It’s a limited time offer, so perhaps boot up Origin and begin the download (or at least claim the title on your Origin account) as you’re reading lest you miss out on this offer.
It’s the Sims 20th birthday, celebrating 20 hilarious years of trapping people in virtual torture chambers and removing ladders from pools to deal with the ‘less attractive’ members of your growing family dynasty. While the titles have admittedly become a bit more…piecemeal in what they’re offering and how they’re offering it, with all of the currently released expansions packs reaching an obscene price point of $390, it’s still a solid base game.
Granted, after I run all of the numbers in terms of what the additional content costs, I’m a bit less excited about the prospect of the free title, but free is free, right? Hard to beat that price, and easy to ignore every purchase that Electronic Arts attempts to beguile me with that adds content that players have seen in previous iterations.
Did you miss out on the Origin wishlist gifting? Or do you play on a different platform?🎮 Don't forget that you can still join our #TheSims20thBirthdayGiveaway 💚👇 Winners will be announced at the beginning of next week! https://t.co/RURWT1vmH1
— The Sims (@TheSims) February 7, 2020
The title comes along with pools and basements that have both been added post-game, and mods are readily available for players that are looking to increase the depth of The Sims 4 without decreasing their wallet.
With Sims developer Electronic Arts recently reporting over twenty million copies of The Sims 4 being sold, it’s unlikely the DLC train will stop anytime soon, although CEO Andrew Wilson reported in EA’s earnings call that The Sims 5 is in a conceptual stage at the moment, with hints at social interaction with other players, along with competition.
Both of those have never been seen in The Sims before, and it could easily be construed as concerning, or hopeful in terms of how those concepts will ultimately playout for the next iteration.
With the earnings call taking place at the tail-end of January, it’s unlikely that we’ll see anything tangible for another two years at least; translated differently, The Sims 4 has, at an absolute minimum, an additional two years of mainstream support. Development time can vary greatly depending on if they’re reusing the past engine for The Sims 4, or if a new engine will be built to deal with the incessant loading that takes place around neighborhoods that fans are still annoyed with.
The Sims 4 is still a fantastic addition to the storied franchise, bringing even more interactions to the celebrated franchise. Shame that development studio Maxis exists only in name these days, but Electronic Arts is arguably giving it a fair enough run for the money.
