While Electronic Arts has recently pressed on its effort to revitalize the long-standing Battlefield franchise and capitalize on aspects of Battlefield 3 & Battlefield 4, another veteran IP also has plans in the future as well. Already an ongoing experience for roughly a decade, The Sims 4 is one game players are looking to be expanded upon. Previously, Electronic Arts pushed the game as free-to-play back in 2022.
Beyond The Sims 4, reports on new projects were underway internally at studio Maxis. In that, Project Rene would expand upon the core foundation of the current The Sims experience. What’s more, multiplayer is also part of the discussion now too. In an interview with RadioTimes, it was revealed that the team is exploring multiplayer aspects for the next title.
According to a new interview with Variety, Electronic Arts & Maxis is reshaping its effort to further The Sims 4 experience without releasing a new game. Its argument is to continue support for The Sims 4 without requiring players buy a new game. In tow, multiplayer is now promised to ship for The Sims 4.
The way to think about it is, historically, ‘The Sims’ franchise started with ‘Sims 1’ and then ‘Sims 2,’ ‘3’ and ‘4.’ And they were seen as replacements for the previous products. What we’re really working with our community on is this a new era of ‘The Sims.’ 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.
Kate Gorman, The Sims Franchise General Manager
“What this means is that we will continue to bring 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,’” Gorman explained on the matter of The Sims 5 not being realized.
“I think as we think about the future of it, we want you to continue all of those families and generations. Those creations are your progress, your attachment. We don’t want to reset your progress. And so it’s not about as much of what the numbers are in the games, but know that the future of the franchise looks more like keeping your progress, keeping things across titles, and really having an ongoing experience, and not a start-and-stop experience between products.”
Are you behind this shift in development for the future of The Sims?
Source: Variety
