Electronic Arts has announced that there will not be a “The Sims 5” game. Instead, the company plans to continue updating and expanding “The Sims 4,” which has been running for 10 years and is the longest-running installment in the franchise’s 25-year history. Kate Gorman, EA’s vice president and general manager of “The Sims” franchise, stated that the main reason behind this decision was the concern that players, who number more than 80 million worldwide, would have to start all over again after a decade’s worth of gameplay in “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,” Gorman explained.
“What we’re really working with our community on is this 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.”
EA also teased that “Sims” players will soon find out more about “Project Rene,” which incorporates multiplayer into “The Sims” world. The franchise has tried and failed at that effort before with “The Sims Online,” which launched in 2002.
ea’s ongoing commitment to sims
“We have a lot of learnings from ‘The Sims Online.’ We know that there is an opportunity to play in a very social, real-time, multiplayer environment within our gamespace,” Gorman said. “We know simulation is at the core of everything we do and we want to make sure our players still have that experience in a world with real players and NPCs. We’re still gathering learnings and working on it but stay tuned.”
Additionally, EA confirmed that a movie based on “The Sims” is being produced at Amazon MGM Studios by Margot Robbie’s LuckyChap.
Directed by Kate Herron and co-written with Briony Redman, the film adds another layer to the expansive “Sims” universe, bridging the gap between gaming and other entertainment platforms. With these updates, EA is marking a significant shift in how it approaches “The Sims” franchise, focusing on ongoing experiences and player-generated content to invigorate and sustain the game’s community long into the future.
