The Sims designer Will Wright is making his next life sim more personal by building it with your actual memories: 'No game designer has ever gone wrong by overestimating the narcissism of their players'

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

(Image credit: Gallium Games)

Three people chatting in a digital world

Will Wright, the designer of The Sims and co-founder of Maxis, appeared on Twitch today to talk about his next game,Proxi, which is “an AI life sim built from your memories” according to thisteaser trailerreleased last month. During the stream onBreakthroughT1D’s channel, a gaming and streaming initiative that raises money for type 1 diabetes research, Wright revealed more about Proxi as well as discussing the development of The Sims series.

In Proxi, you type in a memory (for example, a trip you took with a college buddy) and the game turns that memory into an animated scene. As you create more memory scenes they’re added to your “mind world,” a 3D environment you can explore and play games in. The people who are part of your memories (like that college buddy you told Proxi about) will populate the world as “proxies” that you can interact and play games with.

“I don’t remember when I first thought of [Proxi],” Wright said on the stream. “I think it’s more like an idea that was percolating for a long time. Obviously it has a lot of relationship to The Sims.”

As the hosts laughed, Wright explained further: “It goes to figure that the more I can make a game about you, the more you’ll like it,” he said, chuckling.

Wright said all this rather playfully, but look, he’s not wrong: I’ve created versions of myself in just about any game that will let me, including every one of Wright’s The Sims games. Hell, I’ve bought games, created myself in the character creator,and then never even bothered to play the actual game.

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals

Thing is, I usually create myself in games so that I can have an adventure I wouldn’t have in real life, so I’m not entirely sold on the idea of creating myself and then immediately saddling this digital version of me with the same memories I’m already carrying around in my big dumb head. But who knows? Maybe I’m just self-absorbed enough to recreate not just myself in Proxi, but my memories too.

More about life simMy Summer Car, the absurdly detailed Finnish life sim about vehicle maintenance and drinking in your underpants, smashes into 1.0 after nearly a decade in Steam early accessThe Sims begins its 25th anniversary celebration next week with a Behind The Sims episode of news and announcementsLatestWhen 2K removed its annoying launcher it broke a bunch of XCOM 2 modsSee more latest►

More about life sim

My Summer Car, the absurdly detailed Finnish life sim about vehicle maintenance and drinking in your underpants, smashes into 1.0 after nearly a decade in Steam early accessThe Sims begins its 25th anniversary celebration next week with a Behind The Sims episode of news and announcements

The protagonist of My Summer Car smoking a cigarette outside while a truck in the background pumps out a septic tank.

My Summer Car, the absurdly detailed Finnish life sim about vehicle maintenance and drinking in your underpants, smashes into 1.0 after nearly a decade in Steam early access

The Sims 4 - a woman with red hair and a purple top exclaims with excitement

The Sims begins its 25th anniversary celebration next week with a Behind The Sims episode of news and announcements

LatestWhen 2K removed its annoying launcher it broke a bunch of XCOM 2 modsSee more latest►

Latest

When 2K removed its annoying launcher it broke a bunch of XCOM 2 mods

XCOM 2 with Warhammer 40,000 customization and weapons modded in

When 2K removed its annoying launcher it broke a bunch of XCOM 2 mods

See more latest►

Most Popular

23-year-old D&D RPG Neverwinter Nights just got a new update thanks to the ‘unpaid software engineers’ of its unkillable community

My Summer Car, the absurdly detailed Finnish life sim about vehicle maintenance and drinking in your underpants, smashes into 1.0 after nearly a decade in Steam early access

Assassin’s Creed Shadows takes a run at improving parkour, as Ubisoft strives to make the system less ‘like a gas pedal’

Today’s Wordle answer for Saturday, January 11

The Last of Us season 2 trailer is a brief look at a story you should probably just play yourself in April

Lords of the Fallen publisher embraces fear of the DEI boogeyman, says it will not include ‘any social or political agendas’ in its games

Epic CEO Tim Sweeney says tech leaders are ‘pretending to be Republicans’ to gain favor with Trump, skirt antitrust laws, and ultimately ‘rip off consumers and crush competitors’

If you’re trying to convince me your ‘companionship’ robot is ‘lifelike’, maybe don’t rip her face off in the demo video

Square Enix launches new anti-harassment policy to protect its employees and partners from abusive fans

The Sims begins its 25th anniversary celebration next week with a Behind The Sims episode of news and announcements

HARDWARE BUYING GUIDESLATEST GAME REVIEWS1Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads2Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop3Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most4Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands5Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested1Thank Goodness You’re Here! review2Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review3WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review4Ikea Utespelare desk review5Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review

HARDWARE BUYING GUIDESLATEST GAME REVIEWS

1Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads

A bunch of the best Steam Deck accessories on a blue background.

1Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads

Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads

2Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop

Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop

3Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most

Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most

4Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands

Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands

5Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested

Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested

1Thank Goodness You’re Here! review

Thank Goodness You’re Here review

1Thank Goodness You’re Here! review

Thank Goodness You’re Here! review

2Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review

Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review

3WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review

WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review

4Ikea Utespelare desk review

Ikea Utespelare desk review

5Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review

Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals#

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals