It’s been over a decade since The Sims 4 first hit PC. In the almost 11 years since its original launch, The Sims 4 has gained 19 Expansion Packs, 12 Game Packs, and countless smaller DLCs and other paid content updates. The Sims 4‘s base game has even been free-to-play for the last three years.
But while a lot has been tweaked and added to The Sims 4 over the years, its underlying DNA has stayed largely the same, and key parts of its presentation are starting to show their age. Naturally, a lot of fans are desperate for a new Sims installment, but EA has made it abundantly clear that The Sims 4 isn’t being replaced anytime soon.
Back in September 2024, Variety interviewed Kate Gorman, the Vice President and General Manager of The Sims. During this interview, Gorman fully confirmed that “The Sims 5” is not in development at EA. More specifically, Gorman stated that there are no plans at all to make a fifth installment that completely replaces The Sims 4 and has players starting from scratch, at least not anytime soon.
A few days ago, Variety interviewed Laura Miele, EA’s Entertainment President. Along with discussing the upcoming Battlefield 6, Miele shed new light on The Sims series, explaining a bit more about the decision to shift focus away from a traditional fifth installment in the franchise. Miele said, “[EA] put out over 85 content packs over the last 10 years on ‘The Sims 4,’ and so resetting that is not player friendly and not a good idea for our community.”
Project Rene is still in development, but EA has stated on multiple occasions that it’s not designed to be a new mainline Sims entry, but a sort of companion multiplayer experience to go alongside The Sims 4.
It’s crystal clear, more so than ever before, that The Sims 4 is not being replaced by a new entry in the near future. Despite being over a decade old, EA plans to keep The Sims 4 alive, presumably through even more expansion and game packs, some of which may have just been teased.
Along with repeated confirmation that The Sims 4 isn’t going anywhere soon, EA may have recently hinted at the game’s next wave of DLC. A few days ago, The Sims 4‘s development team sent out a survey to players asking them what they’d like to see in future updates. The focus of this survey was placed primarily on bringing new inclusive items and mechanics to the game, with the following being mentioned directly:
This latest Sims 4 survey also repeatedly used the phrase “free content updates,” which heavily implies that these potential new items and mechanics could be added to the game for free, as opposed to being part of a big paid expansion or game pack. Of course, none of these items or mechanics have been confirmed to be coming to The Sims 4 yet, but this survey shows that the developers are certainly interested in expanding the game’s inclusivity even further, and shows the game still has plenty of life left in it.
7/10
September 2, 2014
T for Teen: Crude Humor, Sexual Themes, Violence
Electronic Arts
Proprietary Engine
