The Sims 4still doesn’t look like it’s getting a sequel anytime soon, and publisher EA is now giving fans a better idea of the reasons behind that decision.The Sims 4is easily still the most popular realistic life simulator on the market, and EA believes keepingThe Sims 5from happening will actually benefit the game’s massive fan base.
EA and developer Maxis are coming up on the eleventhanniversary ofThe Sims 4, which first launched in early September 2014. With more than a decade since its release, the game is still pulling in big player numbers, with more than 45,000 concurrent players logged earlier this week on Steam, which doesn’t even account for those playing on consoles.
With therelease of the Enchanted by Nature expansionon July 10, there are now 16 full expansions forThe Sims 4, in addition to more than 85 content packs, numerous creator kits, and a bunch of items and features added through free updates. But all of those extras are the exact reason that EA is hesitant about rebooting the world by launchingThe Sims 5. In an interview withVariety, EA Entertainment president Laura Meile indicated she feels obligated to keep moving forward withThe Sims 4, as releasing a sequel would cheat the current players out of the big investments they’ve made in the present game and force everyone to start over with a lot less initial content. “What I wouldn’t want to have happen is you to have to start from day zero and start from scratch and give up all of the things that you have created, give up all of the content that you’ve purchased over the years,” she explained.
The Sims 5 Isn’t Happening, and That May Be a Good Thing
For those who need to experience everything the game has to offer,The Sims 4is a very expensive hobby. The base game ofThe Sims 4went free-to-play in 2022, and it provides players with plenty of realistic experiences and some supernatural ones, like ghostly hauntings and alien abductions. But with expansions priced at $40, Game Packs at $20, Stuff Packs at $10, and Creator Kits at $5, players can easily spend more than $1,000 trying to snatch up everything unless they catch it on sale.
While the news may still be disappointing for fans who are yearning forThe Sims 5, all hope is not lost forSimsfans waiting for an entirely new game. AmultiplayerSimsspin-off game is currently in development, as Meile announced in the same interview. She’s keeping pretty tight-lipped about the content for now, but developers are working “feverishly” on it, and she believes the end result will pave the way for EA’s growth moving forward.
