Slashdot Mirror
EA As The Next Disney
ducomputergeek writes "There is an article over at Business2.0.com about how EA may just surpass Disney as the number #1 media company in the world. Considering that EA has turned out some great games over the years, including Wing Commander, many sports games for consoles, and the SIMS, it wouldn't surprise me."
Is EA really that big? I mean disney seems to own or have their fingers in just about all media. EA just doesn't seem as prevalent.
Also does anyone know how much the Sim's helped EA out? or did Maxis make most of the money off that?
Does EA produce their own stuff, or do they get other people to produce stuff, then market it?
You mean, some great games were turned out by companies that EA syphoned up...e.g. wing commander was produced _before_ EA bought Origin.
Maybe if Disney gets knocked from the top spot, they'd realize that they need to work harder on producing good media. It seems to me that the quality of their stuff has been dropping horribly. They did a great job of making things based off of classic material, but some of the stuff they relase that isn't is simply bad, in my opinion.
games vs movies. i think with the level of complexity and advancement in games and gaming technology, i have to say sale of games will exceed the sale of disney movies....
Consensus is good, but informed dictatorship is better
EA the next Disney? Does Michael Eisner know about this? Will they constantly take from the public domain, without ever giving back to it like Disney does?
How ya like dat?
Electronic Arts always had great games... except it used to be EOA, dunno when it changed.
Ah, those fond memories of my youth... 2AM, sitting in front of my C-64, watching that EOA title screen come up... gaming all night long (in between using a 300 baud modem to contact BBS's in germany, Japan...)
I almost didn't survive the beating that resulted from one month's phone bill... almost 400$ of overseas long-distance. Twenty years ago, 400$ was, as they say, real money.
Yep, I can hear the L33T K1dd13Z now... "Shut up, pops. Go take some Bayer for yer arthritis."
Even if a man chops off your hand with a sword, you still have two nice, sharp bones to stick in his eyes.
I have two friends who work at EA (two completely different locations, and neither of these people know each other).
EA works you like a dog. Everyone there hates their job. Big sexist corporate culture too. Both of my friends are women, and BOTH have had ideas stolen from them by their male manager. Fuckers.
So in that respect, yes, they are just like Disney.
Of course, the video game industry has been larger then the movie industry for a while, at least in terms of revenue. That probably has a lot to do with the fact that video games cost $50 or so for a new game, while movies cost a few dollars at the theater, and around $10-$15 for DVDs.
But still, it's interesting how the movie (and even the tiny music) industry seem to be much more newsworthy and important then the video game industry. Aside from game specific press... the game industry gets about as much ink as the logging industry or something. Its weird.
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
EA may just surpass Disney as the number #1 media company in the world
The article states that the CEO of EA thinks "it's almost absurd to compare a $2 billion software maker with a $25 billion diversified media giant." I don't think they'll be surpassing Disney anytime soon.
...all they have to do is create several dozen movies that are regarded as classics for generations, open a couple theme parks, buy a handful of movie and television companies... They should be done by Q2 2003.
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
If that is true, then wow, that's weird. They used to be so small. I remember all their excellent games for the C64, but strangely I can't remember any of their names.
One of my favourites was Foxfire or Firefox or something like that. Ace flight sim for that old 8 bit machine.
Useless trivia of the day: The legendary SID musician/coder Rob Hubbard works for EA these days. He coded the themesong for Commando in machine code in just one night. Skillz.
How small a thought it takes to fill a whole life
I remember seeing an ad in a gaming magazine...aboutr '86 or so...
black and white, with about 8 developers on it..each talking about games they had programmed...Archon, stuff like that...
that was EA, as I recall....on one hand...kewl they've succeeded...on the other hand, they were once a blatently geek programming company...kind of a bumber...but it was kewl...
RB
----------
ah honey, we're all resplendent - Bill Mallonee
This month's Wired has a good article on EA Sports. This company dominates sports games so much it's scary...
They release buggy products (NHL 2002, NHL 2003, 007: NightFire for the PC)
And disny releases crappy movies.
and re-use game engines and ideas from other companies.
What, it's not like anyone ever accused Disney of being orgional.
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
Considering that EA has turned out some great games over the years, including Wing Commander...
