EA has opened up concerning the destiny of its massively well-liked The Sims franchise, providing a sneaky tease about what to anticipate from the upcoming multiplayer sport, and why we in all probability should not count on The Sims 5 any time quickly.
In an interview with Selection, EA Leisure president Laura Miele mentioned {that a} multiplayer spin-off from The Sims “represents one of many greatest development alternatives for EA,” teasing that the group is “onerous at work and feverishly growing what this [multiplayer] platform goes to be.”
“What we’re doing is upgrading and refreshing all this expertise, and we’ll be including modes of play — however we are also going to be creating and updating the bottom expertise and the bottom consumer expertise on the core sport,” Miele mentioned.
“So that you’re going to have this life simulation, you’re going to have multiplayer capabilities, we’re going to have cell expressions of this. We’re doing cozy video games as properly and extra to return on that. We did a launch with Nintendo on cozy video games in Asia for The Sims. I see The Sims as a major ecosystem, and a universe of a number of Sims experiences that we have now to construct on.”
In case you have been hoping for a touch that The Sims 5 is on the way in which, nonetheless, brace your self for disappointment — Miele mentioned that it would not be “player-friendly” to launch a brand new sport with its neighborhood has invested a lot money and time in The Sims 4.
“What I wouldn’t need to have occur is you to have to begin from day zero and begin from scratch and quit the entire issues that you’ve created, surrender the entire content material that you simply’ve bought through the years,” Miele mentioned. “We put out over 85 content material packs during the last 10 years on The Sims 4, and so resetting that isn’t player-friendly and never a good suggestion for our neighborhood.
“The place we sit right now, from a expertise perspective, innovation perspective, we’re in a second the place we will truly co-create content material and be a multiplier for one another and have these nice experiences for followers,” Miele mentioned. “It’s going to be so full circle and so fulfilling to deliver content material in a linear manner and an interactive manner, concurrently, and even have it adapt to followers and the way issues are going. When we have now a few concepts about how we might go to market with a film and a few completely different expressions, I simply suppose the chance is so ripe.”
Undertaking Rene — the codenamed sport initially considered The Sims 5 till EA distanced itself from these rumors — was first teased in 2022 throughout a Behind the Sims Summit. It is a free-to-play Sims sport that options multiplayer impressed by Animal Crossing and Amongst Us. It hasn’t but been formally revealed or acquired a launch date, however EA has been holding small, invite-only playtests for the sport since its announcement, with the most recent playtest presumably spawning these latest leaks.
The identify Rene was chosen as a result of it references phrases like “renewal, renaissance, and rebirth” that “symbolize the developer’s renewed dedication for the Sims’ vibrant future.”
Final October, nonetheless, photos of Undertaking Rene leaked from a closed on-line check, prompting complaints concerning the artwork type, restricted options, and the usage of microtransactions. It was the addition of a café that drew essentially the most skepticism, primarily because of the smiliaries to 2018’s The Sims Cellular. It was then that EA mentioned Undertaking Rene was not The Sims 5 however would, actually, be a special “cozy, social sport” launched beneath The Sims franchise.
One other video purportedly taken from the following iteration of The Sims additionally popped up on-line earlier this yr, and that too didn’t go down properly with followers.
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, in addition to a critic, columnist, and advisor with 15+ years expertise working with a few of the world’s greatest gaming websites and publications. She’s additionally a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually Excessive Chaos. Discover her at BlueSky.
