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Will Wright Leaves EA

The creator of SimCity, The Sims, and Spore is moving on to something stupid and fun.

By Ryan Davis  |  April 8, 2009

Join the Stupid Fun Club today, Will!
Join the Stupid Fun Club today, Will!
MTV Multiplayer is reporting that Will Wright--famed designer behind such popular and influential franchises such as SimCity, The Sims, and Spore--has left EA, the company that has published the lion's share of Wright's games, effective today. He'll now be focusing his energies full time on Stupid Fun Club, a Berkeley-based venture that Wright has been involved with for several years now. Part of what makes this move particularly interesting is that Stupid Fun Club is not a game-development house in a traditional sense, having produced bizarre robot-based short films and hidden-camera experiments in the past. Stupid Fun Club describes itself as “an entertainment development studio” whose ideas may manifest in “video games, online environments, storytelling media and fine home care products.” Considering the interest that Wright has openly expressed in exploring non-traditional entertainment formats, the Stupid Fun Club manifesto seems fairly indistinguishable from his own vision. 

This, however, doesn't mean that Will Wright will be cutting his ties with his former publisher completely. EA and Wright both have equal financial stakes in Stupid Fun Club, and EA will have first-look publishing rights for any games it might produce. Personally I hope Wright's newfound autonomy will allow him to chase some of the smaller, stranger ideas he might have bouncing around inside his curious brain.

UPDATE: If you want to see some of the awesomely incomprehensible stuff that Stupid Fun Club has gotten up to in the past, check out its YouTube channel.
Filed under: Will Wright
27 Comments
Death_Burnouton April 8, 2009 at 11:48 a.m.
This is good.
Hamz moderator on April 8, 2009 at 11:51 a.m.
If it means we get more of the abstract or unusual stuff Will Wright comes up with, then I'm all for it!

Goodluck to him :)
ElectricHaggison April 8, 2009 at 11:53 a.m.
Madness.  Good luck to him.
Bellumon April 8, 2009 at 11:55 a.m.
Bittersweet.
MattyFTM moderator on April 8, 2009 at 11:56 a.m.
Yeah, in reality nothing has changed. He still develops with EA, and they still publish his games. All that has changed is that Will Wright can now enter the world of movies, TV and god know what else, which will be interesting to see.
LiveOrDie1212on April 8, 2009 at 11:58 a.m.
the Man needs to spread his wings, he can't do that working for EA
TomAon April 8, 2009 at noon
That's quite exicting really,Will Wright is awesome and this just sounds rad.
LordAndrewon April 8, 2009 at 12:03 p.m.
I want to join the Stupid Fun Club.
Sparky_Buzzsawon April 8, 2009 at 12:04 p.m.
Although I've loved most of Wright's games under EA, I hope he finds his new venture to be fun and exciting.
MattyFTM moderator on April 8, 2009 at 12:08 p.m.
LordAndrew said:
"I want to join the Stupid Fun Club."
I know. It sounds like stupid fun. And everyone knows that's the best kind of fun.
logsonon April 8, 2009 at 12:11 p.m.
As I read this, I got the same feeling I get whenever I hear about a great college sports coach leaving a school: Things won't reaaallly change, but this is awful for the recruits. There are lots and lots of people that came to EA with the hopes of being able to work with/for/under/in the same building as Will Wright, and while that's not an impossibility now, that chance has taken a serious hit.
For everyone else, this is great.
lordofultimaon April 8, 2009 at 12:30 p.m.
This is good news for sure, he would have inevitably be tied to do sims sequels for all of eternity otherwise.
Diamondon April 8, 2009 at 12:42 p.m.
I guess we'll soon find out if it was EA or Will Wright that made Spore not so good.
JoelTGMon April 8, 2009 at 12:57 p.m.
weird
Scorchedon April 8, 2009 at 12:59 p.m.
crazy
RHCPfan24on April 8, 2009 at 1 p.m.
Wow, glad to see he is doing his own thing.
REDRUNon April 8, 2009 at 1:02 p.m.
Good Luck Will, glad you made the move. :)
Tfruiton April 8, 2009 at 1:03 p.m.
Good for him. he has my support !
SuperMoosemanon April 8, 2009 at 1:38 p.m.
Indeed, good luck to Mr. Wright and here's to hoping more awesome games from him.
Linkyshinkson April 8, 2009 at 1:56 p.m.
Good for him, perhaps now he can enjoy his Care Bears in peace and tranquility.

Dig Deeper into Will Wright

An award-winning game developer and one of the most influential individuals in the industry. He's best known for founding Maxis, and subsequently developing SimAnt, SimEarth, SimLife, SimTower, SimCopter, and the SimCity, Sims, and Spore franchises. Wright collects artifacts from (and is a general expert on) the Soviet Space Program.

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