Sim Best Seller
Or, how The Sims swallowed the gaming industry
Electronic Arts today announced that The Sims is now officially the world's best selling PC game, ever. Surging past the likes of Doom, Myst and Command & Conquer, The Sims has shifted over 6.3 million copies in 13 different languages, and has taken up permanent residence in the American charts. Meanwhile the game's first three mission packs (Livin' Large, House Party and Hot Date) have added almost seven million more sales to the tally, bringing the franchise's total haul to some 13 million units, give or take. "Reaction to The Sims by both customers and critics have exceeded our most ambitious expectations", EA president John Riccitiello beamed. "The Sims has become a cultural phenomenon. Its worldwide appeal spans hard-core gamers, casual computer users and even gaming's most elusive group of consumers, women. Over 50% of new Sims players are female." With a fourth add-on due to reach Europe in a couple of weeks, there's no end in sight to the game's total domination of the PC gaming industry. Then of course there's the online version of the game, which is almost guaranteed to become the world's biggest massively multiplayer game on launch, with over a million people a month already visiting the official Sims website just to trade stories and download new furniture and clothes for their little computer-generated people. At this rate it won't be long before The Sims franchise is selling more units than every other PC game released in the year. We fear for the future.
