The Sims creator continues to bet on AI memory game Proxi despite funding lapse

Will Wright, the creator of The Sims, SimCity, and Spore, has spent the last 10 years pursuing an ambitious personal project that he has invested millions of dollars in. After co-founding Maxis and shaping the heyday of The Sims, Wright quietly started work on an experimental project in 2015 called Proxi: Yesterday’s Tomorrow’s You. So far, he’s laid off a team of 30 employees, currently runs an unpaid skeleton crew, and says he’d “rather have a glorious failure than a mild success.”

Proxi: Yesterday’s Tomorrow’s You is an AI-powered game that lets players transform their own memories into a digital world, with avatars called Proxies that represent real people from their lives. The idea behind Proxi: Yesterday’s Tomorrow’s You is to explore subconscious connections between memories and map out your own mind. However, it’s been a developmental struggle.

Wright teamed up with the co-designer of Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? and created Gallium Studios. There, they took a deep dive into neuroscience and storytelling, and consulted and interviewed experts to assemble a team of 30. The project was presented at GDC 2018.

However, Proxi: Yesterday’s Tomorrow’s You has been a cash sinkhole, as Wright has poured a million dollars of his own money into it, not including additional millions from several investors. The team at Gallium Studios worked hard and tinkered with AI to sort memories, create scenes, and avatars. But the cash flow eventually dried up.

With no further investments, Gallium Studios laid off its entire team when funding ran out in October 2024. With no other staff members, Wright ran a tiny, unpaid skeleton crew, including Elliot, lead designer Adam Lopez, and product manager Jenna Chalmers, to keep Proxy: Yesterday’s Tomorrow’s You alive.

Speaking with Vulture, Wright said that Proxi: Yesterday’s Tomorrow’s You is “kind of like Frankenstein,” as a player's memories will form the “brain” of their Proxi avatar, which will create a new world.

An AI will supposedly help players connect and reveal patterns in their “nested memories.” For example, it might link an average day to a childhood fear or a wild family incident. According to Wright, proxies for friends, family, or even ancestors could interact with one another across genealogy sites one day.

Wright is worried that memories might overlap and is unsure how to make the whole project feel alive. Investors still struggle to grasp the idea, much as many once did with The Sims. Even in 2026, Proxi is far from finished, as Wright continues to seek new backers. Wright is still betting on Proxy and said, “I’d much rather have a glorious failure than a mild success.”