Maybe I recall incorrectly, but I have this distinct memory of Wing Commander being originally published independently by Origin Systems before being bought out by Electronic Arts. Please correct me if I'm wrong about this.
In Soviet Russia, Jesus asks: "What Would You Do?"
Oh c'mon now!
Treasure Planet will turn things around!
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
All you need to do is have "business" as part of your website; to show you have some sort of business plan I guess.
I mean Business2.0.com is like the lamest thing I've heard since the "Every kiss begins with Kay" slogan.
EA is not quite there yet!!
"it's almost absurd to compare a $2 billion software maker with a $25 billion diversified media giant.
If you are reading it... chances are, Disney is aware of the same information.
money Gordon hints could be used to expand into movies or music. In any event, Probst is clearly way beyond thinking of EA as merely a creator of software toys. "Our goal," he says with no hint of self-consciousness, "is to become the greatest entertainment company ever.
So, given the quoted valuation differences, and EA's stated goal, my question is.. how hard would it be for Disney to make EA an "offer they can't refuse"?
Maybe the next version of Sim City is going to include a big fat Epcot Center monument!!
Woa, that's really weird. Disney owns ABC, makes (er copies) tons of movies every year, releases so many old movies every year from the "Disney vaults", owns and operates several multi-million (billion on some?) theme parks and recreation centers, etc, etc, etc
I remember Archon. I remember saying that Activision and EA were the ones along with Sierra that could really go all the way. I liked the Atari computer too so I was not all right and everything.
The game industry is taking over. The media conglomerates are going to keep messing around and ticking off consumers and playing politics. One day the suckers will turn around and realize no one is just dumb watching anymore. They are all playing.
Most of the time I would rather play a good computer or console game than watch tv. There are still some good movies out there for sure, but I would rather play a good game than watch a bad movie. The media guys have to realize they are not the only game in town anymore. Yes, BTW, there are plenty of bad games too just the industry is growing by leaps and bounds.
ACK
If Linux took over the desktop market, I don't think a title of "Linux As Next Microsoft" would be appropriate. Why? Because that brings a long not only that Linux has taken over the desktop market, but also all the negatives that can be attributed to microsoft. Why does this matter? Well, I don't think EA is becoming the next Disney in the way I think fo Disney. Disney use to conjure up warm feelings, but I think the slashdot community as a whole would agree that since Walt got cryogenically frozen (or whatever), Disney has done plenty to rise the ire of observers. And I see no reason to apply those negatives to EA (not yet at least).
F-bacher
James Tiberius Kirk: "Spock, the women on your planet are logical. No other planet in the galaxy can make that claim."
Electronic Arts won't be the next DisneyCo until EA starts lobbying to the United States Congress for copyright laws that further restrict consumers and other authors and publishers. Look how much money DisneyCo contributed to get the Bono Act passed in a desperate attempt to keep Mickey Mouse locked up.
Will I retire or break 10K?
Looking over their past, the only current well selling game I can think of is the Sims (admittedly, I'm not to sure about this and am too lazy to check up on this). Also, I've heard that their sports games, while being quite good in the past, now suck.
And an even bigger reason why I doubt EA will be the next disney is because of mismanagement. Check out places like fatbabies.com for information from the inside...doesn't look good, does it?
But the biggest reason is this...the next disney for the games industry is aalready shaping up to be Microsoft; they bought Rare, Bungie and a whole host of other companies. That, plus their expansive inhouse dev section put them at the top of the heap, I'd think.
-- Waht? Tehr's a preveiw buottn?
EA has made 1.5 billion in revenue last year, and reaped 100 million wingwangs this year alone. you can read about it here. the scale of their sports franchise alone is staggering: with tens of millions of clams being spent for marketing their sports games this year!
you might think of EA churning out craptastic games that leave you consistently overwhelmed, but the truth is that there are lots of people out there playing their console games. i mean, people i normally don't associate with, like, you know. people who play sports. and exercise. and stuff. physical exertion. pull-ups. push-ups. i dunno. i'm outta my league here now. but you know, like, THOSE people. the meatheads.
they like EA games.
and there are lots of meatheads out there.
me? i prefer more academic pursuits. if EA came out with a game like Madden for people like me, i'd give them a lot o my coin. say, instead of Madden, they had Fiercesome Librarian 2003. or Raging Geeks League Slide Rule Competition '02 (RGL '02).
