Fat chance. Business Insider reports that The Sims Social, EA and Playfish's most popular game on Facebook, has been handed off to the latter's India studio. According to Business Insider's nameless source, that's where the developer's Facebook games go to die. But what about that extensive advertising deal and the game's relatively healthy 2. 7 million daily players?Poppycock--Business Insider's source said that Playfish India is "just going to keep the lights on. It's a very cheap market for employees and rent." There's no denying that The Sims Social was a last-ditch effort of sorts to combat Zynga's biggest games, and the simulator held its own for quite a while. Regardless of whether The Sims Social has been in steady decline since last fall, it would be downright silly for EA to sunset its most popular Facebook game.
Besides, with Playfish China reportedly full speed ahead on SimCity Social, Playfish San Francisco working on a secret social game and The Sims maker Maxis with a social game in the works, what reason would Playfish HQ in London have to drop The Sims Social? The game is losing players, but so are FarmVille, CastleVille and even CityVille, according to AppData.
If there are any games for Playfish to shutter for resources' sake, why not give stragglers like NHL Superstars, Baking Life and World Series Superstars the ax? We've reached out to EA for comment.
Update: EA provided the following statement to VentureBeat recently:
Are you scared that Playfish might close The Sims Social soon? Are you still digging the game after nearly a year? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.The misinformed article stating that The Sims Social is on life support couldn't be further from the truth. The Sims Social continues to be EA's top social game, supported by a dedicated team of 75 in the U.K. and U.S. and will see a robust and steady stream of new game-expanding content as it continues to build upon its thriving community and drive continued success. We have no plans to walk away from a very successful game based on one of the most popular brands in video game history.