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Will Wright leaves EA, founds Stupid Fun Club

[UPDATE] Sims and Spore designer leaves longtime home to establish "entertainment think tank" bankrolled by Electronic Arts.

Celebrated designer Will Wright is no longer an employee of Electronic Arts. Instead, he's now partnering with the company that his Sims series helped build into a publishing powerhouse.

Will Wright

Will Wright

The publisher announced today that it is a principal shareholder in Wright's new venture, Stupid Fun Club. The other principal shareholder is Wright himself, with the developer and EA owning equal percentages of the company.

Described as an "entertainment think tank," Stupid Fun Club will develop new intellectual properties across a variety of media. Games, films, TV shows, Web sites, and toys were listed as specific areas of interest for the company.

Last summer, after EA signed with a top Hollywood talent agency, Wright told Reuters that he was in discussions to bring Spore to television and film. "We're basically planting the seeds to spread Spore out to a much wider group of people than would ever play a computer game," he said.

"The entertainment industry is moving rapidly into an era of revolutionary change," Wright said in a statement. "Stupid Fun Club will explore new possibilities that are emerging from this sublime chaos and create new forms of entertainment on a variety of platforms."

"We believe in Will's vision for Stupid Fun Club, and we're looking forward to partnering with Will and his team long into the future," EA CEO John Riccitiello said in a statement. Riccitiello added that the EA series most often associated with Wright--The Sims, Sim City, and Spore--will continue to be worked on in the future.

Stupid Fun Club is not Wright's first entrepreneurial endeavor. He founded Maxis with Jeff Braun in 1989, achieving success with the original Sim City. Maxis was acquired by EA in 1997, and Wright has spent the dozen years since working for the publisher.

[UPDATE] To learn more about Stupid Fun Club, read GameSpot's in-depth interview with Will Wright .

143 Comments

  • redneckdouglas

    Posted Apr 17, 2009 5:07 pm GMT

    There's a interview somewhere in the web where Will Wright called Wii players "swinging controller around like a dofus and part of an outdated videogame concept.".

  • weirdazza posted Apr 17, 2009 3:15 pm GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    weirdazza

    Posted Apr 17, 2009 3:15 pm GMT (hide)

    i agree wiv jason, spore was crap, once u got to space stage. it was too repetative. dude their better off wivout u
    but apparently ea/maxis or whoever makes sims is goin into liqidation :O

  • jason19 posted Apr 14, 2009 5:02 pm GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    jason19

    Posted Apr 14, 2009 5:02 pm GMT (hide)

    i hate him he build spore so bad end games better be good for sims 3

  • shani_boy101

    Posted Apr 13, 2009 1:56 am GMT

    nice name.

  • MegaWang

    Posted Apr 13, 2009 12:51 am GMT

    I want to see a new Simcity.

  • nappan

    Posted Apr 12, 2009 5:20 pm GMT

    Hmmm.. I didn't see that coming either. I think in this case I tend to see where Gob Bluth is coming from... this EA is still a pain in the ***, but it isn't the same monster that nearly ruined itself. The Godfather was pretty terrible, but EA is still EA deep inside.

    That said, he had all the time in the world to make spore, and it was a well-made, but shallow game. Frankly, I didn't even find it to be STUPID fun. Of course, if Mr Versipellis is right, and this means a next gen sim city, I'm in 100%. That said... leaving a huge company like EA in the middle of an economic downturn? That takes guts.

  • Mr_Versipellis

    Posted Apr 12, 2009 11:59 am GMT

    Never saw that coming. On the one hand I'll miss his games, on the other I'm glad to see him free from EA to do as wishes.
    If only he was still with Maxis as an independent company... hey made some epic games...
    Sim City 4, anyone?