but nooooo. they did their market research and realized that these sports fans can beat people like me-- the people who program these games, up. so they make stuff to appease them.
and it's gotten them a lot of moolah!
why, i remember loading up Racing Destruction Set on my c64, and watching the big square/circle/triangle change colors. i also remember modifying my 1541 drive with JiffyDos, which was a small add-on cache for the drive. SUPER LOAD TIMES!
i'm rambling. the point i'm trying to make is that yes, EA really is that big. and they're getting bigger. the sports nuts/meatheads control the market. and their population grows! fellow slashdotter, you know how always find yourself at home, alone, on friday nights? that's cause all the HAWT chix0rz are out getting their mack on, and their clothes off, with the big burly men who buy EA Sports games.
CITIZENS OF SLASHDOT! SCREW THE RIAA! SCREW THE MPAA!
FOCUS YOUR EFFORTS ON EA!
WORK HARD! GET MUSCLES!
AND TOGETHER WE CAN SCORE TEH HAWT CHIX0RZ!
If this keeps up "Mickey Mouse" might end up meaning cheap and unreliable. Wouldn't want that to happen! ;^)
Ryan Fenton
No.
I hate EA already. I can't remember the last time they've produced a game i liked, but i can give you multiple recent instances where they bought a company that made games i really liked-- and then ran that company into the ground, preventing them from making more games i like.
Irritable, left-wing and possibly humorous bumper stickers and t-shirts
Sounds from the article that the CEO doesn't even know how to exploit women for their image... Jesus Christ, Disney was good at that and he didn't cater to the teenage male market like EA...
Business 2.0 is 0wn3d by AOL/Time Warner anyway, its in their interest to make it look like our modern media megaliths are still threatened by West Coast programmers... And yes i feel sorry for the poor losers that are going to fork over all that money to play an online game which is actively being infiltrated by fucking Intel and McDonald's advertisements.
I think it makes sense to say that EA type big releases will start to acquire a stronger gloss of professionalism because they can import Hollywood talent, (effects. art and voices) but yes even the SuperMcSimsOnline is just a video game.
--hongpong.com
How about The Sims, and it's almost "Magic The Gathering" likeness regarding expansion packs?... EA (and Maxis, but isn't Maxis a wholly owned subsidiary?) have certainly made a lot of money by recycling that piece of crap over and over and over again (talk about a cash cow)...
...and yes, that might be considered flamebait to those who like The Sims series, but come on... when I played it, it took like 15 minutes just for a man to go for a piss! (unless it included time spent doing other things in the bathroom?) among other woeful "gameplay" issues.I know I shouldn't be boxing EA because of my gripes against that game, they do come out with a lot of good stuff (i.e. Medal of Honor). Anyway, rant over!
Are you local? There's nothing for you here!
I hope not. I recently came back from disneyland - and I must say - what a rip-off farce that place is. It is nothing but corporate marketing and a store with the very thin veil of a theme park.
Space Mountain - Brought to you by FedEX.
Star Tours - brought to you by Energizer.
and many many others. (problem is that Disneyland has very few actual rides - go to great america, far far far better place)
The place was terrible - an army of strollers and every ride practically exits you into a store of some sort.
I bought a single piece of Pizza and a water - and that was $10.00 - I had to get a sweatshirt because it was freezing, and my wife really wanted to see the parade, $60.00. A disney cup, $10.00. The same Lego Pieces you can buy at lego.com were literally twice the price. 9.99 for a 3 man starwars set rather than the 4.99 I paid for the same set online. All of this on top of the $45.00 per person we paid to get in (and mind you that this is only for the TRADITIONAL disney SIDE of the park - if you wanted to go to both California Adventure AND Disneyland, well that'll be $90.00 Buddy, thats per ticket.)
If EA turns out to be anything like Disney - I will certainly boycott them. The only reason we went was because my wife had never been there before.
Once a lifetime is enough, go when you are 5 or 6 and never again (unless you are forced to take your kids - which I would recommend against)
Fuck Disney - they dont represent anything but corporate greed and the fact that the consumer is justa number with a pocketbook full of money that the arebent on liberating you from.....
