How many people play The Sims? Players, sales and revenue
The Sims passed 500 million lifetime players in February 2025, and The Sims 4 had more than 70 million players by April 2023.
More than 500 million people have played a Sims game since the series began in February 2000, EA said on the franchise’s 25th birthday on 4 February 2025. The Sims 4 is the biggest single entry: it passed 70 million players in April 2023 and added more than 15 million more in the year to October 2024, Variety reported.
The Sims turned 25 in 2025, and it’s in a new chapter. The Sims 4 went free to play in 2022 and kept growing, and in August 2026 its owner, EA, was taken private in a $55 billion deal. Here are the numbers behind one of gaming’s most enduring franchises, whose publisher is covered in our EA statistics.
The Sims key statistics
- 500 million: lifetime players across The Sims series, February 2025.
- 70 million: The Sims 4 players by April 2023, the most of any Sims game.
- 15 million: new The Sims 4 players in the 12 months to October 2024.
- $1 billion: The Sims 4 revenue by 2019.
- 96,185: The Sims 4’s most players online at once on Steam, October 2022.
- $55 billion: the price of EA’s buyout, completed on 4 August 2026.
How many people play The Sims?
More than 500 million people have played The Sims
- On 18 October 2022, EA made The Sims 4 base game free to download on PC, Mac, PlayStation and Xbox.
- By 18 April 2023, The Sims 4 had passed 70 million players, the most of any game in the series, EA announced.
- In the 12 months to October 2024, it added more than 15 million new players, a remarkable number for a game from 2014.
- By February 2025, the series had more than 500 million lifetime players.
| When | Players |
|---|---|
| 18 April 2023 | The Sims 4: more than 70 million |
| 12 months to October 2024 | The Sims 4: more than 15 million new players |
| 4 February 2025 | The Sims series: more than 500 million lifetime |
Going free to play changed The Sims 4’s path. Its real revenue comes from expansions and packs, so removing the price of the base game simply took away the biggest barrier to starting.
The Sims 4 set its Steam record of 96,185 players in October 2022
| Year | Most players at once on Steam | Month |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 23,562 | December |
| 2021 | 26,197 | December |
| 2022 | 96,185 | October |
| 2023 | 54,638 | March |
| 2024 | 49,988 | January |
| 2025 | 59,219 | February |
| 2026 (to 30 October) | 48,123 | January |
Figures from Steam Charts. The Sims 4 arrived on Steam in June 2020, and the 2022 record came the month the base game went free.
Is The Sims dying? No. The Sims 4 added more than 15 million players in the year to October 2024, and on Steam it still reached 48,123 players at once in January 2026, about half its 2022 record.
The Sims sales
The Sims had sold nearly 200 million copies by 2019
- EA put sales across the series at nearly 200 million copies by 2019.
- The Sims 2 sold 1 million copies in its first 10 days in 2004.
- The Sims 3 sold 1.4 million copies in its first week in June 2009 and was the best-selling PC game of 2009 in North America and Europe.
- The Sims 3 reached 10 million copies by September 2011.
| Game | Milestone |
|---|---|
| The Sims 2 | 1 million in its first 10 days, 2004 |
| The Sims 3 | 1.4 million in its first week, June 2009 |
| The Sims 3 | 10 million by September 2011 |
| The Sims 4 | $1 billion in revenue by 2019 |
| The Sims series | more than 500 million players, February 2025 |
The Sims is one of the best-selling PC franchises ever made, and it got there without esports or competitive multiplayer, on a single creative loop: build a house, create a person, and see what happens.
The Sims revenue
The Sims 4 made $1 billion in revenue by 2019
- EA said in 2019 that The Sims 4 had passed $1 billion in revenue, five years after launch and three years before it went free.
- Expansion, game and stuff packs bring in revenue well beyond base game sales.
The Sims 4 went from a premium product to a platform over time, with EA earning steady pack revenue from an ever-larger player base.
EA’s $55 billion buyout
EA was bought for $55 billion, with the deal closing in August 2026
- In September 2025, EA agreed to be bought by a group made up of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Silver Lake and Affinity Partners for about $55 billion.
- The deal closed on 4 August 2026, EA announced. Shareholders got $210 a share in cash, and EA left the Nasdaq.
- It was reported as the largest leveraged buyout on record, though Microsoft’s $68.7 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard remains the biggest games deal.
Maxis, the studio behind The Sims, said its values had not changed after the deal was announced, and The Sims 4 is still getting new content.
The Sims gameplay facts
Players created more than 1.6 billion Sims by 2020
For the series’ 20th anniversary in February 2020, EA shared what players had been up to:
- They had created more than 1.6 billion Sims since 2000.
- 68% of The Sims 4 players had made a Sim based on themselves.
- A typical week in The Sims 4 included more than 3 million WooHoos, 370,000 marriages and 120,000 deaths.
- Since 2000, players had created 6.9 million vampires, 1 million mermaids and 217,000 aliens.