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1 entry of 164 involving Maxis

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2000-2009 The 2000s

The Sims widens the audience for computer games

Maxis published Will Wright's domestic life simulation on February 4, 2000. Players furnished houses and managed the moods and careers of ordinary people, with no score to chase and no way to win.

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Period
The 2000s

Why it matters

Commercial success on this scale, from a game with no enemies and no ending, undercut the assumption that the medium belonged to young men who liked competition. It widened the market and gave publishers a reason to fund projects aimed at people the industry had ignored.

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