Electronic Arts‘ popular free-to-play life-simulation video game franchise “The Sims” is breaking from tradition, with the gaming company confirming Tuesday that there are no plans for a “Sims 5” game as the successor to the current edition, “The Sims 4.”
Instead, “The Sims 4,” now a 10-year-old title and the longest-running installment in the franchise’s 25-year history, will continue to receive updates and paid expansions. Additionally, the “Sims” team will be launching a new offering that will include a multiplayer mode, and partner with some “Sims” players to sell their own custom in-game content through the EA store as “Creator Kits.” [Correction: An earlier version of this story reported that multiplayer mode would be coming to “The Sims 4.” The multiplayer addition to “The Sims” franchise is a separate project, currently dubbed “Project Rene,” and not an inclusion for “The Sims 4.”]
EA’s vice president and general manager of “The Sims” franchise Kate Gorman told Variety the main reason behind this decision to not publish a fifth edition of the game was the concern that players (there are more than 80 million worldwide, per EA) would have to start all over again after a decade’s worth of gameplay in the existing “Sims 4.”
“The way to think about it is, historically, ‘The Sims’ franchise started with ‘Sims 1’ and then ‘Sims 2,’ ‘3’ and ‘4.’ And they were seen as replacements for the previous products,” Gorman said. “What we’re really working with our community on is this a new era of ‘The Sims.’ We are not going to be working on replacements of previous projects; we’re only going to be adding to our universe. With that, you’ll see there are more ways to experience ‘The Sims’ on different platforms, different ways to play, transmedia, and lots of great offerings within this universe. So absolutely, we’re still continuing to support ‘TS4’ more than ever. Still continue to deliver expansion packs and updates and fixes. But what this is to say is, the way we’re going to do things going forward is a little different. And it’s really exciting and it’s really the most expansive iteration of ‘The Sims’ yet.”
For clarity, when asked specifically if there will not be a “Sims 5,” Gorman said, “it’s not ‘Sims 5’ as a replacement for ‘4.’”
“What this means is that we will continue to bring HD simulation experience and what people would want from a ‘5’ — but it doesn’t mean that we’re going to start you over, reset all your progress, and really feel like you’re going to lose all of that amazing play you put into ‘4,’” Gorman said. “I think as we think about the future of it, we want you to continue all of those families and generations. Those creations are your progress, your attachment. We don’t want to reset your progress. And so it’s not about as much of what the numbers are in the games, but know that the future of the franchise looks more like keeping your progress, keeping things across titles, and really having an ongoing experience, and not a start-and-stop experience between products.”
EA announced “The Sims” news in a blog post Tuesday that also noted a “major release of fixes” and “exciting base game update” for “The Sims 4” is coming Wednesday ahead of the release of the game’s next expansion pack, “Life & Death,” in October.
The video game publisher also teased that “Sims” players will soon find out more about the elusive “Project Rene” that “The Sims” team has been working on for years — which was long rumored to be a code name for “The Sims 5” — including how it will incorporate multiplayer into “The Sims” world. The franchise has tried and failed at that effort before with “The Sims Online,” which launched in 2002.
“We have a lot of learnings from ‘The Sims Online.’ We know that there is an opportunity to play in a very social, real time, multiplayer environment within our gamespace,” Gorman said. “We haven’t delivered that experience with ‘The Sims 4’ or any of our other titles yet so we’re looking at what that means and could look like. We know simulation is at the core of everything we do and we want to make sure our players still have that experience they want, but in a world with real players and NPCs. We’re still gathering learnings and working on it but stay tuned.”
Gorman also expanded on the reveal that “The Sims” will begin selling “Creator Kits” based on user-generated content made by players — a very popular part of “The Sims” gamer community, with many players sharing and downloading custom content through the game’s gallery, as well as platforms like Discord and Patreon — confirming those creators will be compensated for their work being sold as digital products by EA.
“Our community is what makes ‘The Sims’ what it is today,” Gorman said. “Our players drive us to evolve and innovate the content we develop and how we engage with them. We know our players love the creators within our community and we’re excited to expand how we support creators with ‘The Sims 4 Creator Kits.’”
She added: “We’re currently in the first phase of this new and long-term journey, and learning how to better discover, integrate and use Creator Kit content in a way that really expands the possibilities of what players can do within their gameplay. There is a lot more we’re working on to help empower creators to engage and express themselves, and we can’t wait to see how things progress from here. I can’t get into specifics, but we worked closely with our initial creator partners to compensate them for their work and will continue to evolve that process alongside the program.”
Gorman also spoke with Variety about an update on “The Sims” movie being produced at Amazon MGM Studios by Margot Robbie’s LuckyChap, which you can read more about here.
See EA’s full blog post announcing news about the future of “The Sims” below.
Sul Sul, Simmers!
We have so much news to share with you about The Sims franchise! We’ve been in the lab expanding The Sims into an entertainment platform driven by you, our community, that includes exploring experiential ways to play The Sims and new ways we’re supporting creators. Our passion for creating products full of fun, creativity and discovery has led us to new experiences all moving at the speed of pop culture. Keep reading to learn what we’ve been cooking!
