Will Wright's three projects not far off

By Oli Welsh Published 8 October, 2009

A couple are games, one within a year.

Will Wright, discussing his company Stupid Fun Club with VentureBeat, has revealed that it's actively working on three projects and the first could be released in six months to a year's time.

"Right now we are pursuing three pretty aggressively," the Sims creator said. "We might get up to four or five. I want to stay pretty focused. We have a lot of ideas that we want to do. But it's just three now.

"I feel we are still in [the games industry] because a couple of projects are games. We are taking the games industry into other areas. We are expanding what we call the 'play industry'," Wright said. He also discussed toys and web development in the interview.

"Our first product could be commercialised in six months to a year," he said.

Asked if console games or the likes of Facebook games was the future of interactive entertainment, Wright said: "I think it is going to be a lot broader than either one of those two. Those are both experiences where you sit in front of the screen. They're very structured activities. I’m thinking much broader than that."

Wright left Maxis, the studio he ran at EA that created SimCity, the Sims and Spore, to concentrate on Stupid Fun Club earlier this year. Then, he described it as an "entertainment think-tank" pursuing new IP.

Wright told VentureBeat the company would stay small, doing early design work before handing over production to partners. "We are very small and will stay small. We are 12 people right now. I don't ever want it to go above 30. We're looking to partners to help develop games. We want to be more of an early design shop, doing research and development."

Picture of Oli.

About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

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Comments (5) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Alterego-X #1 2 years ago

    Good.
    More developers should go small. He is a Gaming God, he had the chance to rule over the whole Maxis/ EA Sims division of EA, but he chose to concentrate on more personal creativity instead of making blockbusters with unlimited money resources, and hundreds of "artists".

    Small developers' games usually have that warm touch that makes them more lovable than commercial products.
    Edited by 1 at 08/10/09 @ 10:04

  • hiddenranbir #2 2 years ago

    Woo Will Woo Wright!

  • Eraysor #3 2 years ago

    Although I'd like to see him pursue new projects, SimCity 5 is desperately needed. I'd like to see EA make Spore into the game it really should have been.

  • smoison #4 2 years ago

    After the mini game compilation that was Spore, I don't belive he has what it takes to make a great games like SimCity anymore.

    He has become too much like Molyneux and is all about hype, he promises too much and delivers too little.

  • riz23 #5 2 years ago

    @Alterego-X
    Doesn't sound like a developer as such. It's more like "we think up all the cool stuff and then find someone else to do all the grunt work".

    Nice work if you can get it.