Will Wright, one of the most notable thinkers working in the field of game development today, and creator of SimCity, The Sims and Spore (amongst others) has left the company he co-founded, Maxis, and the company’s publisher, EA, to work full time at an ‘entertainment think tank’ called The Stupid Fun Club.

The Stupid Fun Club, which Wright has been financing for the last ten years and operating out of a warehouse in Berkley, California, has thus far focussed its energy on the areas of robotics and human interaction with robots.

Now Wright, working with EA which now co-owns the venture, will begin work on exploring new possibilities in the lucrative area of cross-media, developing new intellectual property (IP) for games, TV, toys and movies.

EA will have the right of first refusal on all IP developed at the think tank, at which time Wright and co. will be free to shop their ideas to other publishers and companies.

Speaking to Gamasutra, Lucy Bradshaw, a colleague of Wright’s for twelve years, said; “It really is a partnership, where Will is going to be investing his time in Stupid Fun Club incubating new IP… [while] Maxis will continue to develop its own IP, and clearly we’re very focused on Spore.

“It’s exciting - I’d like to see where he’s going to branch out to. There are areas of IP that really don’t fit within EA’s portfolio that he does want to pursue.

CEO at EA, John Riccitiello, also weighed in on the matter, saying; “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.”

Will Wright, in his usual prophetic way, said in a statement; “The entertainment industry is moving rapidly into an era of revolutionary change. 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.”

Source: Gamasutra