The Sims is a series of life simulation video games developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts. The franchise has sold nearly million copies worldwide, and is one of the best-selling video game series of all time. It is also part of the larger Sim series , started by SimCity in 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", 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 and subsequently rebuilding his life.
When Wright initially took his ideas to the Maxis board of directors , they were skeptical and gave little support or financing for the game. The directors at Electronic Arts , which bought Maxis in , were more receptiveโ SimCity had been a great success for them, and they foresaw the possibility of building a strong Sim franchise.
Wright has stated that The Sims was meant as a satire of U. The Sims was the first game in the series. Seven expansion packs and two deluxe editions with exclusive content were released. It was repackaged in several different formats, and different versions of it were released on several different platforms.
By March 22, , The Sims had sold more than 6. The original game, all seven expansion packs, and the two deluxe edition content packs constitute the first generation of the PC release.
