Will Wright leaves EA, founds Stupid Fun Club

By Brendan Sinclair, GameSpotPosted Apr 8, 2009 11:45 am PT

[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

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 .

145 Comments

  • redneckdouglas

    Posted Apr 17, 2009 5:07 pm PT

    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somewhere in the web where Will Wright called Wii players "swinging controller around like a dofus and part of an outdated videogame concept.".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 PT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    weirdazza

    Posted Apr 17, 2009 3:15 pm PT (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 PT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    jason19

    Posted Apr 14, 2009 5:02 pm PT (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 PT

    nice name.

  • MegaWang

    Posted Apr 13, 2009 12:51 am PT

    I want to see a new Simcity.

  • nappan

    Posted Apr 12, 2009 5:20 pm PT

    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 PT

    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 PT

    go will go

  • Sothe1789

    Posted Apr 11, 2009 10:30 am PT

    what a bum

  • Ohno_Kateh

    Posted Apr 11, 2009 4:31 am PT

    Damn

  • casket56

    Posted Apr 10, 2009 9:43 pm PT

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

  • gob__bluth

    Posted Apr 10, 2009 5:18 pm PT

    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 PT

    jay is dumb

  • joelgargan

    Posted Apr 10, 2009 3:36 pm PT

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

    Dead Space.

  • izzygrigg

    Posted Apr 10, 2009 11:11 am PT

    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 PT

    Is this the start of the gaming Illuminati or something?

  • InnerSenses

    Posted Apr 10, 2009 7:59 am PT

    He reminds me of Dustin Hoffman...

  • gameking5000

    Posted Apr 10, 2009 3:12 am PT

    Imagine if this company was acquired by EA too

  • Xequtra

    Posted Apr 10, 2009 3:05 am PT

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

  • Evilhen88

    Posted Apr 10, 2009 12:19 am PT

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

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