However, he added that the EA/Ikea deal showed the potential for deeper and more subtle integration of game and brand. Until now, most activity has fallen into two categories: relatively unsophisticated in-game billboard-style advertising and traditional sponsorship, Boyd said. With UK games industry turnover now outstripping film box office receipts, brand owners' interest in games as an advertising medium is growing fast, according to Mark Boyd, the head of content at advertising agency BBH, which is exploring in-game advertising for a number of leading brands. Smith said she hoped the partnership with Ikea would lead to an H&M-style interactive design competition to be staged later this year. To date, 2.7m Ford add-ons have been sold. EA also struck a deal with Ford to enable Sims players' characters to own a Focus or Mustang car. In its first year, sales of the H&M Fashion software pack reached 1m.

Shortlisted entries were showcased throughout last summer in a series of virtual catwalk shows. The Ikea deal comes a year after EA announced a partnership with another Swedish company, H&M, which allowed Sims 2 players to dress the characters they create in the fashion retailer's clothes as well as enter a competition to create new designs.

This is a great channel for us to reach young and young at heart,' Crona said. 'For Ikea, The Sims 2 represents a media channel. The Ikea UK marketing manager, Anna Crona, added that the Sims tie-up fitted neatly with the brand's current marketing line, that home is the most important place in the world. It's an environment in which players like to blur the line between the digital and real world.' 'As a result, we know not only players' passion for creating their own content but their desire to interact with brands. 'The success of The Sims has generated a number of online communities committed to the game and eager to share content they have created inside the game,' said Nancy Smith, the EA global president for The Sims label. EA releases three such packs a year to meet the demands of Sims players eager to expand, evolve and personalise the virtual worlds they create. The items will be made available as an add-on software package. From June 27 Sims 2 players in Europe, the games franchise's biggest market, will be able to decorate their virtual homes with a Malm bed, a Leksvik coffee table and Ektorp sofa, or deck out their virtual home office with a Helmer drawer unit and Lack zigzag shelf.

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