EA needs ‘Sims’ to be virtual lock The Sims 3 is EA’s biggest game this year…they are betting all they have on the fact the game will be successful.* They’re reaching out past their boundaries trying to hook new people into the series, as well as pleasing the existing fanbase. The Internet, naturally, will play a key role. On launch day, much of YouTube will be taken over by Sims, as will four Viacom Web sites: MTV.com, VH1.com, ComedyCentral.com and AddictingGames.com. And surfers have been snapping photos of “Sims 3″ billboards and posting them to Facebook, Twitter and MySpace. “We’re witnessing traditional media being turned into new media,” Buchanan says. “We have a very passionate fan base.” A central component of EA’s innovative marketing campaign is trial experiences at TheSims3.com. SimSidekick, for example, allows users to choose a Sim character that will follow them to many sites, usually popping up in the upper-left corner and behaving differently at each URL visited. At Google, the character might appear to be searching for something. Whether the hype surrounding “Sims 3″ will translate into a higher stock price for EA, though, is debatable. “It’s tough to move the needle because it’s really a predictable franchise,” Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter says. “It’s unlikely that it will sell 20% more or 20% less than expected.” Pachter figures “Sims 3″ sales will exceed 3 million units this year and earn about $130 million in revenue. All that fancy marketing will cost about $18 million, he estimates, and it’s money well spent. He especially liked the “Idol” commercial. “That was big,” he says. “And it was a good ad.” Source:* Hollywood Reporter
