James Delahunty
17 Apr 2008 0:23
Electronic Arts (EA) announced a significant milestone on Wednesday for itself and the entire games industry, revealing that 100 millions copies of The Sims series of games have been sold. The series was first launched in 2000 and since has been available on PC, Sony PlayStation 2 (PS2) and Nintendo Wii. The PC platform has hosted its strongest performance. It's original creator Will Wright (no longer involved with Sims) is considered to be one of the brightest sparks in the industry.
The milestone for Sims puts it up with some of the biggest names in gaming history, including Nintendo's Mario and Pokemon games, which sold 201 million and 175 million units respectively. The series, which allows players to control the day-to-day lives of simulated characters online or offline, has been published in 60 countries and 22 languages.
About 60% of all players of the Sims series are women. "It's appealing to a large market that core video games have traditionally ignored," said Colin Sebastian, an analyst with Lazard Capital Markets. Nancy Smith, who leads EA's Sims Label, said that the 100,000 Sims video clips posted on YouTube shows the creative nature of the players that are attracted to the Sims series.
The videos include a version of Michael Jackson's Thriller video with Sims characters and the Broadway musical Rent.