The Sims franchise surpasses $5b in lifetime sales

The Sims series, across four main titles and a handful of spinoffs across nearly two decades, is officially a $5 billion franchise according to EA.

In EA's Q2 earnings call today, CEO Andrew Wilson announced the figure alongside a further expression of long-term support for the franchise.

"The Sims 4 also continues to be an incredible long-term live service with a growing audience," he said. "Monthly average players up are up more than 40% year-over-year in The Sims 4, and engagement across the franchise has led The Sims to surpass $5 billion in lifetime sales. The Sims continues to be one of the great franchises in gaming, and we have plans to bring new experiences to its amazing players for a long time to come."

Further specifics about that long-term content were not given, though it was suggested later in the call that The Sims 4 would (unsurprisingly) receive some kind of holiday content this year. These suggestions fit neatly into a broader EA strategy apparent throughout the call, in which both Wilson and COO ad CFO Blake Jorgensen stated at different points that the company would be "doubling down on live services" for its games in the coming years.

EA's support of The Sims has been expressed in other ways recently, too, with EA committing just earlier today to putting the game on Steam along with its other major franchise offerings, and with EA Maxis senior producer Michael Duke expressing in an interview with us in August that the team could easily plan and publish updates for The Sims 4 for years to come.

That said, Wilson has suggested in previous investor calls that The Sims 4 might not be the best fit for Nintendo Switch, since its audience "preferred to play it somewhere else."