TITLE
No one quite knew how to localize Drew Carey in The Sims
AUTHOR
Duncan Fyfe
PUBLICATION
Polygon
YEAR
2025
ARTICLE TYPE
Article
FROM THE ARTICLE
In 2000, shortly after the launch of The Sims, publisher Electronic Arts and developer Maxis discovered that the game was popular with a demographic EA had theretofore never seriously entertained: young women and teenage girls. “We never set out to make this a game that was popular with girls at all,” said original game designer Roxy Wolosenko in 2022. “We were just making a game that was interesting to us. Girls just ended up finding it.” A happy accident upon which EA continues to capitalize, with a steady stream of expansion packs, content updates, and brand partnerships, and with collaborations and in-game appearances from the likes of Avril Lavigne, Hilary Duff, Carly Rae Jepsen, Bebe Rexha, Vanessa Hudgens, Millie Bobby Brown, and Winnie Harlow. So looking back it is all the stranger that the first celebrity EA and Maxis signed up, after discovering the franchise’s enormous appeal to teenage girls, was Drew Carey.
COMPANIES MENTIONED
Electronic Arts
Maxis
GAMES MENTIONED
The Sims
The Sims 4
PEOPLE MENTIONED
Patrick Buechner
Drew Carey
Keke Palmer
Chappell Roan
Jake Simpson
PEOPLE MENTIONED
Localization