16 June 2009, Australia – Australians are gripped with The Sims 3™ fever! Since its big-bang launch on June 4, extraordinary sales results have been recorded for The Sims 3 around the world, with day one in Australia being the biggest ever for Electronic Arts.
Thousands of copies flew off shelves and retailers replenished orders by 10am the following day.
Worldwide, the title sold more than 1.4 million units within the first week making The Sims 3™ not only the biggest launch week in franchise history but also the best-selling PC title launch in Electronic Arts’ history.
Fan intensity is evidenced through more than seven million downloads of player created content including Sims, houses, stories and more. The Sims 3™, also available for download from the Apple App Store for iPhone™ and iPod touch, shot up the chart on launch day, and has remained at the top spot ever since.
Kristy Wyeth, Senior Product Manager at Electronic Arts Australia is thrilled with the results, and believes Electronic Arts has another hit on their hands.
“The Sims™ franchise has been a roaring success from day one in 2000, selling over 100 million units around the world. With more than a dozen press awards, strong reviewer scores and positive feedback from The Sims community, The Sims 3™, results really have exceeded all expectations – making it one of our most successful launches to date!
“The volume of content created with The Sims 3™ and downloaded online demonstrates how passionate The Sims players are. It’s their world now, we can’t wait to see everything players create and share,” she finished.
The Sims 3™ launch was supported locally via print, radio and TV advertising, a strong online component including social networking activations, a comprehensive public relations campaign and a star-studded launch event for media and fans at Sydney’s Luna Park.
The Sims™ is a global phenomena embraced by over 15 million people. The game simulates real life, and puts you in complete control of the daily events that unfold. Players create and manage their character – a ‘Sim’, expressing appearance, attitudes and feelings while living in a virtual world. The game is now translated into 22 different languages and available in 60 different countries.
The Sims™ 3 is compatible with PC, Mac, iPhone, iPod Touch and other mobile devices, and is rated M by the OFLC. For more information about The Sims™ 3, go to www.thesims3.com, follow on Twitter http://twitter.com/TheSims3 or become a friend of The Sims™ 3 Official page on Facebook.
– Notes to Editors –
To more information, interviews or reviews – please contact:
Mark Roberts / Liberty Lee
DEC for EA Play
02 8014 5037 / 02 8014 5032
mark@deccommunications.com.au / liberty@deccommunications.com.au
Other fun and fast facts from week one*
· A spiffy car and food replicator are the most downloaded items from The Sims 3 Exchange [Car <http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=4424> and Food Replicator <http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=4077>]
· The most watched movie, ‘Morning Run’ on The Sims 3 Exchange [Link <http://www.thesims3.com/contentDetail.html?contentId=95]
· Players are downloading the uploaded ‘Kendra’ Sim to their game the most [Link <http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=5805]
· The most viewed player story is ‘The First Sims 3 Legacy! Chapter 1’ [Link <http://www.thesims3.com/contentDetail.html?contentId=9865]
· Fans are Flocking to The Sims 3 Social Media Sites
§ Significant Facebook presence with first official Facebook Page: 301K fans
§ First time creating dedicated Facebook applications, globally
§ First Twitter feed: 14,467 followers
§ First YouTube branded channel: 20K subscribers, 7mm+ views of YouTube channel videos
§ Twitter: http://twitter.com/TheSims3
§ Facebook: http://tcp3.com/sims3facebook
§ MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/thesims3
§ YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/thesims
*Numbers as of Wednesday, June 10
About The Sims™ 3
Get inspired by the endless creative possibilities and unexpected moments of surprise and mischief in The Sims 3! Customize your Sims’ appearances and choose up to five traits to create individual personalities. From the “romantic” trait or “kleptomaniac” trait to “evil” trait, create millions of unique Sims from the vast amount of personalities. New goal-oriented game play enables you to choose which short or long-term objectives you want your Sims to pursue and even determine your Sims’ destinies in life. Create and edit your own movies by capturing your gameplay moments or select from a library of clips. Then join The Sims 3 online community where you can show off all of your creations, receive additional content, hear the latest news, and more! Download exclusive content and hear the latest news of The Sims 3 at www.TheSims3.com.
About The Sims™
The Sims franchise celebrates an impressive over 100 million units sold since its launch in February 2000. Now translated into 22 different languages and available in 60 different countries, The Sims quickly has become a universal gaming and cultural phenomenon. For the latest information about The Sims and to check out the hottest creations for The Sims 2 made by our community members, please visit www.TheSims2.com.
About Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), headquartered in Redwood City, California, is the world’s leading interactive entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, the Company develops, publishes, and distributes interactive software worldwide for video game systems, personal computers, cellular handsets and the Internet. Electronic Arts markets its products under four brand names: EA SPORTSTM, EATM, EA SPORTS FreestyleTM and POGOTM. In fiscal 2008, EA posted GAAP net revenue of $3.67 billion and had 27 titles that sold more than one million copies. EA’s homepage and online game site is www.ea.com. More information about EA’s products and full text of press releases can be found on the Internet at http://info.ea.com.
EA, EA SPORTS, EA SPORTS Freestyle, POGO and The Sims are trademarks or registered trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. Mac, iPhone, and iPod touch are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.