Get ready to party like it’s the year 2000!
Before we jump in… wow, it’s been nearly 25 years since the world was first introduced to The Sims. Since then, more than 500 million of you have become Simmers, embracing the delightful chaos that comes with playing “fate” – guiding your beloved Sims through life’s ups and downs and endless possibilities (so many deleted pool ladders! 😆). You’ve shown that no one does life like The Sims – unleashing your imagination to craft one-of-a-kind stories, worlds, and adventures that seamlessly blend the real world with the Sims world.
We remain committed as ever to reimagining the way people play with life and giving millions the chance to connect over their shared love of The Sims as we push the boundaries of reality. So far in 2024, Simmers have spent more than 1.22.4 billion hours playing The Sims 4 and experimenting with life scenarios and choices without real-world consequences (759+ million hours spent in live mode!). Whether it’s designing your dream home (303+ million hours in build mode!), customizing your Sims (640+ million Sims!) and worlds, reimagining the latest reality TV drama, or even taking on the 100 Baby Challenge (65+ million babies made!) your creativity continues to amaze us. You’ve shown that if you can dream it, you can Sim it!
Watching Simmers unite over their self-expression and curiosity expressed within The Sims has been our greatest joy. We love that you share our mischievous humor and find laughter every step of the way as you bring your visions to life (whether you’re successful or not)! We can’t wait to celebrate 25 years of The Sims with you and plan to kick things off with an episode of Behind The Sims in January 2025. There’s so much to look forward to in the coming months, and we just can’t help but share some with you now…!
The Hollywood rumors are true: The Sims is headed to the BIG SCREEN!
We’re VERY excited to share that in partnership with Amazon MGM Studios, our team is working on a film based on The Sims. Kate Herron will direct, as well as co-write with Briony Redman. LuckyChap and Vertigo Entertainment will produce alongside The Sims team, with Herron and Redman executive producing. It’s still too early to share more about the movie but stay tuned for updates as we mark our 25th birthday next year!
You Make The Sims!
Our incredible community is the only reason we’ll celebrate 25 years of The Sims. Everything we do is for you, because you are what makes The Sims. As we build towards the future, we’re exploring more ways to involve, engage, and reward our community.
It’s with great pride and enthusiasm that we’ll continue expanding the ways we spotlight your incredible stories, creations, and ideas. Since its launch, more than 1 billion Sims 4 creations have been downloaded from the gallery and more than 116 million pieces of content uploaded, with millions more assets uploaded and downloaded across the broader Sims community. In addition, we’ve been collaborating with all types of Simmers on multiple projects, ranging from in-game creation through lot building and worlds to collaborations on Kits, base game updates, packs and beyond. These collaborations have meant a lot to us but more importantly to our community and we aren’t done yet!
Allow Us to Proudly Introduce…
The Sims 4 Creator Kits: Designed and produced entirely by creators in collaboration with The Sims
Discover global creators whose content is a MUST see – no matter where you play!
Creativity has long been a core value for The Sims franchise, and we obsess over seeing and showcasing the incredible talent and artistry that lives within our tight-knit community. This push to expand the ways we support creators has led us to The Sims 4 Creator Kits. These kits are designed and built by community creators to create new collections featuring unique styles and fresh storytelling potential. These Creator Kits will mark the first time that a full collection of in-game assets have been crafted by a creator and officially published by The Sims development team, making them available for all players.
For The Sims 4 players who crave more variety in customization and design, look for The Sims 4 Creator Kits to start rolling out in November 2024 across our Sims channels and available alongside our current collections of Kits.
This is a big step forward in delivering creator-made content that’s console-friendly and curated with safeguards that will expand your game with more on-trend aesthetics and styles. We’ve been working with some familiar faces for a while now to elevate their work and allow their creations to reach even more of you to enjoy. Stand by for more updates!
The Sims Creator Program: How we’re collaborating with global creators
Join us to get inspired and create like never before!
The Sims Creator Program is the next evolution of how we work with both established and up-and-coming creators around the world. With this official program, creators will gain access to a range of exclusive perks, including early access to upcoming Packs, direct communication with fellow creators and The Sims team, free swag, opportunities to collaborate, and more.
We’re looking for creators who regularly create original The Sims content across social platforms and various types of creators who might be new to The Sims, including those who are crafting mods or custom content, or nurturing communities across various platforms. Whether you’re a more established voice or an emerging creator, we welcome you to apply to join us.
The Sims Labs – Innovating, improving and evolving across our live and future products
Let’s build the future of The Sims together!
ICYMI! Our Sims franchise of games today and into the future will deliver on many gameplay and storytelling styles for the growing number of you around the world, and we’re excited for you to see what we’ve been working on! Creating this vision involves innovating across multiple products to deliver new experiences, and through The Sims Labs we’ll explore new experimental ways to play The Sims.
