An unconfirmed source talks about The Sims 4 Expansion Pack 20 and Project Rene development.
This weekend on X (formerly Twitter), a user, who has since made their account private, replied to one of our posts with information they had found regarding future development. The attached screenshots list details about the next Expansion Pack, the inner workings of Maxis and EA, and the future of the franchise as a whole. By an unknown source posting on an unknown forum. While these details are unconfirmed, the information shared has already sparked considerable conversations within the community.
DISCLAIMER
All information mentioned is unconfirmed, and any opinion conveyed is purely speculative. Take everything with a grain of salt!
Table of Contents
“The Leak” in Full
The user shared three screenshots with a considerable amount of new information. You can read these screenshots below, or read our transcript below!
News I have heard from a friend who’s partner works at Maxis:
- Next Expansion after Fairies is the most expensive Expansion pack in the history of the franchise that doesn’t add a new Pet or Life Stage because of how long it was in development for.
But I have been told this is largely due to inflation, as for the last few years it costs Maxis more money now to develop a single Expansion than it did to develop The Sims Medieval (which was an entire spin off).
- It’s a Vacation pack with a twist, that will allow you to customise and create Vacations beyond what Outdoor Retreat and Jungle Adventure can do. You will be able to create custom venues that your Sims will engage with on their Vacation. There will be a big focus on Family Vacations, as the existing Vacation packs are more focused on Adult gameplay.
- EA are expecting the Expansion to sell over 7 – 10 million copies within the first 12 months because they know the themes within the pack are highly requested and that packs with similar focuses have achieved similar success. So the marketing team is already coming up with ideas on how to promote the game.
- The majority of Sims 4’s profit from Expansions is reinvested by EA into other games development, rather than the game itself. EA set targets with Maxis to deliver a specific amount of Expansions per year.
- Kits aren’t going anywhere, despite none in the latest roadmap. Maxis use the profit from Kits to invest in free base game updates as EA don’t give them much of a budget anymore since it’s now free. They’re on pause to see the community feedback of having more functionality within Kits, to see if people respond more favourably to them.
- Maxis want to do more cultural worlds and have been trying for years to get a world based on Africa in the game, but higher ups at EA prefer culturally ambiguous worlds as they sell better. Maxis have come up with an idea to please both sides (but they wouldn’t tell me what that is).
- Development of some Expansions will be developed in Europe instead of the US.
- Project Rene is going smoothly and apparently rumours of it being in development trouble or being downgraded are false. It’s still the game it was when it was announced, a fully developed online Sims game.
This is what l’ve been told by the partner of someone who works at Maxis. I tried to ask about other stuff but they said they didn’t want to get their partner in trouble, and that everything they told me is what is already told to many creators (minus the sale projections) so it’s already semi-public.
They wouldn’t tell me anything that creators already don’t know. I don’t know if that’s all creators or just some. They didn’t know either.
What This Could Mean for the Future of The Sims 4
There is a lot to unpack with this latest leak, but if this information is to be believed, then Maxis are laying the groundwork for a major shift in how The Sims franchise is developed and evolves.
In recent years, we have seen a move away from game packs and stuff packs in favour of more expansion packs and kit releases. With the European team, the developers of The Sims 4 Businesses & Hobbies, now focused solely on expansion pack development, what could this mean for stuff packs? The next expansion pack, likely produced by the US-based team behind The Sims 4 Life & Death, sounds like a major milestone. Unlike previous travel-based packs such as Outdoor Retreat or Jungle Adventure, the next expansion pack seems as though it will be more sandbox-focused. The emphasis on custom venues sounds as though it may build on the tools introduced with Small Business lot types featured in Businesses & Hobbies.
The leak also states that this upcoming expansion pack will be the most expensive ever produced. This could be an indicator of just how ambitious this pack is, but also speaks to the rising cost of game development as a whole. We also got a glimpse of Electronic Arts’ internal target of 7-10 million copies in its first year. This is a very large number, but plausible for how well family-focused packs tend to do.
The leak also touches on cultural representation, something that fans have been campaigning for across social media for years. The call for an African-based world has been ongoing; however, it seems the Sims team have been facing pressure from higher-ups at Electronic Arts to make worlds more culturally ambiguous. This is disappointing to hear, as the last African-based world was back in 2009 with The Sims 3 World Adventures.
As for Project Rene, the reassurance that development is “going smoothly” and that no major downgrades have occurred will be welcomed by players who have been caustiously watching development, considering history and the original development of The Sims 4 and Project Olympus. It looks as though Rene is gearing up to be a big innovation for the franchise and is something that Electronic Arts is fully backing.
How This Aligns With What We Know
While we cannot confirm the accuracy of this leak, some of the claims do echo what we’ve been noticing for a while, both in Maxis’ behaviour and the wider industry.
