EA has opened up about the fate of its hugely popular The Sims franchise, offering a sneaky tease about what to expect from the upcoming multiplayer game, and why we probably shouldn't expect The Sims 5 any time soon.
In an interview with Variety, EA Entertainment president Laura Miele said that a multiplayer spin-off from The Sims "represents one of the biggest growth opportunities for EA," teasing that the team is "hard at work and feverishly developing what this [multiplayer] platform is going to be."
“What we’re doing is upgrading and refreshing all this technology, and we’ll be adding modes of play — but we also are going to be creating and updating the base technology and the base user experience on the core game,” Miele said.
“So you’re going to have this life simulation, you’re going to have multiplayer capabilities, we are going to have mobile expressions of this. We’re doing cozy games as well and more to come on that. We did a release with Nintendo on cozy games in Asia for The Sims. I see The Sims as a significant ecosystem, and a universe of multiple Sims experiences that we have to build on.”
If you were hoping for a hint that The Sims 5 is on the way, however, brace yourself for disappointment — Miele said that it wouldn't be "player-friendly" to release a new game with its community has invested so much time and money in The Sims 4.
“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,” Miele said. “We 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.
“Where we sit today, from a technology perspective, innovation perspective, we are in a moment where we can actually co-create content and be a multiplier for each other and have these great experiences for fans,” Miele said. “It’s going to be so full circle and so fulfilling to bring content in a linear way and an interactive way, simultaneously, and even have it adapt to fans and how things are going. When we have a couple of ideas about how we would go to market with a movie and a couple of different expressions, I just think the opportunity is so ripe.”
Project Rene — the codenamed game initially thought to be The Sims 5 until EA distanced itself from those rumors — was first teased in 2022 during a Behind the Sims Summit. It's a free-to-play Sims game that features multiplayer inspired by Animal Crossing and Among Us. It hasn't yet been formally revealed or received a release date, but EA has been holding small, invite-only playtests for the game since its announcement, with the latest playtest presumably spawning these recent leaks.
The name Rene was chosen because it references words like "renewal, renaissance, and rebirth" that "represent the developer's renewed commitment for the Sims' bright future."
Last October, however, images of Project Rene leaked from a closed online test, prompting complaints about the art style, limited features, and the use of microtransactions. It was the addition of a café that drew the most skepticism, primarily due to the smiliaries to 2018's The Sims Mobile. It was then that EA said Project Rene was not The Sims 5 but would, in fact, be a different "cozy, social game" released under The Sims franchise.
Another video purportedly taken from the next iteration of The Sims also popped up online earlier this year, and that too did not go down well with fans.
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
