbled on this while scrolling through social media—how did I even get there? Oh, right, his wife Donna posted it, and then it sort of took off. Even some old Maxis team member chimed in on Reddit with this heartfelt tribute. It’s odd how the internet becomes a memorial wall, you know?
Anyway, Tim’s journey kicked off at Maxis way back in 1998. Picture him there, a senior producer for eight long years. Then he hopped over to Electronic Arts. Big leap, right? He spent a couple of years executive-producing, and pow, VP and GM of The Sims Studio by 2008. Just like that.
Then there’s this bit about March 2011. He was off to Zynga, taking on the VP of studios gig. Fast forward nearly two years, and bam, chief creative officer. Oh, and he had a little detour at Storm8—chief creative officer there too before swinging back to Zynga for a while as SVP of games. Guess he couldn’t stay away.
By March 2017, he had joined Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment as the director of product design. But wait, there’s more—because four-and-a-half years later, he jumped ship again to Fortis Games as a senior advisor. The guy just couldn’t sit still, I guess.
A former Maxis colleague—or maybe just a fan—wrote on Reddit: “Maxis was more than just a company. It felt like a family. A space where ideas ran wild and humor was never in short supply. Tim was the dad of that family.” And now I’m just over here wondering what it felt like being part of that scene, where humor and sanity were equally weighted.
