Will Wright working on new games

SimCity creator and all-round industry legend Will Wright has announced he's working on his first new game projects since 2008's Spore, hinting at a predictably unconventional new direction.

Speaking at the Game Developer's Conference in San Francisco today, Wright revealed that work was underway on a number of projects, but suggested that they wouldn't be traditional boxed products.

"For the most part, the stuff we're working on is not shrink-wrapped, AAA, Xbox-only. It's stuff that's a little more diffuse, mobile, web," he explained.

"I'm really interested right now in games that get people more engaged in the world around them rather than distract them from it. Using the world as a human platform rather than an Xbox. Kind of AR stuff."

Wright also detailed how he had been keeping busy since work on ambitious evolution sim Spore wrapped up. As reported last year, his new StupidFunClub outfit has been working on a user-generated TV concept, and he's also developing a range of toys. The first of which, an ant farm, will be out later this year.

"[We're] trying to move gaming out into the wider world – toys, the web, stuff like that," he said of his current modus operandi.