The Sims creator Will Wright called the debacle surrounding the recent launch of EA’s new SimCity title “inexcusable” in a new interview with GamesIndustry.biz. “I could have predicted—I kind of did predict there’d be a big backlash about the DRM stuff. That was basically inexcusable, that you charge somebody $60 for a game and they can’t play it. I can understand the outrage. If I was a consumer buying the game and that happened to me, I’d feel the same.” He then went on to say that he enjoys playing the game, and he feels bad for the team behind it.
Wright created The Sims, SimCity, and Spore, and he founded the studio that built them all: Maxis (now EA Maxis). He left Electronic Arts in 2009 and later formed a startup development studio called Stupid Fun Club. His latest venture is Syntertainment, a startup that “lives at the intersection of entertainment and reality.”
Wright also had plenty to say about the game industry in general, declaring that developers have yet to realize games’ full potential. “Relative to what we have as a medium, with what we could be doing with it, we’re falling way short,” he said. As business models and the medium itself continue to evolve, Wright said “the future is becoming less predictable.”
Check out the full GamesIndustry article for more of Wright’s thoughts on the future of the industry and the state of things at EA.