In recent years, there has been an uptick in family-focused gameplay, with releases such as Growing Together, For Rent, and the Infants update. While EA and Maxis do not release their individual sales figures for packs, this leak does suggest that family-focused gameplay experiences perform better than niche concepts. During its early years, The Sims 4 was criticised for being too focused on the young-adult life stage and less on family gameplay.
The mention of Kits being on pause to assess whether or not players are responding well to functionality within Kits aligns with the recent release of the Restoration Workshop kit, which introduced the ability to restore broken appliances to their former glory. Perhaps this could usher in a new era of gameplay-focused kits, with the only gameplay kit to date being Bust the Dust.
Final Thoughts
Do keep in mind that no information stated is officially confirmed, and that this is speculation.
Whether you believe this leak is insider truth or carefully constructed fiction, it offers an interesting look into the future of The Sims franchise, and perhaps the internal conversations at Maxis.
If the details are accurate, we could be seeing this new, ambitious expansion pack later this year or possibly in 2026. If it is not true, the community reaction speaks to where Simmers’ priorities and wants for the future lie. Leaks are often messy and unreliable, but it does show us what players value the most.
With Project Rene in active development, and The Sims 4 still evolving, it is clear there is plenty more to come, and fans are always watching closely.
What are your thoughts on the latest leak? Join the conversation below and stay tuned today for full extensive coverage of the upcoming releases!
YES, finally some positivity surrounding Project Rene. It feels exciting as heck, for someone like me who grew up with frequent new base games and new spin-offs, and who has been patiently waiting for an entirely new Sims game for over a decade now.
I’m going to be careful with these leaks, but if it’s confirmed, I’ll be so happy to finally have such an ambitious expansion about vacations, because this is exactly the theme I’m waiting for in a future expansion, the ones we have are too small and not what I want, I want hotels, family activities, great destinations so we can have a nice vacation for our sims.
I don’t believe one single bit of KITs being on pause. It’s an EASY cashgrab for them and we all know EA loves them simoleons… them not being in the roadmap doesn’t mean anything, we’ve already had like the most KITs this year in the first 5 months than last year in total….. we literally just had like 5 KITs lmao.
EA did take a break from kits like they took a break with stuff packs. I don’t remember the timeframes and returns for each. We don’t really know when those breaks happen. They really pushed kits especially during Covid but part of that I assumed was due to the restrictions that were happening with working unless you were an essential worker like working in healthcare.
I hope this isn’t true. First, because I was really hopping the theory of bands being the next expansion was true. Second, if it’s true that EA is stopping the team from creating more diverse worlds, that is messed up. At this point it is weird that there hasn’t been an African themed world.
The whole culturally ambiguous argument doesn’t work at all when you look at the previous worlds released. The C-suite/Executives at EA are full of rich and creamy poopheads. It’s kind of telling that they haven’t created a world based in or near African diaspora. Very telling.
Adding to the fact that EA takes profits from Sims games to fund other games? No wonder things are how they are. The C-suite needs replacement. AI would do better.
The leaks certainly make sense in regards to the behaviour and release patterns we have been seeing lately; to the point they could theoretically be projections by anyone. Unfortunately it would not be the first “leaker” that was just guessing.
So grains of salt all around, but I would enjoy that vacation pack if it is real. Here’s hoping it would come with a fix to the vacation day system that I have hated since implementation so Sims can have vacations without losing their careers.
Sounds too good to be true. Though the parts about EA not supporting Maxis and taking money from them to invest in other projects. Does sound very likely given its a very EA thing to do. Here many were hoping the next expansion would be about bands. With hints galore for a while now in other DLCs. So I’m going to guess bands are next and this rumor is just a rumor. Too good to be true.
No interest in Rene at all, sorry. But, exciting if a Vacations mega pack is coming! Typical of EA to syphon of Maxis’s money to fund other stuff instead of The Sims. Whatever the reality exciting months ahead!
Hoping for hotels if the leak is true!
I was really hoping the next EP would be Bands. I’ve been waiting 10 years for a Bands EP. So sadly I hope Vacations isn’t the next EP. Though I do want a Vacation/Hotels pack too, but I really really want a Bands Pack and I’m tired of waiting.
I’m not really interested in a hotels pack. Like others, I’ve been hoping for a bands pack.
Okay, but the culturally ambiguous worlds argument just isn’t factually correct. Mt Komorebi – inspired solely by Japan; Henford-on-Bagley – inspired solely by England and only the Cotswolds area; San Sequoia – inspired solely by San Francisco; Chestnut Ridge – inspired solely by Southwestern US; Ciudad Enamorada – inspired solely by Mexico; Ravenwood – inspired solely by Romania; Innisgreen – inspired solely by Ireland. All of those worlds in the last 5 years were inspired by either a single country or a relatively small geographical area with homogenous culture. The opposite of supposedly preferred “culturally ambiguous” worlds. So it makes me sceptical of this “leak”, if obvious facts that aren’t speculation speak against it.