They’ve said it once, and they’ve said it again. The Sims 5 is not happening, folks. For anyone thinking they were being coy or secretive about it, this should be the final nail in the coffin. Not only have they stated it’s not coming, but this time they’ve gone a step further and explained why.
Table of Contents
Why It’s Not Happening
In a recent interview Variety sat down with EA Entertainment’s president Laura Miele and she had this to say about The Sims 5.
“What I wouldn’t want to have happen is you to have to start from day zero and start from scratch and give up all of the things that you have created, give up all of the content that you’ve purchased over the years. We put out over 85 content packs over the last 10 years on ‘The Sims 4,’ and so resetting that is not player friendly and not a good idea for our community.”
Laura Miele
Specifically, there has been 93 content packs released for Sims 4 at the time of this article–19 expansion packs, 12 game packs, 20 stuff packs, and 42 kits. At the time of this writing, while most packs are currently on sale, the Steam DLC collection for Sims 4 looks like this.
Note: The Steam page is not entirely accurate because it says there are 99 DLC, but they mistakenly list multiple of time twice, such as the Horse Ranch expansion pack. So, this number is not entirely true.
While many players expected Sims 4 to follow the path of previous Sims titles, with DLC releases for several years and then a sequel title being announced, EA decided to make Sims 4 a live service game instead. Looking at video games as a whole, this is becoming the new industry standard.
With the rising cost of video game production, and the inherent time it takes to make them from scratch versus creating content for an already released game, it makes sense. Opinions, as opinions always manage to be, are divided on whether or not this is a positive for player experience.
Reasons Players Want The Sims 5
Seemingly from the first moment Sims 4 released players were asking for a Sims 5. The sentiment was that the foundation for Sims 4 was too fragile and underdeveloped to support the game they had hoped for. Flash forward to nearly 11 years later, endless updates and content releases, and that sentiment somehow still manages to exist within the player base.
The thought seems to be that a Sims 5 release will somehow fix all of the issues that players have with Sims 4. The problem is that it wouldn’t. There’s a “grass is always greener” mentality about the game that players don’t have but imagine they could. If a Sims 5 ever released, it would never meet the expectations that players have.
I guarantee what it would do is make players look more fondly at Sims 4. It happens every single time a new Sims series releases. During Sims 3’s run players complained about how poorly optimized and programmed it was, how many game breaking issues it had, how often it crashed, how their computers couldn’t run it, how overpriced the Sims 3 Store was, how ugly the style was especially the Sims themselves, and how the launcher literally told you not to install too many packs you paid for because the game couldn’t handle all of them at one time.
Once Sims 4 released, everyone has been looking back at their memories of Sims 3 as if it was the most stable, most gorgeous, most perfect game ever created. The same would absolutely happen with Sims 4 once a Sims 5 would release. Plus, it’s important to consider that The Sims 5 could have released even worse than Sims 4.
Other players are just burnt out on Sims 4. After over a decade with one game, and almost 100 content releases, it begins to feel repetitive no matter what is added. A lot of the systems start to blur together or feel rehashed. Players would rather start anew with something that hopefully feels fresh and exciting.
Another thing players want in The Sims 5 is a different art style and aesthetic than that of Sims 4. From its inception many players did not emotionally connect with the style chosen and would prefer something more realistic like that of Sims 3. This is another opinion that is greatly divided between players.
Reasons to Stick with The Sims 4
As Miele said, it would be hard for a lot of players to move on. It’s a lot to ask of players to drop a game they’ve spent well over a grand on and start over from square one. For lifetime players that have been playing from the beginning, it would be a pretty tough sell to tell them it’s time to do it all over again for the fifth time.
There’s only so many times you can expect players to buy a Seasons or Pets expansion pack for a fourth or fifth time, for instance. EA knows this, which is why they’re opting to continue the development of Sims 4 instead of moving onto The Sims 5.
For those that have stuck with Sims 4 from the start, it’s absurd looking back at the game we started with to the game we have now. It’s entirely different, at this point. So much has been added and changed and updated and continues to do so.
