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GDC '08: Nearly 100M Sims sold

Exec in charge of Electronic Arts' hit virtual life franchise says the brand should hit a huge milestone next month.

SAN FRANCISCO--With an abundance of expansions and spin-offs, it's no secret that the Sims franchise is huge for Electronic Arts. During a session yesterday at the Serious Games Summit portion of the Game Developers Conference, EA's vice president for global brand development of The Sims label Steve Seabolt gave attendees a glimpse of just how big the series really is.

"The Sims is a highly successful entertainment brand," Seabolt said. "In fact, we're coming up next month on selling our 100 millionth unit of The Sims, so it's mega mega. … We make so much money from The Sims--it is so profitable--that unlike other businesses, we don't have to sell it out with advertising and sponsorship and flog the user with advertising to make money."

While EA will enter into agreements with advertisers for The Sims, Seabolt said the publisher is very choosy about how it goes about that and is careful to make sure it's something players will welcome. For example, he mentioned a promotion that saw Sims players receive an in-game Ford Mustang. While Ford did pay EA for the product placement, Seabolt said many users looked at the car simply as a cool gift for their Sims to drive, not an ad.

53 Comments

  • youthebestboy

    Posted Jun 25, 2008 12:38 pm GMT

    wo thats like.... 3 billion dollars

  • Adam_the_Nerd

    Posted Mar 19, 2008 4:25 pm GMT

    Daaaaaaaaaayyymn. Will Wright, EA and the crew are cashing IN!

  • mariokart64fan

    Posted Mar 5, 2008 8:24 pm GMT

    damn thats almost as many ps2s sold , lol

  • Nintendude25

    Posted Feb 23, 2008 1:00 pm GMT

    I wuldn't mind in game advertising in the sims. It would give it a more real sense

  • F10yd

    Posted Feb 23, 2008 9:15 am GMT

    ITS OVER 100 MILLION

  • snowyjoe

    Posted Feb 23, 2008 12:48 am GMT

    oh, right he's talking about in-game advertising.
    First thought he was talking about advertising the sims on tv and such.

    Meh advertising is good IF they bring down the price.

    Look at the Sims 2 Stuff Pack H&M, H&M probably paid them a fortune for that stuff pack and it's the exact same price as all the other packs!

  • jmartin1016

    Posted Feb 22, 2008 8:36 am GMT

    EA bought out the rights to my mom, now she only tells me she loves me if I purchase every new madden that comes out.

  • Travis281

    Posted Feb 20, 2008 6:53 pm GMT

    Ad placement in this environment can be either seamless, or intrusive. I'd like brand names on soda for example, but I don't want to have to select "DRINK A COKE (R)" from my fridge every time my sim is thirsty.

  • ejwlover

    Posted Feb 20, 2008 3:24 pm GMT

    I can't wait for The Sims 3! Yay!!

  • chimera01

    Posted Feb 20, 2008 1:51 pm GMT

    My only experiences with the Sims, was on the console. I can see the appeal to the game, but I'm not a huge fan of the series. i kind of got tired of playing a game about doing chores and handling responsibilities, while neglecting the ones in real life.

  • mayur-ruyam

    Posted Feb 20, 2008 1:03 pm GMT

    i hope this time they don't ruin the good sims name with crappy add ons lke kitchen acceries which are pointless

  • Pastehunter

    Posted Feb 20, 2008 9:11 am GMT

    Thats not surprising at all

  • smadiso1

    Posted Feb 20, 2008 7:55 am GMT

    WOO-HOO! Thanks for taking, and spending, all my hard earned cash EA! 100 million units is a pretty impressive mile marker though; and here I helped put in at least 16 of those units!

  • johan1986

    Posted Feb 20, 2008 4:20 am GMT

    They will take over the world

  • Hailogon

    Posted Feb 20, 2008 4:07 am GMT

    I just find it frustrating that even though the PS3 has support for keyboard and mouse, not enough people utilize this for EA to take notice and implement support for this method of input into The Sims 3. I really think that it's this which has made the console versions of the sims so iffy.

  • skrat_01

    Posted Feb 20, 2008 2:59 am GMT

    Dear God.... Thats incredible.

    @imtheman4 - no the Sims 3 will just come out on PC, and remain exclusive just like the other Sims games. Expect a spinoff on console.

    And the sims was never a demmanding game, it simply suits the PC platform better, and EA makes a killing from expansions.

  • Trashcan_Man

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 11:18 pm GMT

    Still want a decent Sims game on the Wii. =P But Sims 2 pwnz

  • imtheman4

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 10:22 pm GMT

    sence the sims 3 is comming out on PS3 they really need to make it like the PC ones sence the PS3 and or 360 have the memory for better quality of the sims

  • j3v1zzle

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 8:49 pm GMT

    100 million. Wow. That's just amazing. Congrats to EA.

