Electronic Arts and Maxis are set to announce a new title in the
Spore franchise, as
this year's San Diego Comic Con schedule indicates a "brand new Sci-Fi Action-RPG based on the DNA of
Spore" will be unveiled at the event.
The development team's Thomas Vu, Paul Sottosanti and Lauren McHugh will be presenting the title for the first time at the event on Saturday, July 24, although no further details have yet been revealed nor other official announcements made.
Eagle-eyed fans of the evolution-based "god game"
Spore, which lets users design their own creatures,
noted on Spore forums that EA recently filed a trademark for the name "Dark Spore", but the correlation isn't necessarily indicative that this will be the title of the new project.
EA and Maxis have long stated their intention to create a wide universe of games around
Spore, a strategy the company has pursued with titles like
Spore Hero, Spore Hero Arena, Spore: Galactic Adventures and
Spore Creature Keeper. Although EA now has social game developer Playfish under its purview, Area/Code has also released Facebook spinoff
Spore Islands.
Under the leadership of visionary Will Wright (who's since
left to found his own 'think tank', Stupid Fun Club), the pedigreed studio established numerous blockbuster simulation franchises, from
SimCity to
The Sims. The studio has belonged to Electronic Arts since 1997, and
Spore was Wright's last project with Maxis.
