The latest update to The Sims 4 has sparked a wave of conversation among players, and at the centre of it all is the newly Sims 4 marketplace launch and the broken state it has left people’s games in.
Designed to expand the ways players access, share, and purchase content, the feature marks a significant shift in how the game’s ecosystem operates, and reactions have been anything but quiet, revealing a player base both excited and uneasy about the game’s future.
You can use our unofficial poll below to share your thoughts on the new marketplace, as well as vote for your favourite maker packs.
The Sims 4 Marketplace Launch & Community Poll
You can see in the new in-game menu that maker packs have been prioritised over other pack types in the top navigation.
Community Concerns
The new marketplace seems to be leaving a bad taste in players’ mouths. Many of the comments across the official Sims social media, as well as our own, are talking about how this has been the final straw for them, and they aren’t going to be going back to the game despite loving it for many years.
Across social media and Reddit threads, players have raised concerns about monetisation, with some arguing the system prioritises profit over improving the base game. This Reddit thread from LowSodiumSimmers has also highlighted fears that the long-standing culture of freely shared custom content is under threat.
Comparing To The Sims 3 Store
Lots of comments have been shared around comparing this new marketplace to the old in-game storefront we had for The Sims 3. However, there are a lot of differences between the two, which this commenter, among others, pointed out on our recent marketplace post.
Honestly, people comparing The Sims 4 marketplace to The Sims 3 Store are missing the point completely. They are not even the same type of system.
The Sims 4 marketplace is basically a platform where creators sell their own content. These “Maker Packs” are made by simmers and sold through the game using a virtual currency, and there are no real promotions or structured deals behind it. It’s just individual paid content created by players, which already makes it fundamentally different.
The Sims 3 Store actually had a proper store system. It had constant sales, daily deals, and rotating discounts. You could get full worlds for very cheap, often bundled with a lot of extra content. It actually felt like you were getting value for your money.
And one of the biggest things people ignore is how it handled collections. If you already owned part of a set, you could complete the rest for free or for a very low price. It rewarded players instead of making them rebuy everything.
The Sims 4 marketplace doesn’t have any of that. No meaningful promotions, no system to complete collections, and everything is fragmented into small paid packs made by creators. It just feels like isolated purchases with no real player friendly structure.
A comment on our recent marketplace post
So comparing the two makes no sense. The Sims 3 Store was a proper store with a consumer friendly model, while the Sims 4 marketplace is just a paid creator platform with none of those benefits.
Comparing To Other In-Game Stores
The Sims 4 is not the only EA game out currently which has a microtransaction system that is being updated with new content.
skate. is the newest edition to the Skate franchise, and it also has its own in-game store, with four different currencies available to players. The main currency, San Van Bucks, costs around the same amount as Moola, and is what can be used to make the majority of microtransaction purchases.
However, the value for money is significantly lower, with currency only being redeemed for one in-game pose or a single hat, yet costing the same as some Sims 4 maker packs.
Have Your Say
Vote for your favourite marketplace items and have your say on the new online store by using our poll below.
How do you feel about the new marketplace and the potential impacts? Do you like the items currently on sale? Let us know below or on social media.
I can not vote its giving a bug message but i saw the results the most think the same way as i am !!
The comment about the comparison to the Sims 3 Store contains falsehoods. The Marketplace is not *just* for Maker Packs, but is the only place to buy EA Kits in the future.
This means the Marketplace has all the same evils of the Sims 3 Store:
* Disconnected prices of content from real money. Moola vs SimPoints
* Locking official content behind virtual currency
* Microtransactions
* etc.
But it also adds the additional evil of exploitation of custom content creators.
This Marketplace takes a 70% cut from all proceeds. That is ridiculous. Nearly all online digital stores take no more than %30 of a cut. (Steam, Apple App Store, Google Play Store, Sony Playstation, etc) And even with only an up to 30% cut they are fought by tooth and nail by nearly all creators. See: Epic v. Apple, Epic v. Google, etc.
Honestly, when it comes to kits vs the old worlds from sims 3 store, at least the world packs could be bought at physical stores and not just digital ones before being basically stuck behind the store only.
I do actively believe that realistically the marketplace is actually the sims 3 store for this era. Like ofc its worse for those who make content for it. The defence of “It WaS f2p FrIeNdLy” really doesn’t hold when sims 3 store is still currently live and sims 3 packs haven’t had its regional pricing fixed on steam so its probably more expensive to get the stuff if you choose not to search to get it for free but seen as cc.
I voted but I will not be purchasing anything, I think its disgusting that creators earn 30% for their work, I will continue to support the creators via patreon.