SimCity 3000

There are many changes between SimCity 3000 and its immediate predecessor SimCity 2000. These changes span both the integral city management aspects of the game, as well as its graphical and landscape aspects. More and newer city services are featured. These changes create a greatly different experience from that of SimCity 2000.

The most notable change is the addition of the concept of waste management. In SimCity 3000, garbage begins to accumulate when the city grows to a medium size, and must be disposed of at the expense of the city. Farms and agricultural structures are also introduced, appearing on large light industrial zones in a city with low land value and little pollution. A new zoning density was also added, totaling three densities, compared to SimCity 2000's two.

Prior to the acquisition of Sim developer Maxis by Electronic Arts in 1997, plans were originally made in 1996 to develop SimCity 3000 as a fully 3D game, in tune with the emergence of 3D video games. Although the idea was deemed impractical by employees for being too graphically demanding, Maxis management pushed for the concept, and the game was developed for a year. When the game was first unveiled in the 1997 E3, it was "an experience still regarded as an embarrassment." The 3D version of the game was expected to become a flop, and its future release was even thought to be the fatal blow to an already poorly performing Maxis, which had failed to release profitable titles in the years since SimCity 2000.

Following the signing of the acquisition deal, Maxis assured the public that SimCity 3000 was still set to be released in December 1997. After EA completed acquisition of Maxis, Luc Barthelet was assigned by EA as the new general manager of Maxis. He was troubled by the 3D SimCity 3000, questioning the viability of a game with such graphics. Eventually, the 3D version was completely scrapped, Lucy Bradshaw was brought in from EA in November 1997 to lead the SimCity 3000 project, and a new revision based on SimCity 2000's pseudo-isometric dimetric projection and sprite-based graphics was redeveloped from scratch. The new plan focused on retaining the core engine of the game, improving more minor features in the game instead, such as larger maps, new zoom levels, and additional gameplay parameters.

SimCity 3000 shipped 1 million copies in its debut six months. In the German market, it received a "Gold" award from the Verband der Unterhaltungssoftware Deutschland (VUD) by the end of May 1999, indicating sales of at least 100,000 units across Germany, Austria and Switzerland. It was the United States' best-selling computer game during the first half of 1999, and by the end of September had sold 470,000 units in the country. This drew revenues of almost $20 million.

8 million. This gross was the highest that year for a computer game in the United States. In 2000, SimCity 3000' placed ninth in the United States, with another 385,001 units sold. 5 million in revenue.

In May 2000, the game was re-released under different names in different regions, such as SimCity 3000 Unlimited (in North America and Oceania), SimCity 3000 Deutschland (Germany), SimCity 3000 Edition Mondiale (France), SimCity 3000 Korea (South Korea), Mahanakhon 3000 (Thailand) SimCity 3000 UK Edition (UK and Ireland) and SimCity 3000 World Edition (other countries), among others. This added, among other things, East Asian and European building sets, additional terrain colors and vegetation types, a snapshot feature, additional music, an improved version of the Building Architect Tool (a pseudo-3D design tool based on cubes), four additional disasters (such as locusts and space junk), additional landmarks (like the Seoul Tower and Helsinki Cathedral), new reward buildings, thirteen scenarios (along with an editor based on Microsoft Access) and a new FMV intro.

Premade cities are also available, including London and Liverpool for the UK, Berlin (with the Berlin Wall), Madison, Madrid, Moscow and Seoul. The game also includes city terrains based on the geography of real cities, including Hong Kong and Chicago. At the time of the game's release, EA launched a website for Simcity 3000 Unlimited which allowed users to exchange their creations. The site, formerly located at www.simcity.com/us/exchange/ (for North American territories), is no longer available and can only be accessed with an archiving tool.