  • Suuji

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 7:40 pm GMT

    I like Sims2 but I hate those suppose-to-be-free-downloadable item packages.

    Com'on Maxis, bring it to next-gen, I cant wait to see a better graphic

  • flippyex

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 5:26 pm GMT

    love the sims, and castaway is actually a really good game, rented it, shoulda bought

  • Lisandro_v22

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 5:24 pm GMT

    I only got the sims 1, I felt it a bit repetitive after a while and I tried the sims2 and was more of the same then i got mysims and it was the worst game I ever played I really don't understand how it didn't got a 1 (i think it got 6 or something like that)

    prioritymail: u are right the consoles ones suck (though with the wiimote i thought they would do a good game emulating of the mouse obviously i was wrong)

  • prioritymail

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 4:45 pm GMT

    The only respectable versions are the PC versions....I was always disappointed with the console releases.

  • gnbfd

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 4:38 pm GMT

    There are 1-3 new Sims games a year it seems...
    but 100 million is still awesome!

  • ocdog45

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 3:57 pm GMT

    is that a good game???

  • GamerErman2001

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 3:49 pm GMT

    So, why don't they put more work into the games?

  • XxSPAZxX

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 3:44 pm GMT

    My sister has to have every single one. Some of the exspansion seem like they are rush for few extra $$$.

  • Lgy

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 3:20 pm GMT

    EA!!!!!!!!!!

  • thesaxmaniac

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 2:52 pm GMT

    WOW!

  • jakndaxter7223

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 2:51 pm GMT

    **** EA, they can **** my ****ing ****s! Bunch of consumer-*****s

  • franwex

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 2:47 pm GMT

    That's almost around 10 million a year since it was crated in 1999, so it's like 1 million a month (more or less)!

  • doanm

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 2:42 pm GMT

    It would be nice if they bundled multiple expansions together.

  • okassar

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 2:20 pm GMT

    Omg..Sims is awesome but I tried it on the Wii and it definitely is degraded.Why does the Wii have to either have bad games or take good games and ruin them..unless they're Nintendo originals...what the hell!But ya,I'm not surprised Electronic Arts is doing so good with The Sims series,it's pretty good...and big.

  • nintendoboy16

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 2:12 pm GMT

    The sims is a game where you can't help but expect a lot of Sim fans buying. I enjoy regular PC Sims, Sims 2 for DS, Sims 2 Pets for Gamecube, and the MySims games. I can't wait to try Sims 2 for PC. (Sorry I got a little sidetracked)

  • asian_pride69

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 1:56 pm GMT

    Good for Sims. Sims is fun

  • haesuse

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 1:56 pm GMT

    ahh gotta love EA. There isnt a word about passion of gaming, developing, experiences of play and so. in short this is what he said: money...money...$$$$$...profit...awesome...more money, we dont have to ruin your Sims games with adds because of....PROFIT, etc!

  • fluffebunnie

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 1:54 pm GMT

    The amount of hours I have invested into The Sims2 w/University expansion pack is ridiculous. I have like 600 hundred megabites of pictures in my EA games folder.

    I get some pretty intricate stories going. It's all about turning aging off.

  • frogiggy323

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 1:49 pm GMT

    That's pretty sweet, I love the Sims. They haven't always given me the greatest expansion packs, but its fun to counterbalance with your own creativity.

  • Quintinius

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 1:31 pm GMT

    It's just a shame that there's been nearly 100M different Sims games, expansions and spin-offs.

  • skyline7284

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 1:13 pm GMT

    @Betaslayer The sims Came out in 2000

  • Snk211

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 12:27 pm GMT

    @ tclvis:

    Your comment being on game advertisments on the Sims website.. ummm.. well you see it is kinda the Sims website. It is not advertisments it is just them showing the game on their own website!

  • DonutTrooper

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 12:26 pm GMT

    I literally screamed in fear when I saw the headline.

  • HellRazer360

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 12:21 pm GMT

    damn thats alotta copies...i just got the sims castaway yesterday and i love it lol....

  • JackfnBurton

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 12:08 pm GMT

    Add the 30 bazillion expansions and the grand total comes to...(adopting my best Doctor Evil voice) ONE BILLION. MWHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

  • pigonthewing

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 11:58 am GMT

    Was never big on the games but they are well done, no doubt about that. Still amazes me that they continue to sell so well. Good for Maxis and EA i guess.

  • Krusnikzero2

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 11:49 am GMT

    Wow, gg

  • Sins-of-Mosin

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 11:36 am GMT

    The Sims games are constantly in the top 10 of sales charts. They are a serious money maker. Last time I looked at Amazon's PC game selling chart, three Sims games were in the top 10, thats crazy!

  • tclvis

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 11:34 am GMT

    "...we don't have to sell it out with advertising and sponsorship and flog the user with advertising to make money." And yet, they do. Check out the Sims website--ads everywhere. I love the game, but EA's new business model is driving me nuts.

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