They’ve said previously that they’re at a point in the life of The Sims 4 where they’re focusing more heavily on updating the foundation of the game while also still releasing new content. Refreshing parts of the game could be all that is needed to keep Sims 4 feeling fresh and exciting instead of having to move on to a new game.
With Project Rene being developed as a completely different style of Sims game instead of being Sims 5, it means players can stick with the Sims 4 collection they’ve built up over the years while still having a new Sims experience. Previously when a new Sims game released, even if a player liked the previous version better, development ceased for the past title. This is not the case with Project Rene and The Sims 4. Players who want a new experience can focus on Project Rene, players who love Sims 4 will still have new content released for them, and everyone wins.
In the words of Hannah Montana, it really is the best of both worlds.
Reader Opinions
So, what are your thoughts? Are you fully connected to Sims 4? Or are you ready to move on?
Did you want a Sims 5, or are you happy with Project Rene being a different style of Sims game?
We have a poll below to gather your quick thoughts, but feel free to leave more in-depth thoughts in the comments below.
I want The Sims 5
I’m connected to The Sims 4 for the Mods/CC and DLC
I want better gameplay and more customization in The Sims 5
I have almost every DLC (stopped at Businesses & Hobbies and missing 14 Kits)
I have over 1000 hours in The Sims 4
At this stage of the game, after 10 years of playing and yet I have all the DLC, and with still so much lack of gameplay and bugs, and a boredom and weariness that only grows, I am clearly ready to move on to something else. The desire is no longer there.
It could be you are tired of playing the same way. I’m guilty of playing generally the same Sims, using the same clothes, furniture, worlds and so on. Even if I start out with a different sort of Sim it ends up turning out about the same. I’m not giving up on the game, a lot of that has to do with the money I’ve spent on it! So I’m trying challenges and new ways of playing.
No reason for people to downvote this. Totally valid opinion. I agree with you.
I don’t want another version of the Sims. If EA has to split their focus with a new version the problems with Sims 4 are less likely to get attention, new content will be slow, and it will cost me far too much to move from Sims4.
I feel the amount of content with Sims is overwhelming. Yes, I have most of the pack and etc. Usually there was one reason I decided to buy each pack and the rest came along with it. Some I like and some I really don’t like or have never started using even years later. I think the best solution for EA is to give players more control over the content in the game. Let people choose what to turn off and what to keep on. Not just with CAS and Build but things like Milestones, collectibles, etc etc etc. Letting players limit game features could make it simpler to play and not need to spend hours sorting out and trying to understand the game and all its parts. People could turn things on or off as they play. Limiting the feeling of having too much, too many options.
Love this idea, not sure why it got downvotes as I feel totally the same x
Agree 100%. I don’t use mods or CC but would welcome a Sims-endorsed way to personalise gameplay.
Spot on! There’s so much in the game that it can feel overwhelming — I want to play everywhere and everything at once! I wish I could install all the packs I’ve bought, but hide the cities that come with them until I’m ready to expand — or remove occults when I’m feeling like more realistic gameplay. And of course, disable those festival notifications and bubble tea ads XD
The sentiment that the foundation is bad SOMEHOW still exists? For real? It’s because it is a bad foundation. Every patch something else breaks. Expansions don’t work as intended. 10 year old bugs and limitations still exist and will always exist. And forget about pack refreshes. How long ago was the one for Spa Day? And is there any new one on the horizon? Doubt it.
And how interesting you included the Sims 3s DLC warning, as if you can have all 90+ packs enabled in 4 without problems.
And this has been said every time. Just because a new game comes out, doesn’t mean you suddenly aren’t allowed to play 4 again. Keep playing it. Give EA your thousand dollars to play a still incomplete and half baked game.
A sequel is necessary to modernize and actually create a good foundation. EA is a multimillion dollar company. Theres no excuse for them to not be able to put resources towards a new, stable game. Quit making excuses with this apologetic puff peace.
Preach!
Touch biased with the article, are we? Lots of criticizing the reasons players would want a sequel without as much criticism of the reasons EA is sticking with TS4. Also, continuing on with the idea that people would straight up stop playing TS4 the moment TS5 would drop, even if they’d sunk so much money into TS4.
Also, either there’s a typo in the playtime survey question or it’s missing the entire 101-999 hour playtime range.
