The Sims is hands-down one of the biggest game franchises of the 2000s. Since it launched 20 years ago, it has pulled in $5 billion in revenue for its creator Electronic Arts and, in 2018, it still reported having 80 million players on PC and mobile.

Last year, Moschino collaborated with EA to create a Sims special collection, featuring an array of pixelated outfits and accessories and that signature green bar (known as a PlumBob) which hovers over the game’s characters heads.

It’s not just EA that has benefited from the success of the hit franchises. Many YouTubers have made careers out of The Sims by creating and uploading gameplay around specific themes and ideas using the game.

According to YouTube UK, nine out of the 10 most subscribed Sims creators on YouTube are women. So why has it been such a hit on the platform?

“The Sims has been an all-time favourite game on YouTube,” explains Ina Fuchs, head of top creators and gaming content partnerships at YouTube EMEA. “Part of its tremendous success is due to its endless possibilities for everyone to tell their own story. It’s almost like a black canvas, where you are providing the colour you want, featuring graphics, fun and unexpected turns and conversations.”

The platform is keen to promote the creators who are making waves in this space, in part to overturn the stereotypical perception of gaming being solely for men. “These creators are often role models for a younger generation. They are all hugely creative and entertain massive audiences, while at the same time being authentic.

“As a woman in the games industry myself, I often feel that it is overdue to change the stereotypical perception of gaming often being associated with men,” added Fuchs.

Here are some of the top UK Sims creators on YouTube.

Hatsy: 805,000 subscribers

Hatty, or Hatsy as she’s known to her followers, has been making Sims videos on YouTube for the past four years, after The Sims 4 was released. The community has grown massively since then – “One of the best things about The Sims 4 is that it’s a game you can play however you want and I see more and more creators really embracing that.”

It wasn’t always this way, though. Hatty says that when she was growing up, playing something like The Sims was seen to be quite embarrassing at school. “I think it’s come a long way since then. The fact that young girls comment daily on the channel saying that they would love to make content on their own is amazing and I hope it’s something that continues to develop.”

And a particular career highlight? Collaborating with Liam Payne to create a Sims music video for his song Stack It Up last year. “I would love to do more things like that in the future,” she adds.

Hatsy

Steph0sims: 464,000 subscribers

Steph has been playing The Sims for a cool 10 years, and predicts she’s spent at least 3,000 hours investing it. “This ain’t no casual fling,” she jokes.

When she first started posting videos, there was only a handful of Sims creators around but now she says she can’t keep up with all the new channels. Her channel, Steph0Sims, has evolved from posting videos of her building houses on the game to becoming more comfortable to talk and show her face in videos, as she became one of the top UK Sims creators on YouTube. “It’s cool because almost everyone has played The Sims at some point in their life. Compared to other games, it has a really diverse viewership and group of creators.

The fan base is supportive too, and given this is Steph’s full time job now, having a great fanbase is necessary. She also enjoys linking up with other YouTubers, such as Plumbella and TheEnglishSimmer. “I’ve made some of my closest friends through The Sims and although we’ll complain about the game, we aren’t toxic gamers,” she adds.

Steph0sims

Plumbella: 292,000 subscribers

Jesse had been involved with The Sims creators space online since the tender age of eight, when she was playing The Sims 2 and she would screenshot pictures she took of gameplay, write stories about them and publish it to a website linked to the game. “These stories introduced me to photo editing and I’d spend hours in Microsoft paint editing pictures of my Sims to upload to the website. You could also upload your own custom content to the site. But she didn’t become officially involved in the YouTube community, which kicked off with the release of The Sims 3 in 2009, until she began using the platform as a distraction from her history degree.

“Even from the first game, there’s always been a sense of sharing your creations with the community. What you share has just expanded over time,” she explains.

Creating Sims videos also helped her to gain video editing skills – something which led her to study a Masters in digital media. “I have The Sims to thanks for my job and my education too.”

Plumbella

TheEnglishSimmer: 275,000 subscribers

Mollie, aka TheEnglishSimmer, has become of the most active members of the Sims gaming community, uploading new videos to her channel almost daily. Like Plumbella, the two are good friends, she started uploading videos when she was at university and had some extra time on her hands between lectures.

“It’s amazing to see that one game has so many different ways to inspire and be creative,” she says. “It’s also one of the most supportive online communities I’ve ever been a part of. You have Simmers constantly shouting out other Simmers and community-made challenges that everyone can take part in at the same time. You really do feel as if you’re part of this big Simming family.”

She also enjoys feeling like she’s breaking down barriers, whether it’s through LGBTQ+ on YouTube or simply being a present woman in gaming. “As a young girl, I originally got into gaming because of my brothers and it was always the boys on my street who would play video games. I think it’s really important that girls these days can see someone like them, who can unashamedly talk about video games with a passion and can make it their career.”

TheEnglishSimmer