Game Groups > The Sims franchise

The Sims is an on-going series of life management simulations, started with the release of the original Windows game The Sims on 4 February 2000. It is part of the Maxis Sim series by Maxis Software (since 1997 a division of Electronic Arts), which was especially known in the 1990s because of the SimCity city construction and management games, of which the first game was released in 1989. Because of the success of the series, The Sims Studio became one of EA's main four franchise labels in 2007 before being abandoned in favor of returning to Maxis' branding. In February 2010, ten years after the first game, EA announced that it made a total profit of 2.5 billion through the series and sold more than 125 million copies of different instalments over multiple platforms.

The creative mastermind behind the concept is Will Wright, who was also behind the original SimCity game. Wright was inspired by a fire in 1991 that destroyed his house and all his possessions. He had to build up his life from scratch again, layer by layer, and this gave him the idea of a life simulation game. Since early 2009, Wright is no longer involved with EA or the series as a whole, after quitting the company.

This group includes all games and expansion packs that make up The Sims franchise over different platforms, including the 2002 MMOG The Sims Online and spin-offs such as The Urbz: Sims in the City (2004).