I don’t even mind TS4. I like a lot of its features, especially the expanded sex and gender customization and its build mode tools, and I like its graphics compared to earlier games. And I certainly remember the long load times and choppiness of TS3! But I have yet to see a live service game pull off a complete, down-to-the-bones overhaul like TS4 needs, and since they’ve also stopped pack refreshes, the pack situation puts players and developers between a rock and a hard place – either end up doing repetitive packs (which don’t feel unique enough, add redundant systems, are DLC for DLC, etc) or never touch on a feature again (so if you don’t like the pet stuff that came with Cats and Dogs, for example, tough luck).
Like, there’s already aspirations from at least two different packs (HSY and Cottage Living) I straight up have not been able to complete because the systems from those packs have been broken for years. The more packs they make, the more packs they abandon – and how is that any better than stopping development for one game to create another?
I play the game with all DLC’s… do I have all of them? hmm….
sims 5 would be bound to be shit anyways but hey, what have the past 10 years of the sims 4 prepared me for?
my other hobbies besides being a negative nancy (landgraab) is setting fire to orphanages and kicking cats.
lmao milf hunter for Nancy and Agnes huh
I do not hate 4, even if it arguably deserved it some points in its lifespan. Even when it eventually gets a sequel I will likely replay it from time to time, like 1-3.
However, even back at the 2014 launch everyone knew the game was built on pillars of sand and it showed its age incredibly quickly. Tech debt in code snowballs even with a solid foundation, so 4 will only get worse and worse unless they can stop adding things long enough to basically rewrite the entire game code from top to bottom (over a decade’s worth!).
And let’s face it: if they were really ever willing to do that they would just make the sequel because it would be easier…
So yeah, I am ready for 5, if for no other reason than the hope 4 is left in a playable state when they move on to it.
This is a very biased article and clearly written by someone with the perspective that the game shouldn’t be improved upon. The sims franchise is not the only game on the market. Games release sequels and improve upon the game with each subsequent release. The excuse that the game would still have issues is illegitimate and the developers should be held to a higher standard of perfecting a game prior to release. It’s clear that this is just a cash grab from the team as it appears the newest installment of the sims will be continued microtransactions as opposed to outright purchases. Shame to see where the franchise has headed and an even further shame to see the fans enable it.
I think it’s funny how the author acts like the developers are unable to make a working 5th game, yet thinks they’ll be able to fix 4.
What delusion do we live in where a ten year old game with $1000 of DLC and counting needs fixing? A game that old and with so much put into it should be pristine.
Maybe it’s some form of denial about having cashed out so much money for a game that’s still incomplete and broken. This isn’t an early access game from an indie studio.
Having to choose between “the current state of The Sims 4” and a sequel doesn’t seem fair to me. The current state of The Sims 4 is unplayable for me. I don’t use mods and I have every pack (not kit) except for EBN, but the simulation lag is through the roof. While I would love to stick to The Sims 4, please no not in the current state. I still love to play The Sims 3 too, I just make sure to stay away from Island Paradise.
Next time please state at the beginning of the article that this is heavily opinion based by the writer. I feel it’s weird and misleading to see such a biased article on a website that usually has more neutrally written articles.
Thanks for the feedback regarding the article – I’ve updated the article with new post category tags to better reflect the writing style used in the post.
Just wanted to jump in here and defend the article a little bit. It isn’t perfect, sure, but I appreciate the perspective. There is a lot of toxicity in the sims community towards both EA and Maxis – while I’m not going to come to the defense of EA probably ever, it would be good for people to remember that EA is first and foremost a business, so of course they want to make money and not invest in something new (Sims 5) when they have something that has been so successful (Sims 4). I thought the article made a good point of mentioning that they know players likely wouldn’t be willing to spend all that money all over again.
Also, true, I don’t play any other game that is as bugged out as Sims 4 – it can be absolutely weird. But on the other hand I don’t know any other game that has this amount of DLC for purchase to help customize how you play and what you want to do in the game, and the sims team works hard to make it happen.
