Electronic
Game designer Will Wright and Electronic Arts will have an equal percentage stake in the new company, Stupid Fun Club. Electronic Arts also will have the right develop game concepts that come out of the new venture, the Redwood City, California- based company said today in a statement.
“You can think of it as a think tank, or incubation center for new intellectual property,” Lucy Bradshaw, vice president and general manager of Electronic Arts Maxis unit, said in an interview. Bradshaw declined to specify the size of the stake in the new venture other than to say it isnt material to the companys balance sheet.
“SimCity,” a game in which players can build a virtual city, was first released in 1989 by Maxis, the game company Wright co-founded that was acquired by Electronic Arts in 1997. The franchise led to the creation of the “The Sims,” a life- simulation game that has sold more than 100 million copies since 2000.
Electronic Arts, the worlds second-largest video game company, gained 40 cents, or 2.1 percent, to $19.57 at 2:01 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Marketing trading. The shares had gained 20 percent this year before today.