The Sims 3

The Sims 3 is a 2009 life-simulation game developed by The Sims Studio (Maxis) and published by Electronic Arts for Windows and macOS, with versions for consoles and mobile. The third main entry in the wildly successful The Sims series created by Will Wright, it lets players create and control virtual people, 'Sims', guiding their daily lives, relationships, careers, homes and ambitions in an open-ended sandbox with no fixed goals. Its landmark innovation was a fully open, seamless neighbourhood: unlike its predecessors, players could move their Sims freely around an entire living, persistent town without loading screens between lots, and the whole community aged and evolved over time. It also introduced deep new systems, including customisable personality traits, lifelong wishes and ambitions, and the powerful 'Create a Style' tool for recolouring and texturing almost anything. Like the series before it, The Sims 3 was supported by an enormous range of expansion packs, such as the Seasons expansion noted by POCG, that added new themes, locations and activities. A massive commercial success and one of the best-selling PC games of its time, it deepened the franchise's signature blend of creativity, storytelling and dollhouse play, and is fondly regarded by many fans as a high point of the series.