Image: Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts has announced dramatic new plans for The Sims franchise.
Electronic Arts is officially cancelling its previously-announced sequel to The Sims - to an extent. In a new blog post, the company announced that it had decided to move on from making a “replacement” to The Sims 4 and is now developing ways to “bring [the] HD simulation experience and what people would want from a 5” that won’t require players to start over from scratch.
Additionally, the company has confirmed a movie adaptation of The Sims franchise is in the works at Amazon MGM Studios.
Electronic Arts spills details on the future of The Sims franchise
Electronic Arts is officially forgoing a direct sequel to The Sims 4, and moving “beyond linear, sequential Sims releases", according to a recent blog post. Codenamed ‘Project Rene’, the company’s sequel to The Sims 4 was announced in 2022 with the promise of new features like a more modular build mode. Now, the company is axing the idea of a true sequel that would serve as a “replacement” to The Sims 4.
In a later interview with Variety, Sims general manager Kate Gorman explained what this means for the future of the franchise, saying:
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.
Interestingly, while the company has moved on from the idea of making a sequel to The Sims 5, it hasn’t abandoned development on Project Rene entirely. In fact, the blog post states that Project Rene is “is focused on building ways for friends to meet, connect, and share while playing together in an all-new world” and will host an invite-only multiplayer playtest in Fall 2024.
According to Gorman, the project will “will continue to bring [the] 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’”.
Essentially, the company wants to give players all the content they would expect from a true sequel to The Sims 4 without removing any of the features and progression that they have now. The Sims 4, which is now 10 years of age, will continue to receive new content updates and expansions for the foreseeable future. In the meantime, EA is looking into making new games in the franchise that will “touch different categories across the simulated life genre including cosy games, social and collaborative based gameplay, [and] mobile narrative games".
Lastly, the blog post also confirmed that a movie adaptation of The Sims is in the works. Originally announced earlier this year, Sex Education and Loki director Kate Herron will take on directing duties and co-write the movie with Briony Redman. Amazon MGM Studios will produce the movie.