It would be nice if people could keep chill and consider the whole picture, different perspectives, try to have a balanced convo instead of just spewing negativity. There are problems, sure, but players are not exactly easy to please either. Peace x
Stop saying that the team is working hard and that it’s wonderful to have so much DLC, if there are so many, it’s because they sell empty DLC or very little provided in gameplay and broken in piles of bugs in addition, it’s total amateurism, even theft, the extension on apartment rentals is still on sale, but it causes corrupted saves, it’s an unacceptable sale to sell a product that does not work, after 10 years, it’s not wonderful, it’s unacceptable, when in 5 years, the sims 2 and 3 were complete, the goal is not to admire the game but to have lots of possibilities to have a varied game that is never boring and a rich and varied gameplay, do you find it normal that it took 2 DLC to have the dogs, the cats, the horses, when one was enough on the sims 3, and that’s how it is for everything, the DLCs are not worth their price, barely half, you defend what is not defensible, it is not surprising that we have more than 100 extensions, given the little that each one brings, it is time to put an end to this masquerade, to this broken engine, how long will it take you, how much more money are you going to give them, we must put an end to this, and start again on new bases.
So are you on the side of EA to make Sims 5 after writing all of this or are you moving on with other lifeSim games like Inzoi and Paralives?
EA will not make the sims 5, we will see that in a few years when they stop the sims 4, I don’t know what they will do then, maybe they will abandon the franchise for good, I will go on paralives, but I will continue to play the sims 2 and 3 which for me are complete and I abandon the sims 4. Starting on a new franchise is very exciting and Paralives seems really very promising, especially with open world.
I don’t understand why not make new Sims a subscription game? Just make it $5 per month with all expansions included as they are released, I guess EA will make more money that way and no more “what if player has pack X, but not Y”.
I think general foundation of Sims 4 is the most solid of all Sims games – only current location is fully tracked, but time goes all over the world, that’s why it stays. But other than the foundation, there are plenty of things, which could make new game better, for example:
If the sims 4 is turned into a subscription I’m out. It’s simply not an option I have. I did not buy DLC to now pay even more to use it.
Yeah except you misread … Andrey was talking about the next Sims not the Sims 4 🙂
Needs a “I have them all!” option – many people do.
I don’t want The Sims 5. Won’t play it. I’ve been playing The Sims since the first one came out. Honestly, The Sims 3 was horrid in my opinion. I quite like The Sims 4.
I like the sims 4 and still play it but it can’t go on forever. The game is suffering in performance from the huge amount of DLC. Adding more and more can’t go on indefinitely.
Sims 4 still suffers from the very early design choices like no cars, color wheel, barebone swatch system (sims 2 allowed more choice by two separate swatch choices per object. In 2004 it allowed bed frames and sheets to be chosen separately), no genetics (sims 2 had recessive genes), neighborhood lots are loaded to show furniture but can’t be accessed with a loading screen, no roads for cars in many worlds.
Sure, a lot was added over the years. But this resulted in rewriting the game code over and over which inevitably leads to bug.
We now have two apartments DLC, two ow’and your business DLC, two educational DLC (university and high school) two farm animal DLC (cottage living and horse ranch) we are already in the situation of buying DLC themes again.
A new clean slate with ambitious design choices would allow the game to become innovative again rather than repetitive. But that would mean no short cuts like objects babies, omitting age groups, pools, ghosts, transportation, family trees, colours wheels, terrain tools,… Project Renee from what we have seen so far is not a successor for the sims 4, it’s feels and is presented like a mobile game, with the threatening micro transactions included.
I just want a multiplayer option wherever we go with the Sims…
I used to want Sims 5 and was disappointed when they said Sims 4 would continue pass the 4-5 year range a Sims game normally last. But I’ve learned to accept things as they are. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Now I just want a Band pack with lead singers for Sims 4!
I only play Sims 4 casually and I use Mods often. I have a few DLC but when I realized that Sims4 is focused on DLC rather than smooth gameplay I stopped buying DLC. There are so many mods now that I don’t need DLC. I’m hope it gets better but it’s greedy EA so I am not going to hold my breath.
How about – be finished with Sims 4 and come up with an update that fixes many of the bugs.
I just don’t like the Sims 4 because its gameplay is just very shallow. Even with all the DLC adding systems to it, it’s still very shallow compared to TS2 or TS3.