Last time I checked, my supermarket had about 6 or 7 video game mags. About the same as the number of cooking mags, bridal mags, or hot-rod mags.
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
There are 2 problems with this article. First off, as the article says it really isn't fair to compare these two companies as their individual focuses are entirely different. Disney is a media giant, and is not focused on its video game market solely-- so it would make sense that ea could surpass them. its the same reason why nintendo has a better shot of surpassing the more diversified game makers. It also fails to recognize brand recognition. A lot of parents (the ones with the money) buy video games for their kids purely on the brand name of Disney (albeit a misleading name). Just a few things I noticed.
Hey guys, how quickly we forget our video gaming history! Wing Commander was made by Origin (anyone recall that "Lord British" guy?), which was, sadly, gobbled up by EA.
Simulated life.
Hours in front of a computer in a make believe world.
Does it count?
Does Saint Peter check off the simulated good deeds and intentions and take off for the bad? Or does the time show up as blank holes in the real-world continuum when they get the big book out.
Sometimes when I listen to gamers I get the impression that given the opportunity to live in a Matrix-like world, many gamers would surely rather 'jack-in'... For good.
Cake or Death? Cake Please!
EA has direct contracts with many sports concerns (in addition to direct sales to the consumer)... Not sure Disney has those kinds of connections.
then I'll be first in line for the Road Rash ride at their theme park.
:)
Hope I get the billyclub...
Where does the school board find them and why do they keep sending them to ME?
Other early EA software that I had included Music Construction Set and Hard Hat Mac. I was pretty sad about Hard Hat Mac since I had asked for Jumpman for Christmas, but Hard Hat Mac turned out to be pretty fun. The games came in giant boxes that resembled an LP sleeve.
Lasers Controlled Games!
I was having a lot of trouble understanding this article. Basically, I hit the part where they were talking about a booth babe named Hecubah. Well, I couldn't proceed any until I had some imagery to work with. Found some too. Thanks Google!
Hecubah, the booth babe from the article:
photo
If tits were wings it'd be flying around.
Even if Disney's Treasure Planet does rake in some dough late into its theatrical release, or if it sells exceptionally well on DVD and VHS, DisneyCo is in danger of losing two of its cash cows: the copyright on Mickey Mouse (© 1928 Disney) and the USA copyright on Winnie the Pooh (© 1925 Milne, licensed exclusively to Disney).
While you're waiting for the Supreme Court to decide on whether or not to free the mouse, you can civil disobey right now.
Will I retire or break 10K?
Actually, much of EA's growth has been through acquisitions of companies such as Maxis, Origin, Westwood, etc, and putting them under the EA umbrella. For the most part, the various studios pretty much still are autonomous (ie, they're still geographically located where they used to be), and there is really little cooperation, at least from a technical/development perspective (there's lots of cross-marketing, though). There are, I admit, advantages, and disadvantages, but within the EA world, there are not too many cross-studio synergies as one might initially expect.
-- Samir Gupta, Ph. D. Head, New Technology Research Group, Nintendo Co. Ltd., Kyoto, Japan.
I once read a very well respected Japanese developer said (I think it was Yuji Naka) [Some companies]"...make games at the desk." He was refering to game companies making games to make money, not to create something fun to play.
Electronic Arts is in the video game industry making sound business moves and producing disposable rubbish for an eager consumer base. They are no longer Electronic Artists and they no longer make great video games. This shows in the huge amount of crap they spew out each year.
Other companies were getting to be guilty of the same thing, but they seem to have realized it and are trying to make a turn for the better. Capcom, for instance, has pledged a shift towards quality and innovation, and shortly afterwards announced 6 new fairly unique looking titles.
3DO claims to be making a similar shift, and has cancelled many projects to focus on a few unique titles. Trip Hawkins even forked over his own personal money to help fund the company further along. How many CEOs do you know of who would do that? (Well, the President of Sega did that, too, then died shortly afterwards.)
Many of the more respectable publishers and developers are making this shift towards quality, but Electronic Arts openly clings to "tried and true" titles, even if it means saturating the market with crap.
I don't rant about it like I used to. I just stopped buying the shit. After all, there are other great video game developers out there.
"Everything you know is wrong. (And stupid.)"
Moderation Totals: Wrong=2, Stupid=3, Total=5.