  • redoAlf

    Posted Apr 11, 2009 5:51 pm GMT

    go will go

  • Sothe1789

    Posted Apr 11, 2009 10:30 am GMT

    what a bum

  • Ohno_Kateh

    Posted Apr 11, 2009 4:31 am GMT

    Damn

  • casket56

    Posted Apr 10, 2009 9:43 pm GMT

    Will Right was better without them!
    MAXIS were truly the company for these games anyway

  • gob__bluth

    Posted Apr 10, 2009 5:18 pm GMT

    EA under Riccitello has changed a lot. Yes, they still milk the sports franchises, but they've done a lot right, including taking risks on games like Mirror's Edge, Dead Space, Boom Blox, Zubo, and letting Wright work on Spore for YEARS until *he* decided it was done. They've cut crappy games they used to put out just to recoup some costs. They tried something innovative with Godfather 2 (even though reviews suggest they came up short). And EA Partners has made believers of former enemies. It's easy to be cynical and bag on them (I think many on here just do it to feel accepted and cool - some people on here are just following a script), but they're just not that bad.

  • JACKAL1883

    Posted Apr 10, 2009 4:56 pm GMT

    jay is dumb

  • joelgargan

    Posted Apr 10, 2009 3:36 pm GMT

    Only one good thing has come out of EA this gen...

    Dead Space.

  • izzygrigg

    Posted Apr 10, 2009 11:11 am GMT

    I was wondering when this was going to happen. EA's just a big mess now, everything's abut MONEY MONEY MONEY. I mean, three installs for Spore?

  • Miroku_of_Nite1

    Posted Apr 10, 2009 8:08 am GMT

    Is this the start of the gaming Illuminati or something?

  • InnerSenses

    Posted Apr 10, 2009 7:59 am GMT

    He reminds me of Dustin Hoffman...

  • gameking5000

    Posted Apr 10, 2009 3:12 am GMT

    Imagine if this company was acquired by EA too

  • Xequtra

    Posted Apr 10, 2009 3:05 am GMT

    bout time... Maxis was starting to go downhill quite rapidly too...

  • Evilhen88

    Posted Apr 10, 2009 12:19 am GMT

    He should have got out of that company years ago there games are getting worse because of there greed.

  • ImOldGreg

    Posted Apr 9, 2009 11:29 pm GMT

    Nice, Good luck to Will Wright. He is truly a gem of this industry.

  • chappy_man

    Posted Apr 9, 2009 6:20 pm GMT

    crazy

  • Killingspree303

    Posted Apr 9, 2009 4:12 pm GMT

    That's great, and a good choice by Will Wright. EA has published some great games, but milks most of them for money. And they're lazing when it comes to developing game engines. I just hate that they're still using the same engine in today's RTS games as they did a couple of years back. I'm talking about the engine used in C&C: Generals, The Battle for Middle-Earth 1 & 2, C&C3: Tiberium Wars and C&C: Red Alert 3. And by the way, EA destroyed Westwood (the guys who made the first and best Red Alert) and made Red Alert they're own lousy way. But now, let's get some great games from Will Wright without EA interfering.

  • Rush2Fresh

    Posted Apr 9, 2009 3:33 pm GMT

    Ok now Sit down and make sim city 5 thanx

  • SweetMusic

    Posted Apr 9, 2009 2:35 pm GMT

    Good job for leaving EA, Will!
    Bad job for partnering up with them.

  • rkaycom posted Apr 9, 2009 2:16 pm GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    rkaycom

    Posted Apr 9, 2009 2:16 pm GMT (hide)

    Should be called stupid fail club...

  • Cruorem

    Posted Apr 9, 2009 12:48 pm GMT

    How in the gods names are they going to turn Spore into a film? Especially, as people have already said, the itself is only interesting for about five minutes.

  • war_gears

    Posted Apr 9, 2009 12:26 pm GMT

    honestly any one who agrees with rickster 34 is an honest moron as ea are any thing but good there servers are crap & most gameplay is terrible seriosly EA are not cool in any way sure they make games so what anyone can make a game

  • the_mitch28

    Posted Apr 9, 2009 9:49 am GMT

    Now remake spore please.

  • eggiebertus

    Posted Apr 9, 2009 6:37 am GMT

    Doesn't anyone think that this sounds a bit silly?
    '' "The entertainment industry is moving rapidly into an era of revolutionary change," Wright said in a statement. "Stupid Fun Club will explore new possibilities that are emerging from this sublime chaos and create new forms of entertainment on a variety of platforms." "We believe in Will's vision for Stupid Fun Club, and we're looking forward to partnering with Will and his team long into the future," EA CEO John Riccitiello said in a statement. Riccitiello added that the EA series most often associated with Wright--The Sims, Sim City, and Spore--will continue to be worked on in the future. ''

    Reminds me of that one James Bond movie in which this evil villian sees himself as a new Ceasar, using the entertainment industry instead of legions. Or of that friend of mine at my school who makes all kind of odd movies to post on Youtube hoping to become the new ''Star Wars kid''..

