The best-selling game was released on February 4, 2000, and revolutionised simulation video games.

Since its release, the original game, its three sequels and the multiple expansion packs have sold 200 million copies.

EA Games also said that it has attracted more than 500 million players since its inception, with 2024 players logging more than 1.2 billion hours.

EA Games will be re-releasing The Sims and The Sims 2 on Windows 10 and 11 with The Sims 25th Birthday Bundle.

The bundle includes legacy collections of The Sims and The Sims 2 that work on modern PCs.

The Sims’ Vice President of Franchise Creative Lyndsay Pearson told Game Spot that the re-release of The Sims 1 and The Sims 2 was a long time coming.

"We had one laptop that floated around the office and didn't connect to the internet that we could open up and play The Sims 1 and 2 on,” Pearson said.

“I joked with our studio's technical director all the time. I'd show up in his cubicle every other day like, 'Is it time now? Can we do it now?'

“We definitely know that there's a big love for those products, and I think reintroducing them would be quite a kick because players who've never played those early generations of The Sims would actually be surprised by how different they are in a lot of ways."

Pearson added that she thinks the iconic game resonated with so many people because “the base premise was so mundane. But it was such a canvas for unpredictable, creative things.

“People created houses and space and really off-the-wall stories early on, almost in spite of the simulation…It opened up totally different ways to play that I feel like you hadn't seen in games before.

“When people had thought of simulation before, it was very much about how to recreate a real-life thing. The Sims turned that on its head and said it doesn't actually have to be entirely real life."

The game’s creator, Will Wright, told NPR months in 2000, just months after the game's release, that the open-ended design of the game was meant to reflect the endless choices players faced in their own lives.

"Every day, everything you do, you're basically playing a strategy game, you know?” he said.

“Down to 'what door am I going to walk through' or 'am I going to go have lunch now or later?' " Wright said.

"How can I spend my time to maximise my happiness both in the short and long term? You can't help but play this game and then walk away and start thinking about your real life in those terms."