With Facebook Blocked, The Sims Social Goes to China Via Tencent

EA (NASDAQ:ERTS) announced today that its popular gaming franchise, The Sims, is going to make its way into China via the Tencent (HKG:0700) Open Platform. EA says that The Sims Social is in development at its Beijing Playfish studio, and it will be known as Mo Ni Shi Guang in Chinese, which literally translates into ‘Simulation Time.’

Of course, The Sims Social launched on Facebook last year, but as most of our readers know, Facebook is blocked in China. So instead Chinese fans will be able to access the game via Tencent’s social gaming network QZone. Closed beta testing is said to be already underway, and an open beta is coming soon.

Last year we saw Zynga partner with Tencent to bring Cityville over on its Open Platform. Similarly, this past November Japanese gaming giant GREE ported its popular SpyWars title to Tencent via its Open Platform for Community for smartphones.

Check out the screenshots below to get an idea of how the Chinese incarnation of The Sims Social will look. These come courtesy of the @PlayfishBJ Tencent Weibo account.