The Sims (video game series)
| The Sims | |
|---|---|
.svg)
The current Sims logo used since The Sims 4
|
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| Genres | Life simulation |
| Developers |
Maxis (2000–06, 2012–) The Sims Studio (2006–) |
| Publishers | Electronic Arts |
| Creators | Will Wright |
| Platforms | Various |
| Platform of origin | Microsoft Windows |
| First release |
The Sims February 4, 2000 |
| Latest release |
The Sims 4: Cats and Dogs August 24, 2017 |
| Spin-offs | See below |
The Sims is a life simulation video game series, developed by EA Maxis and published by Electronic Arts. The franchise has sold nearly 200 million copies worldwide, and it is one of the best-selling video games series of all time.
The series was created by Maxis, before the development of the series transitioned to The Sims Studio between 2006 and 2008. The Sims Studio later reintegrated into the refreshed EA Maxis label in 2012, where it continues to be developed by both teams.
The games in The Sims series are largely sandbox games, in that they lack any defined goals (except for some later expansion packs and console versions which introduced this gameplay style). The player creates virtual people called "Sims" and places them in houses and helps direct their moods and satisfy their desires. Players can either place their Sims in pre-constructed homes or build them themselves. Each successive expansion pack and game in the series augmented what the player could do with their Sims.
Game designer Will Wright was inspired to create a "virtual doll house" after losing his home during the Oakland firestorm of 1991 and subsequently rebuilding his life. Replacing his home and his other possessions made him think about adapting that life experience into a game. When he initially took his ideas to the Maxis board of the directors, they were skeptical and gave little support or financing for the game. The directors at Electronic Arts, which bought Maxis in 1997, were more receptive—SimCity had been a great success for them, and they foresaw the possibility of building a strong Sim franchise.
Will Wright has also stated that The Sims was actually meant as a satire of U.S. consumer culture. Wright also took ideas from the 1977 architecture and urban design book A Pattern Language, American psychologist Abraham Maslow's 1943 paper A Theory of Human Motivation and his hierarchy of needs, and Charles Hampden-Turner's Maps of the Mind to develop a model for the game's artificial intelligence.
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