If you head on over to What They Play, you will find an article with The Sim’s Label division manager Shannon Copur discussing the audience that forms around the game.

“The game wound up having great appeal towards girls and women. Initially, many of them saw the game being played by the more traditional gamer demographic, 18 to 25 year old males, and saw a lot of things about it that captured their own interest. When they gave it a try, they were hooked, and word of mouth spread quickly. In focus groups, we asked women how they got into the game, and responses were always along the lines of ‘my boyfriend gave it to me’ or ‘I saw my son playing it and it looked neat.’ We certainly didn’t initially expect The Sims to become the cultural phenomenon it has turned into over the last eight years. But we really built a wonderful game that I’ve always thought had very broad appeal.  We’ve wound up pulling an unprecedented gender balance – 50% men, 50% women.”

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Thanks to SnootySims for the find!