In May 2024, EA announced they had created a team to invest in the core game experience of the Sims 4, noting their particular focus on ‘previously reported issues, quality assurance and game optimisation for future releases’. This announcement came at a time of great speculation about a fifth installment to the Sims life-simulator series, given that it had been nearly a decade since the release of Sims 4. Later, in September, EA released a shocking announcement, claiming that they are going to ‘disrupt the sequel model’, as they revealed plans for a huge new Sims platform, as well as the so-called ‘Project Rene’. 

EA has since clarified their plans for the new Sims 4 platform, adding to their planned optimisation of the game with the announcement of new features like a marketplace, social and creator tools, and more. EA described their mission to keep Sims 4 alive, stating that they ‘will be updating the core technology foundation for the product’ and that they ‘will release fun and exciting content for many years to come’. 

Project Rene, however, appears to be a completely new endeavor for the company. While the game is said to be set in the same universe as the original Sims franchise, the format will differ greatly. Straying from the original franchise’s single player format, the Project Rene installment will feature single-player and multi-player capability; it will also be available on mobile devices.  

Project Rene is still under development, with EA yet to announce a release date, however it is confirmed to be free-to-play. This announcement reflects a wider departure by EA from the pay-to-play model. In 2022, EA announced that the Sims 4 base game would become free, with optional paid expansions. The Sims franchise has always been known for its costly DLCs, but the switch to this model could be seen as a modernisation of the series, a departure from the paid video game model – a vestige of CD games which are now widely considered obsolete in PC gaming circles. 

MMORPGs like RuneScape and Furcadia have followed the free-to-play model for decades, and mobile games like Clash of Clans and Pokémon GO have been free since their release, but for a long period of time it was expected that larger-scale PC and console projects were made to be purchased at a high initial cost, with little need for future purchases. Games like Fortnite and Apex Legends drove the change to the F2P (free-to-play) model, discovering huge profits were available in this format, even for blockbuster releases. Now, even huge games like Overwatch 2 and Call of Duty: Warzone have aligned with this model, in which in-game currency, cosmetics or battle passes can be purchased by the player.  

EA’s plans for the Sims franchise signal new developments for the company, with many ‘Simmers’ upset about the systematic changes revealed for the new projects. However, these changes didn’t come as a surprise for many fans of the franchise – they’re simply reflective of a changing industry.