They've taken big steps to get themselves a piece, their most significant effort being the $1.3B purchase of PopCap, maker of such classic casual titles as Bejeweled, Peggle and Plants vs. Zombies. What they're going to do with that new brand remains to be seen, but in the mean time, they're trying to take their own existing series and give them a social twist.
The latest title to get the treatment is The Sims, a massively popular life simulation title that first debuted all the way back in 2000. The series has seen a ton of expansions and new versions over the years that have sold upwards of 125M copies, and a "social" title was not only expected, but probably necessary for the brand.
The Sims Social has just come out of closed beta, and is making its debut with 4.8M active users. The game has been a collaboration between EA and Playfish out of London.
It's supposed a new way to experience the game, as the idea is to live in a Sims world with all your Facebook friends, not just strangers the way you might with The Sims Online. That idea is demonstrated in this slightly awkward premiere trailer that adorns the game's Facebook page.
[youtubevid id="VMITMYFGnYI"]The plot of the trailer shows a girl remarking that one of her male Facebook friends is now single. Rather than sending him a flirty message, she invites him to play The Sims Social with her. The next day she gossips to her friend about how they hooked up in game, and shared a virtual shower together. Uhh, what? Does anyone else find this mildly disturbing as the proposed use of the new title?
But almost 5 million people think it's rather fun, and it will be interesting to see how The Sims Social grows in comparison to other Facebook games, many of which have been on the downswing as of late. EA would appear to have a hit on their hands, and we'll find out the magnitude in the coming weeks and months.
source: http://news.yahoo.com/eas-sims-social-debuts-almost-5m-active-users-140417762.html
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