  • rickster34 posted Apr 9, 2009 6:28 am GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    rickster34

    Posted Apr 9, 2009 6:28 am GMT (hide)

    EA is cool

  • sj_nehama posted Apr 9, 2009 4:10 am GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    sj_nehama

    Posted Apr 9, 2009 4:10 am GMT (hide)

    EA owns half of this new company. How comes they wont a word to say?

  • BenBenBen93

    Posted Apr 9, 2009 4:08 am GMT

    well what i mean by my comment is EA cannot pursued him to keep content out of the final game so then can put a price tag on afterwards

  • BenBenBen93

    Posted Apr 9, 2009 4:06 am GMT

    Finally we will soon see his games that EA won't have a say in and his game that aren't made just for money *cough* SIMS *cough*. and imagine what spore could of been

  • kavadias1981 posted Apr 9, 2009 3:50 am GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    kavadias1981

    Posted Apr 9, 2009 3:50 am GMT (hide)

    I already belong to a club which is something like the name of this developer; the Nintendo fan club.

  • Fatal_Byte

    Posted Apr 9, 2009 3:07 am GMT

    What a talented man, I hope this doesn't hurt EA. And yes I realize completely that it wasn't just one man it was entire team effort to make those successful titles.

  • Mysterieux936

    Posted Apr 9, 2009 2:18 am GMT

    Please tell me that Will is still going to have a big influence on future sims titles. If it's only in the hands of EA, my hopes are shattered.

  • tony2077ca

    Posted Apr 9, 2009 1:46 am GMT

    stupid fun is better then no fun

  • sircyrus

    Posted Apr 9, 2009 12:17 am GMT

    Why doesn't he focus on making Spore actually fun beyond 5 minutes, before trying to put it on TV and other sources?

  • chutup

    Posted Apr 8, 2009 11:32 pm GMT

    I wonder how long before EA just buys him again...

  • joelgargan

    Posted Apr 8, 2009 11:26 pm GMT

    Haha The Sims. What a game.

    Basically all i do is make a guy, get married, make his wife into a secret lesbian then turn of the PC hehe.

  • wcw6

    Posted Apr 8, 2009 10:05 pm GMT

    Hope we see a real and true Simcity 5!!!! I've been a fan of Will Wright since Simcity 2000 on the PC. Hail Will. Hope EA doesn't intrude much on his games, plans and ideas. I'm sick of putting up with their nonsense since the destruction of Westwood.

  • nappan

    Posted Apr 8, 2009 9:31 pm GMT

    Make good games, and while you're at it, take some of EA's marketshare. They need the humility to get back to some decent games.

  • Guzthon

    Posted Apr 8, 2009 9:14 pm GMT

    Good luck and God bless you and your team with success and faith.

  • swmeek

    Posted Apr 8, 2009 9:02 pm GMT

    Good for you Will! Hope it turns out to be what you want it to be and not what Ea says it should be!

  • Tremblay343

    Posted Apr 8, 2009 7:57 pm GMT

    Stupid Fun Club has existed for a while now actually. Will Wright is now just part of it.

  • amo_lang123

    Posted Apr 8, 2009 7:46 pm GMT

    this has the best name ever!!!!!! lol

  • Oni

    Posted Apr 8, 2009 7:20 pm GMT

    Whatever floats your boat Will. Good luck.

  • Ardus

    Posted Apr 8, 2009 6:48 pm GMT

    Wait what? Stupid Fun Club? Whatever, as long as he doesn't stop making games he can join whatever ridiculous sounding club he wants to.

  • Tsuchikage

    Posted Apr 8, 2009 6:36 pm GMT

    I love Will Wright, and since his last venture (Maxis) was so successful, I can't imagine Stupid Fun Club failing.

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