Maxis canceled The Sims in the '90s, but it was saved by an unlikely hero: Electronic Arts

A world without The Sims is hard to imagine: countless virtual homes unbuilt, countless bizarre challenges unplayed, countless Sims untrapped in swimming pools without ladders. What kind of path would my life have taken if I hadn't been able to pack the first game full of mods so I could watch Batman and Gandalf be roommates? It's unthinkable, but it was nearly the world we got. In the late '90s, Maxis almost axed The Sims—not once, but multiple times.

The story comes from Spore designer Chaim Gingold's book Building SimCity...