Voila! The Sims Earns French Stamp of Approval; French Postal Service Commemorates The Sims With Official Limited Edition Stamp

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 22, 2005--Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:ERTS), the world's leading interactive entertainment software company, today announced that the French postal service, La Poste, has honored The Sims(TM) franchise with an official postage stamp. Published in limited edition of 3 million units, Les Sims(TM) is one of 10 stamps in the "Heroes of Videogames" collection featuring the industry's most beloved icons. The set will retail for 2.65 euros (approximately $3.09 USD) and is available now in French post offices and through La Poste's website at http://timbres.laposte.fr/eng/.

The Sims games are an international phenomenon. Since the original PC game The Sims debuted in February 2000, the franchise has been translated into 20 languages and has sold more than 58M games worldwide. That's nearly enough to provide a copy of The Sims to every single French resident! In fact, The Sims games are so popular in France that they are ranked number eight on the top ten list of entertainment products, right behind the popular novel, The Da Vinci Code.(1)

"From fashion to food, history to heraldry, the French have always been cultural tastemakers," said EA's Chief Creative Officer Bing Gordon. "We thank them not only for commemorating The Sims with an official postage stamp, but also for making it one of the top ten most celebrated entertainment products in France -- Merci!"

For more information about the franchise or to find out how The Sims 2 will play on your favorite platform, please visit www.thesims2.com.

About The Sims(TM)

The Sims franchise celebrated its fifth anniversary in February 2005. The game skyrocketed to the top of the charts when it began shipping to stores in February 2000 and quickly become a pop culture phenomenon. Released exclusively for PC, The Sims(TM) original product and subsequent expansion packs were the best selling PC games of 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2003. Translated into 17 different languages, The Sims has inspired seven top selling expansion packs including: The Sims(TM) Livin' Large, The Sims(TM) House Party, The Sims(TM) Hot Date, The Sims(TM) Vacation, The Sims(TM) Unleashed, The Sims(TM) Superstar and The Sims(TM) Makin' Magic. In 2003, the series broke away from being a PC-only franchise and debuted for the first time on videogame consoles and handheld platforms. The franchise issued The Sims and The Sims Bustin' Out -- each of which were met with great success. Combined, these two products have sold more than 8M units worldwide. The Sims 2 for PC shipped in September 2004 and brought fans worldwide a brand new experience with a richer depth of play, deeper emotional complexity and a laugh-out-loud sense of humor. Sales topped 4.5M units worldwide within its first year, making it the best selling PC game of 2004. The first expansion packs for the sequel, The Sims(TM) 2 University and The Sims(TM) 2 Nightlife shipped in March 2005 and September 2005 respectively. In Fall 2005, The Sims 2 was released for the videogame consoles. Today, the combined sales for the franchise have topped a staggering 58M units life-to-date. For more information on The Sims 2, visit http://www.thesims2.com and for more information on The Sims franchise titles, visit http://www.thesims.com.

About Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts (EA), headquartered in Redwood City, California, is the world's leading interactive entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, the company develops, publishes, and distributes interactive software worldwide for videogame systems, personal computers and the Internet. Electronic Arts markets its products under four brand names: EA SPORTS(TM), EA(TM), EA SPORTS BIG(TM) and POGO(TM). In fiscal 2005, EA posted revenues of $3.1 billion and had 31 titles that sold more than one million copies. EA's homepage and online game site is www.ea.com. More information about EA's products and full text of press releases can be found on the Internet at http://info.ea.com.

Electronic Arts, EA, EA SPORTS, EA SPORTS BIG, POGO and The Sims are trademarks or registered trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

(1) Research from the GFK group, www.gfkms.com, 2004.