EA has changed the face of social gaming with the launch of The Sims Social on Facebook, claims Playfish founder and co-GM Kristian Segerstrale. While that statement may seem a little bold given that the game has only been active for less than a month, the numbers state otherwise: it’s bigger than Farmville.

But let’s be honest here: this is The Sims we’re talking about, a franchise that has seemingly generated a mountain of cash for EA and developer Maxis. The first two original installments and their library of expansion packs hovered at the top of software charts for years, and the spinoff console variants have done extremely well over the past decade.

That said, it shouldn’t be surprising that The Sims Social has become such an immediate hit, seemingly embedded in our pop culture. Right now it ranks #2 in the list of most-popular social games on Facebook, with 40 million active users compared to the current reigning champ, CityVille, which has 75 million monthly active users.

The Sims Social is the product of social game developer Playfish which was acquired by EA in a $300 million deal back in 2009. Segerstrale told MCV that this social version of the popular franchise is a “huge leap forward” in the evolution of social games, that it redefines the meaning of “social” in video games altogether.

“By combining Playfish’s expertise and passion for social play with the deep creative heritage of The Sims franchise and the insights of its creators, we feel we’ve brought something very special to life – and tens of millions of players around the world have responded with extraordinary enthusiasm over the last few weeks,” Segerstrale said. “We’re looking forward to working with players to evolve the game and its features in new and exciting ways in the coming months and beyond.”

On a visual level, The Sims Social resides between the original Sims game and The Sims 2, but leans heavily towards the former, simpler title. At first glance, it performs like most Sims games, requiring players to meet goals, perform jobs, clean the house, and all-around pamper the whining avatar. The really cool aspect about this “social” version is that players can actually interact with their friends’ avatars by visiting their house.

SOURCE via MCV