Virtual online worlds may seem more fashionable these days, but The Sims, an eight-year-old computer game that simulates life, has just sold its 100 millionth copy.
The Sims was only expected to ship in the hundreds of thousands when it was launched in 2000, but it has become the best-selling PC game of all time for its publisher Electronic Arts.
The Sims, The Sims 2 and numerous expansion and “stuff” packs have built up the numbers, as well as releases on other platforms such as mobile devices and consoles.
There still seems plenty of life left in the franchise. The Sims 3 is due next year as is The Sims The Movie. There is a casual games site, The Sims Carnival, about to be launched and a karaoke site, The Sims On Stage.
EA has made The Sims one of four divisions or “labels” in the company to help it grow globally. It is already available in 22 languages and 60 countries. Nancy Smith, president of the division, says the game has appealed to a wide demographic and 50 per cent of players are female.
While there is a thriving online community sharing content, she says The Sims is different from virtual worlds.
“On the PC, it’s really a single-player experience. Players create these stories and raise these generations of families. When they want to share, they come to the community, like an artist putting on an exhibition.”
For a viewing, check out the thousands of videos on YouTube. A Sims version of the pop star Lily Allen, for example, features in an in-world music video for her hit Smile. Even though it is sung in hard-to-fathom Simlish - The Sims own language - it has been viewed 4m times.
For the record, The Sims lies in overall third in franchise sales, behind Nintendo’s plumber Mario, on 200m and counting, and its Pokemon, with 165m in sales.
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