Like a proud daddy, EA announced Thursday that its lovechild with developer Maxis has finally turned a big ten-years-old. EA's original The Sims PC game hit the streets on February 4, 2000, and became an unstoppable beast for the next decade. Now in its third installment, the entire franchise has sold has sold more than 125 million units worldwide, racking in more than $2.4 billion in revenue.
"The success of The Sims is something gamers and the gaming business as a whole can be proud of," said Rod Humble, Head of the EA Play label. "With its charming and quirky style, lovely emergent game mechanics and user created creativity that delights every day, The Sims is a game that can be enjoyed by everybody and reflects what you put into it. The future of The Sims is going to be a lot of fun; it is rare for an entertainment franchise to be gaining momentum a decade after release, so this is a particularly pleasant moment for everyone who has worked on the games."
The original Sims PC game is available in 60 countries and 22 languages. By March 22, 2002, the game had sold more than 6.3 million copies, making it the best-selling PC game of all time. On February 7, 2005, more than 16 million copies of The Sims had shipped worldwide. EA and Maxis also churned out seven expansion packs including Livin' Large, Vacation, and Superstar.
The Sims 3, released in June 2009, has sold more than 4.5 million units worldwide to date, and currently holds the #1 spot as the best-selling PC game in 2009 for North America and Europe. The iPhone and iPod Touch version has also become one of the top-selling games on the App Store in 2009, and has even reached the #1 paid Apps spot in nearly 40 countries.
Currently there's no indication that The Sims mammoth will ever stop. We're not too sure how to say "happy birthday" in Simlish, however here's a bit of Klingon: qoSlIj DatIvjaj