If they don’t make and put out Sims 5 or something comparable then someone else will and we will still semi move on from Sims 4 just like the others as is the natural process of advancement. We of course won’t abandon S4 all together but the stagnation of the game coupled with the false promises of the anticipated advancement of a franchise we love will over sour many people’s disposition and cause future strife with life long fans and customers.
imagine having this mindset of sticking to THE LITERAL WORST SIMS GAME IN THE FRANCHISE just because it has many DLCs? as if we never gone through starting from scratch before? This franchise DESERVES a 5th installment made from scratch with all the feedback we gave them about the problems in 4, The Sims 4 was limited back in 2014, today in 2025 (almost 2026) the game is ARCHAIC, and people who don’t want a Sims 5 are literally players who started playing this franchise with The Sims 4, they’ve never experienced the benefits of a new generation and all the enhancements it gives to the franchise as a whole, we need an Open World fully customizable like in TS3, that way players can build worlds from scratch and share worlds in the gallery for others to download, we need customization features, color wheel, we need more depht in the Simulation, this is simply not possible in TS4 because of its engine and 11 years of code, the more they add to the game, the buggier it gets, the foundation is simply NOT GOOD, it wasn’t good in 2014 and it’s even worse in 2025, staying with this same foundation for god knows how many more years is literally not for the best for this community, TS4 is never gonna be good enough, in order to make the game great it would require these developers to rewrite the entire code in a different engine… at this point then why not just make a TS5? even better, why not allow us to transfer all of our TS4 DLCs to TS5? the reason why they won’t do it is because they know it would require them to WORK for years to properly code all this content into 5. so i don’t see the situation of this franchise getting better, when they announced Project Rene as the next generation of The Sims i had hope for the future of this franchise, now i just don’t see a future where i’m the target audience for it anymore.
With the Sims 5 not happening, and with all respect, I’m sad for people who don’t know what to do with their money and want to start from scratch rebuilding a video game for years. I, on the other hand, couldn’t be happier.
I have every The Sims 4 pack but I’d love to just… move on. Fresh starts and things having a finale can feel great. Things aren’t supposed to last forever.
I understand their point of view and I agree with them to a certain degree. But TS4 is somehow, at least for me, lacking a lot in terms of gameplay, even with so many DLCs. It’s like you having a big library, so many books, but each one has only a couple of pages to read and they are not interesting enough to make you read them again. And the library keeps getting expanded with same kind of books. The graphics, the customisation and etc are fine, though I wish for refreshment. But none of that matters when you get new gameplay elements that you go through once and never really come back and do it again (not all, but most).
What I don’t like about what was said in the interview was the presumption that, if TS5 would be released, then the players would be “reset” and would have to buy the DLCs, again. Why? Why not listen to the players who have been asking for a new game that includes more gameplay, more elements right from the start, like weather, jobs, cars, apartments, etc? It feels like they are blaming players for no development of a new game.
Those who bought all the DLC enabled EA to get sloppy and not do a good job at making a decent game.
I rather stick to sims 4 series. I understand what they are saying. I wouldnt want to lose all what I bought in sims4. I would rather have what I bought and something new as well. Thats 2 in 1 deal..it doesnt get better than that.
To me, EA wants a live-service version of The Sims and is just undecided between turning The Sims 4 into that or continuing to invest in Project Rene. That’s why, despite all the rumors about The Sims 4 dropping the “4” from its title, it still hasn’t happened. Part of it is due to new competitors emerging, which requires caution with every decision. While they wait for a better scenario to transition players from one game to another without losing some along the way—or seeing them switch to those potential competitors—they keep releasing packs for The Sims 4 as a safe harbor and invest little in the progress of Project Rene. If the competitors succeed, EA will likely stick with The Sims 4 and abandon Project Rene, at least for a while. If the competitors don’t pose a threat, EA will launch Project Rene and quickly phase out The Sims 4. However, Project Rene will progress slowly, with more specific DLCs and deeper gameplay in each of them.
It’s funny that people think Sims 5 would be better than 4. Same EA, same devs, nothing changes. Let’s hope it won’t be worse.