Can’t Kill The Sims (ERTS, AAPL)

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By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Published
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Sims LogoElectronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) is often known for its overwhelmingly popular Madden and sports game franchises.  Yet the Sims is the series that just keeps on giving.  Because you can play The Sims online and get to essentially create your own microcosm, it has been a success for much longer than many expected.  EA has now had the biggest launch week in the Sims’ history with its latest release.

The Sims 3 has now sold more than 1.4 million units and has had more than 7 million downloads of player-created content in the first week alone.  EA is calling this the biggest PC launch in its history.  EA also noted that this was the #1 paid-app from the Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone app store on launch day.

For a Gen-X gamer, this was one of those franchises that from the start was a surprising success.  But after seeing the success pile up, it is only important to understand that it is a hit regardless of personal opinion.  This is one of those gaming franchises that will probably be around through thick and thin.

Just to let you know that EA doesn’t plan to let this one just die off, it is not just TheSims3.com domain that is taken.  TheSims5.com and TheSims8.com are also owned by Electronic Arts.

Jon C. Ogg
June 9, 2009

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About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.

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