Orange County Register

Last year, it was H&M.

This year, it’s Ikea.

Announced today, the Swedish retailer of inexpensive furniture and home furnishings is the latest company to open shop in The Sims, the extremely popular computer game where people play house and make sure their virtual characters are fed, rested and regular.

The Sims 2 “Ikea Home Stuff” software pack includes all those unpronounceable names, like the VIKA HYTTAN table, the HELMER drawer unit and, can’t forget, the LACK zig-zag shelf system. Some screen shots of the game, gratis Electronic Arts, which publishes the game (click for larger images):

Last year, The Sims added clothing from Swedish fashion shop H&M, which was a huge hit online and offline. When I interviewed The Sims president, Nancy Smith, last month, she mentioned that as part of the H&M promotion, they organized The Sims 2 H&M runway event online with clothing designed by fans. Broadcast on Yahoo, footage ran for six weeks and attracted 50 million views. More big news about this partnership is expected this summer.

However, there’s no mention if the Ikea/Sims partnership will continue to collaborate outside of the game.

Ikea Stuff goes on sale for $19.99 on June 23 in North America, June 27 in Europe and June 20 across the Asia-Pacific regions.

Related stories:

The Sims Carnival: Design your own game for free
OCRegister, April 2008: OC native is head of The Sims

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