SimCity

The city-building simulator that started them all — zone residential, commercial and industrial, and try to keep the citizens happy.

🌤indoor

What is SimCity?

SimCity is Will Wright's landmark city-building simulator, launched by Maxis in 1989. Players mark out zones (residential, commercial, industrial), place infrastructure (roads, power, water, transport), respond to disasters and try to keep the tax base happy. It essentially invented the city-builder genre; direct descendants include Cities: Skylines, Anno, Tropico and its own SimCity 4 (2003) which fans still play today.

Quick facts

Category

Video Games

Type

Individual

Players

1–1

Where played

indoor

Country of origin

🇺🇸 United States

Estimated origin

1989, Maxis (Will Wright) — pioneering city-building simulator

Olympic

No

Popularity

global

Sources & provenance

Last verified 2026-08-24.verified