EA is and owns:
EA (Medal of Honor, The Sims, 007:Nightfire..)
EA Sports (most every officially liscensed sports game)
Maxis (SimCity, SimEarth,...)
Origin Systems (Ultima series, Wing Commander, Privateer)
Bullfrog Productions (Populous, Dungeon Keeper, Theme Hospital)
Westwood Studios (all the Command and Conquer)
Now you add in all the studios:
Austin, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Irvine, Walnut Creek, Orlando, Vancouver, Tokyo, London
the co-publishing agreements:
Crave Entertainment
Digital Extremes
Digital Illusions
Disney Interactive
Fox Interactive
Krome Studios
LEGO Interactive
Pseudo Interactive
Sunflowers Interactive
affiliated label agreements:
Capcom
Delphine
Fox Interactive
LucasArts
NovaLogic
SquareSoft
This more or less means that they are the biggest game company out there, and have the foot in the door everywhere, even Disney.
All this stuff comes from a few sources, a lot of it is out of their legal documentation.
I actually like EA. Their policy on releasing classic games is absolutely superb(they actually -- gasp! sell them!), and I've picked up dozens of old titles that way. It's refreshing to see a company which sees that there's some money to be made by deciding not to ignore the abandonware crowd. So... I don't think there's a problem if they become larger than they are.
It's been a long time.
Because I'll be booking my next vacation to Walt Disney World and not EA world.
Why Walt Disney World and not Time Warner World?
And yes, EA does have a theme park and a theme park. Who knows? Perhaps EA is planning a real (not Sim) theme park.
Will I retire or break 10K?
It's a shame that Wing Commander was mentioned, and yet is about as dead of a series as they come. That is a series that has more-or-less gone to Microsoft in all but name (Starlancer and Freelancer), and is the closest that Mark "Aren't you that Skywalker Guy" Hammel will ever get to non-voice over fame.
I also noticed that where the Sims got a lot of time, their other biggest stable, EA Sports, only got two short blurbs. Madden has been the standard for Video Game Football for years, and most likely will continue to be for a while. Other notable titles like NBA Street, SSX Tricky and Medal of Honor were left off.
I don't get the reference to EA being the Microsoft of the gaming world. I could have sworn that Microsoft was the Microsoft of the gaming world, but who knows. I mean, Microsoft Games is one of their good points (and I know there are few), and they make a huge amount of games as well. That little X-Box thing, and AoM/AoE, plus their sports stable.
EA will never be another Disney in the sense of what Disney is. However, they could easily be to Software what Disney is to animated features and children's programming: the standard. I'm not sure if I own more Sierra or EA games. For the PS2 it's hand's down EA, and for the computer it's a little closer.
For them to really go into the entertainment industry, they would have to pull in something that could move them past being just a software company. Someone like Blizzard or Square Soft (I thought they used to have a stake in Square USA) could be what moves them closer to Digital Movie entertainment. I know that the Warcraft 3 made me think that Blizzard would someday go movie instead of game. But for now, they can rest on being the best publisher out there.
EA's great moment will come when some major sport goes on strike, and EA's game goes on TV as a substitute.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Like most interesting journalism, this is largely wishful thinking. EA will need to prove it's more than just a game company to become the player it wants to be. The company is largely beholden to other media companies for its content (LOTR game, James Bond game, Harry Potter game) and sports games are really a dime a dozen. Only The Sims has long-term promise as a stand-alone franchise... and once they try to make a Sims movie (and you know they will!) that will be the end of it. (Anyone remember the Wing Commander movie? Still trying to forget it, huh...)
But really, EA needs to look beyond gaming if it really wants to challenge Disney or any other major media concern. Sure, it's a powerhouse in the gaming world, but my mother's never heard of Electronic Arts, while she sure as hell knows who Disney is.
filmcritic.com - Movie reviews on Internet time
To avoid any misinformation, Chris Roberts was the mind behind Wing Commander, not Lord British. The wing commander series was way ahead of its time. I remember begging my parents back in 1990 for an 8 meg upgrade for my Compaq 286 in order to get enough "expanded memory" to play wing commander. It was really the event that got me interested in the nuts and bolts of computers. Back then you had to play around with config.sys and autoexec.bat files in order to play memory intensive dos games. BTW, that 8 meg upgrade cost $700.