Over the next few months, you might start to see The Sims Labs show up when we’re trying out different things for Sims products, systems and features. This is your friendly reminder to sign up for a chance to playtest in The Sims Labs here, and if you fit the requirements we’re looking for, you will receive an email with further instructions. In the meantime, here’s a sneak peek at some of what we’ll be testing coming up soon!
The Sims Franchise – Live and Future Product Updates
When we talk about The Sims as an entertainment platform driven by our community, it’s because we see the future of The Sims as more than any one title. We’re expanding the franchise to better serve the diverse needs of the growing number of Simmers around the world. The Sims will move beyond linear, sequential Sims releases and offer more options for players than ever before. We’re focused on creating a variety of games and experiences that will touch different categories across the simulated life genre including cozy games, social and collaborative based gameplay, mobile narrative games and continued depth, improvements, and modernization of The Sims 4, which will continue to be a foundational Sims experience.
We’re creating new and innovative experiences that connect with players on their terms, wherever they are and however they choose to play. These explorations are being tested via The Sims Labs including individual features from Project Rene, a story driven mobile test, enhancements to The Sims 4 with discovery and search tools, creator tools, and more.
For now, keep reading for the latest news about our live and future products!
MySims: Cozy Bundle – Two lovable games return with adorable adventures and fun for everyone!
Coming soon to Nintendo Switch: Retro re-releases of MySims and MySims Kingdom
So many of our players have been asking for the return of MySims. We’re thrilled to share that we’re reinvigorating the MySims product line, beginning with two lovable games available soon on Nintendo Switch. With the MySims: Cozy Bundle, we’re honoring our Sims legacy as we prepare for our 25th birthday with this charming fan-favorite spin-off. You can expect two beloved games, MySims and MySims Kingdom, in which you can explore familiar worlds that are full of puzzles to solve, discover locations, meet lots of characters with big personalities and build, paint and decorate! Get ready to customize cozy worlds, style your cute Sims, and get re-introduced to everyone’s favorite MySims Kingdom triceratops, Bobaboo!
With this retro re-release you can expect Nintendo Switch controls and touch screen support, upgraded graphics, as well as much-requested special content from the original PC release returning to MySims. And, look out for adorable MySims merch coming to shopthesims.com also in November 2024!
Preorder MySims: Cozy Bundle now in the Nintendo eShop, at retail and on Nintendo.com to start playing when it launches for Nintendo Switch on November 19, 2024.*
Project Rene – Expanding the ways to play in The Sims
Be among the first to see the new world as playtesting continues!
Continuing its development alongside other exciting new projects within The Sims franchise, Project Rene is focused on building ways for friends to meet, connect, and share while playing together in an all-new world.
There will be a small invite-only playtest for Rene this Fall 2024, giving an early look at a multiplayer experience that explores joining friends and other players at a shared location. Sign up for the chance to playtest in The Sims Labs here and be among the first to play in the new world! We’ll continue to share more information on the game’s development and milestones along the way.
The Sims 4 – Testing new features as we invest in improvements and modernization efforts
We’ve been expanding all the ways to play with life in The Sims 4 for 10 years, creating an expansive simulation experience. We have big plans to continue building upon and improving this powerful life simulation game played around the world by more than 80 million people!
In May 2024, we announced that we’ve assembled a team to invest in the core game experience, including tackling technical issues. We’ve invested further into these efforts to focus on previously reported issues, quality assurance and game optimization for future releases. Batches of fixes will continue to be released roughly every two months until further notice. On September 18, 2024, our players can expect another major release of fixes alongside an exciting base game update.
The Sims 4 developers are hard at work investing in meaningful new features and base game updates. We continue to explore new ways to play; to surprise and delight; to evolve the game in both appearance and gameplay experience. The ‘Happy at Home’ event was our first foray into a new way to play and we were encouraged to see how many of you enjoyed this new feature. We recently announced that coming up next is the Reaper’s Rewards Event, where you’ll have the chance to play alongside Grim himself and earn exclusive new rewards on September 24, 2024!
We’re excited about the road ahead for The Sims 4, and can’t wait to share what we have planned next for this game!
The Sims FreePlay – A new region inspired by mountainside towns is coming soon!
For more than a decade, The Sims FreePlay has captured the delightful unpredictability and playfulness of The Sims on mobile platforms. We remain as committed as ever to elevating our game to be an unrivaled town-builder experience, continuously improving the experience with new content, gameplay, and visual improvements.
Our next content updates will open an entirely new region inspired by mountainside towns. It may be the coziest region created for the game yet, perfect for exploring as we head into the holiday season!
Here’s to celebrating the best of The Sims, past, present, and future! Vadish, Simmers!
Thank you for continuing to be a part of our journey! The countdown to our 25th birthday is officially on! In the meantime, we hope you enjoy the many new ways to experience The Sims as they roll out alongside our classic Sims experiences. To stay informed on these efforts, please join us in our Discord community server and stay tuned to our channels (X, IG, TikTok), newsroom at TheSims.com/news and episodes of Behind The Sims, where we’ll be regularly sharing updates.
Dag Dag,
The Sims Team