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Despite piracy, 'Sims 3' sells extremely well

11 June 2009 1:55 by Andre "DVDBack23" Yoskowitz | 13 comments

Back in May we reported that the latest edition in the blockbuster franchise The Sims had been leaked to P2P, a full 15 days before its official release date.

According to BigChampagne data figures, the piracy rates for the game were very high as well, seeing 180,000 downloads in its first four days of availability.

It appears that the leak is doing nothing to hamper sales however, as Electronic Arts has announced today that the game has sold over 1.4 million units in its first week of availability.

The sales are combined for both the Windows and Mac editions, and the publisher says the game is having the best PC launch ever in company's history.

"With more than a dozen press awards, strong reviewer scores and positive feedback from The Sims community, we are thrilled with the success of The Sims 3 launch and the early sales indicate that we have another hit on our hands," added EA Play Label boss Rod Humble.

"The volume of items created with The Sims 3 and downloaded online is a testament to how passionate The Sims players are. It�s their world now, we can�t wait to see everything players create and share."

EA also noted that the iPhone/iPod Touch version of the game was a raging success as well, hitting the top spot in the App Store's Top Paid App list in just under 18 hours.

"The game's sales success along with its strong critical acclaim demonstrates that The Sims 3 mobile experience is a worldwide hit with our customers," concluded EA Mobile VP of worldwide publishing Adam Sussman.

Permalink to this article

Pirated goods seizures explode in EU (10 July 2009)

'Sims 3' piracy rates higher than 'Spore' (30 May 2009)

'Sims 3' leaked two weeks early to P2P (19 May 2009)

EA to drop DRM from The Sims 3 (27 March 2009)

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b18bek9 (Member) 11 June 2009 3:16
Piracy has its good as well as getting people aware of a game they might actually buy if they like it....Though its understandable for a company to be pissed when they spend money on developing a game only to have it pirated. If the game is descent ppl will buy it piracy is going to happen but getting the consumer to actually want to play the game will definitely get ppl to buy it. Why wont they learn? [ + quote]
dragnandy (Senior Member) 11 June 2009 3:38
i bought one. its indeed a great game. =] [ + quote]
bomber991 (Junior Member) 11 June 2009 4:26
*Originally posted by b18bek9:* Piracy has its good as well as getting people aware of a game they might actually buy if they like it....Though its understandable for a company to be pissed when they spend money on developing a game only to have it pirated. If the game is descent ppl will buy it piracy is going to happen but getting the consumer to actually want to play the game will definitely get ppl to buy it. Why wont they learn? Hey I gotta tell my little story of how I got into the first sims game. Yep, I pirated it. It was pretty fun, but for some reason I had no sound. So I went out and bought the game and problem solved. I bought sims 2 later when it came out. I "tried" sims3 but it's mostly more of the same, just a little bit more polished. [ + quote]
K.HAMMETT (Member) 11 June 2009 4:52
thats quite alot of sales. 15 days before release, thats not true. i downloaded the leaked version end of april had it for agers, thought it was brilliant and then went and bought the collectors edition on the friday it came out. on wiki tho, it sounded like EA didnt care about the leak because it was unfinished which is true, didnt seem totally finished but still amazing game, come a long way from what it use to be [ + quote]
Interestx (Junior Member) 11 June 2009 7:52
Lots of people use sharing as a try before buy thing. It actually aids sales. .......and let's just be clear about this, swash-buckling snook-cocking day-dreams aside, piracy is not sharing. Piracy is trying to sell 2nd rate counterfeit goods as if they were the originals. Sharing is not 'piracy' and never will be, no matter how many times those industry jerks try to instill the claim in the consciousness. In fact stories like this have me coming round to the idea that a big 'piracy' splash before a game or album or movie launch is just another element of the same old tedious advertising BS we are constantly subjected to. New Wolverine movie coming out? Oh, there's been a pirated leak of some CGI-less version (wow I bet that was fun to watch seeing as the dopey thing is almost entirely CGI). The movie still makes huge amounts of cash. New game coming out? Oh look, the game Co.'s CEO comes out a few weeks before it's released to whine about how piracy is killing their sales - and it turns out it doesn't do jack sht, the game still sells well. New album coming out? It charts and still makes them a stack of cash. Getting the idea yet? Piracy, it's become just another advertising tool to whip up some fake publicity. [ + quote] This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 11 June 2009 7:55*
Interestx (Junior Member) 11 June 2009 7:56
Lots of people use sharing as a try before buy thing. It actually aids sales. .......and let's just be clear about this, swash-buckling snook-cocking day-dreams aside, piracy is not sharing. Piracy is trying to sell 2nd rate counterfeit goods as if they were the originals. Sharing is not 'piracy' and never will be, no matter how many times those industry jerks try to instill the claim in the consciousness. In fact stories like this have me coming round to the idea that a big 'piracy' splash before a game or album or movie launch is just another element of the same old tedious advertising BS we are constantly subjected to. New Wolverine movie coming out? Oh, there's been a pirated leak of some CGI-less version (wow I bet that was fun to watch seeing as the dopey thing is almost entirely CGI). The movie still makes huge amounts of cash. New game coming out? Oh look, the game Co.'s CEO comes out a few weeks before it's released to whine about how piracy is killing their sales - and it turns out it doesn't do jack sht, the game still sells well. New album coming out? Leak. It charts and still makes them a stack of cash. Getting the idea yet? Piracy, it's become just another advertising tool to whip up some fake publicity. [ + quote] This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 11 June 2009 7:56*
K.HAMMETT (Member) 11 June 2009 8:24
lol it sounds about right! that leaked wolverine with hardly no CGI is very funny! looks as bad as T1. funny thing is wolverine runs, jumps of a pipe or something and oh look theres a harness and rope suddenly appears. [ + quote]
emugamer (Member) 11 June 2009 10:09
I wonder how much more money they could have made if they didn't pay for DRM? Because apparently, people are buying it no matter how many downloads pre-release. [ + quote]
DVDBack23 (Staff Member) 11 June 2009 12:32
*Originally posted by K.HAMMETT:* thats quite alot of sales. 15 days before release, thats not true. i downloaded the leaked version end of april had it for agers, thought it was brilliant and then went and bought the collectors edition on the friday it came out. Perhaps you are the person that leaked it then, because it was CERTAINLY not available before May 18th. [ + quote]
K.HAMMETT (Member) 11 June 2009 13:00
lol i wish i was but am not. i got it from pspiso [ + quote]
EricCarr (Member) 11 June 2009 22:22
Downloaded the beta for my girlfriend, but we still bought the game when it came out. [ + quote]
kudu87 (Newbie) 12 June 2009 0:02
first pc game i bought in well over a year... [ + quote]
KillerBug (Senior Member) 12 June 2009 5:04
Sucess = Despite piracy Failure = because of piracy Seems like piracy is very important to the industry... [ + quote]