EA only creates software for all platforms. Disney does all of that. Plus they have their own channel. Plus they own ABC. Disney also has a enormous video library. I don't see EA doing any of that.
And finally does EA have a Magic Kingdom? Disney does actually three, plus also MGM, Epcot and Animal kindom theme parks.
Another aspect of sports games is that they are very capital intensive due to licensing and the amount of statistical data. This prevents any small upstart from coming out with a noteworthy competitor.
Loyalty amongst sports game fans is another factor, people who have played madden for the last 10 years are not going to switch to NFL2K3. EA has made the wise decision to release their sports games for just about every platform. One other plus for the sports game genre is that it appeals to the growing market of older gamers.
heh, I remember when saying "Electronic Arts" to a villager in Ultima would make them say "With language like that, how did you become an avatar?". I'd pay money to see Lord British saying that in Ultima Online :)
sigs are dumb.
Wing Commander means the original game, plus Wing Commander 2 and the first Privateer game. All the rest were just endless video sequences with some short and repetitive gameplay between them. They weren't even described as games, the box said "interactive CD-ROM movie".
For a couple of years before being bought by EA, Origin really did create worlds. They made some of the best games of all times (Ultima 7, Wing Commander, Privateer, Underworld). Same goes for Bullfrog, and many other companies swallowed up by EA (I doubt Maxis will ever make another original game; they will just keep releasing Sims add-ons with more and more advertising). EA seems to have the Midas touch with a twist: all the gold it touches turns into crap.
Oh well, as long as they make some gold out of companies' last breaths, I guess the shareholders will be happy.
RMN
~~~
Ooh, that brings back some ancient memories of mine... Hardly a game that has contributed to EA's greatness very much. :-) I personally think they made more money and has got more attention from the NHL series, etc. (that aren't just developed for consoles either, like you'd think from the summary posted here).
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
that they didn't mention CNC Generals, looks to be an amazing game and it is one of the games that EA is counting on to increase market share according to Yahoo News bit. For some great info about cnc generals, check out RenegadeGenerals, cool fan site with lots of screens.
Though it may have been pointed out already, it should be noted that EA did NOT produce Wing Commander; Origin did. You remember Origin... they made Ultima (and I don't mean the online version, youngsters). EA absorbed them, eviscerated their development staff and ran off the rest, then buried them.
While EA has in fact published some good games, WC was before its time (though I think WC3 was during the reign of EA).
Being from Austin, I'm a bit sensitive to this sort of thing... but it seems to me that EA has taken a page or two out of the Disney "How to Be an Evil Media Conglomerate" manual.
Whatever happened to JonKatz?
On the new Madden 2003 they have all the pro-bowl players doing their solo interviews with the camera. Instead of, "Brian Boitano you just won the South Park Super Bowl what are you going to do now?" they have the EA slogan "If its in the game, its in the game" slogan by all the pro-bowl players.
I agree--if Disney as we know it came into existence today, they'd have a hard time being the next Disney. Luckily, they've got a hundred-year head start.
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
- SSX
- LOTR: The Two Towers (fantastic, if you haven't tried it. One of the VERY few movie-game successes IMHO)
- The Sims (say what you will... chix dig it)
- Ultima Online (no credit for first really successful MMORPG? Come on...)
- Battlefield 1942
- Medal of Honor (I think...)
They've certainly doled out their share of crap, but they are hardly 100% drek. Some of it is only published, not developed, by EA, but we are comparing to Disney, right?
I also have a warm fuzzy for their old school stuff on the C64... California Games (or was that EPIX?), Skate or Die, Archon, Project Firestart, Budokan....
And I thought I was a game snob.
BTW, those 'meathead' games for the sports franchises are generally considered the best available. I don't like 'em either, but I respect the meatheads' opinion in this matter.
If Jesus wants me it knows where to find me.
What they need to overtake is bicoastal themeparks. They can have houses with futuristic toilets and pets and such. A wing commander ride would be schweet though
People who think they know everything really piss off those of us that actually do.
I just don't get how this "game" and all it's expansion packs could be so popular. Seems like playing with a dollhouse if you ask me. To me, the only "Sims" that seems to have any potential at all is the Sims Online.