The Sims passes 100-million mark

By Emma Boyes, GameSpot UKPosted Apr 16, 2008 4:14 am PT

Electronic Arts celebrates that the franchise has sold in mind-boggling numbers since its launch in 2000.

The best-selling PC game franchise of all time just got a bit more best-selling. EA announced today that The Sims series has now sold 100 million copies worldwide since it launched in 2000. Since the first game, the series has been translated into 22 different languages and sold in 60 countries around the world. According to the New York Times, the franchise has generated over $4 billion for its publisher, Electronic Arts--or around $500 million per year.

The first Sims game was the brainchild of celebrated game developer Will Wright, and was released for the PC on EA's Maxis label just over eight years ago. Dozens of expansion packs, spin-offs, and console ports followed, and this trend continued after the launch of The Sims 2 in 2004. The launch of The Sims 3, recently announced for 2009, will let a new generation of virtual humans wander around their neighbourhoods freely for the first time.

The virtual-life sim lets players customise a sim or group of sims and direct their day-to-day lives, including building and decorating their houses, choosing their career paths, and managing their relationships with others. Each month, The Sims 2 Web site has over 4.3 million unique visitors, who have downloaded more than 70 million user-created items, including furniture, outfits, and sims themselves. The game has also been a surprise hit on YouTube, where gamers have posted some 100,000 movies showing their sims.

According to EA, "If 100 million boxes of The Sims were lined up end-to-end, they would stretch from New York city to Moscow. And, with 100 million sold, one out of seven homes in Europe and one out of three homes in America would have a product of The Sims franchise."

Those who wish to celebrate The Sims' success can download some new duds for their Sims 2 characters on April 16 from the game's official Web site.

104 Comments

  • 2money

    Posted Aug 24, 2009 1:06 am PT

    how to dwnload a game

  • AirForceGamer

    Posted Mar 18, 2009 11:32 pm PT

    What are people complaining for? No one is making you buy all the expansions. I bought sims 2 the week it came out and never got an expansion for it. I still play it at least once a week. My wife got me 1 expansion and that's the only reason I have an expansion. THe core game play great and if you want to buy some expansions then go for it.

  • Killingspree303

    Posted Nov 16, 2008 11:21 am PT

    Look to the left at the side... What do you see here? Mass produced addition games that no one needs...

    (A little late, yes, but I had too)

  • LittleNYZ

    Posted Aug 24, 2008 11:21 am PT

    LaraCroft15 i freaking agree becuz having to buy all of thoses games and can be like a lot of money so i can't wait for the sims 3 imagin how much money dats gunna be i hope they make the sims 2 complete collection LittleNYZ

  • DeterminedGirl

    Posted Aug 16, 2008 1:55 pm PT

    I'm an avid pet lover so it's obvious that I love playing The Sims 2: Pets! My only wish for my own Sim is that you can adjust the height instead of everyone being over-indentical.

  • 619_clean

    Posted Jun 22, 2008 9:51 am PT

    looks to kill, sims is something...

  • acemasta21

    Posted Jun 4, 2008 11:47 pm PT

    sims is my fav pc franchise i just wish the console version was like the pc version i c a possibilty since its going next gen

  • Elk

    Posted Apr 23, 2008 9:56 am PT

    @LaraCroft15 I dread rebuilding my wife computer, just because re-installing all those darn expansion packs takes hours. But as soon as we go to Sims 3 we'll have a fresh slate and be missing lots of content until expansions come out. Sims 3 pets anyone?

  • hypnotic71

    Posted Apr 20, 2008 2:29 am PT

    Can't wait foe the Sims 3. Clearly, this game is one of the best games of ALL time.

  • rjunior14

    Posted Apr 19, 2008 9:24 pm PT

    The Sims has ALWAYS been in my computer for the last eight years

  • LaraCroft15

    Posted Apr 18, 2008 10:27 am PT

    I really hope they will make Sims 2 Complete Collection soon too like they did with Sims 1. Buying all the expansions separately can be pricy and not very convinient to install. As for Sims 3 I would like to see new sim game controlled not just with mouse but with keyboard as well - 3rd person view like Dreamfall game.

  • whitemouse29

    Posted Apr 18, 2008 4:48 am PT

    Yay!!!! I can't wait for Sims 3!!! Congrats EA Maxis!!

  • NightBlade151

    Posted Apr 18, 2008 12:30 am PT

    @lexxy182002:
    The Sims 2? Graphics intense? You've got to be kidding me. For today's standards, The Sims 2 has crappy graphics. It really does.
    You should consider buying a new computer...

  • incredibleman

    Posted Apr 17, 2008 10:44 pm PT

    OH MY F***ING GOD

  • penguins227

    Posted Apr 17, 2008 4:49 pm PT

    that's a lot... lol

  • alexl86

    Posted Apr 17, 2008 4:36 pm PT

    Yeah, but it's worldwide sales... so, it's only a 60th of the world's population... still, one out of 60 people(theoretically anyway) own the Sims. That's... scary.

  • Thesimsfrk111

    Posted Apr 17, 2008 2:50 pm PT

    100 million? OMG! That's a third of our (the United States) population!

  • mikeyg756

    Posted Apr 17, 2008 2:28 pm PT

    If the Sim 1 community doesn't have powerful enough machines to run the sims 2, then the sims 1 community must be a bunch of homeless people.. OFCOURSE EA is gonna be all about sims 2 at the moment, becuase its been out for 4 years!, and they don't think anyone is stupid enough to be playing the first one after all this time.

  • lexxy182002

    Posted Apr 17, 2008 9:29 am PT

    EA: What about celebrating with your Sim 1 Users/Fans??
    It's way narrow minded of you to think everyone's just moved on to Sims 2... there is still a thriving Sims 1 Community... and a lot of us have no plans for the near future of moving on to the Sims 2. It was WRONG of you to take the Sims 1 exchanges off line, and it's wrong of you to ignore us now while you are "celebrating". it could be a huge marketing mistake on your part. Most of us in the Sims 1 community don't have a machine that would run the more graphics intense Sims 2, let alone the Sims 3, even if we were inclined to switch over. Think about it. The Sims 1 Still lives, and we aren't going anywhere. Ignoring us could be a big mistake.

  • ps3thabest

    Posted Apr 17, 2008 9:17 am PT

    i played it on ps2 i didnt really care for it im focused on gta4 metal gear solid 4 fall out 3 etc

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