Almost three years after the initial release, and many confusing messages back in 2002, it's been fairly quiet around a European release of The Sims Online - it wasn't expected to come anymore after all these years. Even after a Japanese release the game was never seen in Europe, except for those who downloaded the trial and then subscribed using a credit card.

Now TSO fansite TSO Mania has found two shops in the UK that have the game up for pre-order. It will be released there on 25 October 2005, according to those sites. There hasn't been an official word from Maxis or EA about this yet, which means that so far these are merely rumours. It's also unknown if the game will be released in the rest of Europe, just the UK, or if these rumours are false. If there is any news, we will let you know. Thanks to our affiliate WorldSims for the tip. Also see this thread on Sims Online Stratics.

[Update 26 July, 22:20] A more definitive answer has been given by the press department of EA UK, through a member on the Stratics forums. There are no plans to release TSO in the UK or Europe, not now or ever. People in parts of the world where the game hasn't been released will have to use a free trial to subscribe and play the game. For more details see the second page of the mentioned thread.