The very controversial Sims 4 Marketplace, an addition to The Sims 4 that adds microtransactions funded by the virtual currency “Moola” with released sets released by partnered and approved Makers, has released for PC players as of March 17th, 2026, with console players expected to receive the Sims 4 Marketplace in the near future. One of these sets, the Sims 4 Sunburst Collection by well-loved and popular Maker and CC Creator CrypticSim, has come under especially heavy critique due to the pricing and actual content of the set. Many players and creators have pointed out pixelation and seemingly low quality, making many question the price tag and what the actual bar for quality is with releases found in the Sims 4 Marketplace.
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The price of the set itself is 500 Moola, with the most basic conversion being $5 USD. The set includes 10 items, all being makeup available in Create-A-Sim. The price, amount of items, and quality of the collection is noticeably different when you compare this to a Creator Kit by the same creator, The Sims 4 Essential Glam Kit by CrypticSim. That initial creator kit released in August 2025 was a well-received kit, especially when compared to other releases in the last year or so, with 27 new assets for the same price as the Sims 4 Sunburst Collection.
When generally describing the content of the marketplace outside of this, most of these sets align heavily with the style and direction of The Sims 4, only include basic assets rather than full mods or off-the-wall custom content, and are priced by the creators themselves. As far as we know, Makers get 30% of every purchase while EA & Maxis take the remaining 70%.
The State of Sims 4 Mods & CC
As we’re sure many of you are aware, the update that occurred yesterday (PC: 1.122.205.1030 / Mac: 1.122.205.1230) to release bug fixes and to launch the Sims 4 Marketplace had a severe side effect of breaking the large majority of mods and custom content. Even things that normally don’t break from updates, like custom CAS items and Build & Buy Objects, have had multitudes of issues due to a break that messed with the ability for the game itself to recognize .package files, the only file type really used for modding the Sims 4, outside of .ts4script files.
Sul sul, CC and Mods are super important to our community and we've continued to share that the Marketplace does not replace free content. Makers can continue to offer free or paid early access on other platforms under our mod policy, which isn't changing
— The Sims Direct Communications (@TheSimsDirect) March 18, 2026
The developers of The Sims 4 have somewhat of a poor reputation of fixing issues that have upset the community, often leaving bugs unhandled for weeks, months, or years. However, the backlash of creating an update that breaks thousands of custom content items forced a quick reply, as the forums and social media were flooded with outraged PC players. Since the update in question is an introduction to the marketplace for PC only, many players that were actually effected by this were custom content and mod users, despite the primary justification for the marketplace being that it “gives” Sims 4 Console players access to “custom content”.
Sul sul, we have a fix for the issue that was unintentionally impacting CC. This update will start rolling out roughly within the next 15 hours & we’ll confirm once it’s live.
Thanks for your reports & patience while we worked to resolve this asap!
— The Sims Direct Communications (@TheSimsDirect) March 18, 2026
Players are now expecting a quick hotfix update, expected March 18th 2026, to fix the issue that leads to the game not properly recognizing .package files, which will hopefully reverse these issues and allow mod creators to move forward with the status quo of updates, as many have been stopped in their tracks because of this. With everything being up in the air, players and creators alike have felt stuck.
Community Reaction & Response
If you are anyone who has modded or used custom content in The Sims 4, you are likely well aware of updates often breaking mods. Recently, EA has been often giving a heads up and warning both creators and players, encouraging them to prepare accordingly to avoid game corruption. This update, like many before it, was expected to break some mods, but most players expected that custom content would remain intact, like just about every update before this.
However, the actual update led to a wide range of issues, from broken meshes, .package files not being recognized, and players not even being able to re-enable mods to test the update if they wanted to. The community reaction was swift, with creators big and small pointing out that this is not normal. This even led to conspiracies about the idea of this being intentional, as a way to push players towards the marketplace.
so apparently this update is causing a lot of cc to not appear ingame…?
(screenshots by ah00b i won't update) pic.twitter.com/H9HVJy9OvS
— dey (@deykxn) March 17, 2026
Umm… folks…??
None of my CC or mods besides script mods load into the game after the update…?? pic.twitter.com/adkDe7A07e
— SimMattically (@SimMattically) March 17, 2026
Look, we’re aware of our modding community, and we’ve finally decided to appreciate y’all by releasing a paywalled marketplace, an official toolkit exclusive for those makers — and, cherry on top, a CC-breaking update
— adrienpastel (@adrienpastelts4) March 17, 2026
We more specifically wanted to point this out as players will likely not be able to use CC items until this patch is released, unless they’ve disabled auto updates and played in offline mode.
The Sims 4 Sunburst Collection Maker Set by CrypticSim
The Sunburst collection is a vibrant makeup and blemish patch collection with bold blues, greens, pinks, reds, oranges, and yellows. This collection consists of two eyeshadows, a glossy and matte lip tint, and 6 different variations of blemish patches, including stars, hearts, butterflies, and smiley faces.
This set by Sims 4 Marketplace Maker CrypticSim comes with 10 total items, including two lipsticks, two eye makeup items, and six face paint category items that act and appear as star and smiley face pimple patches, somewhat reminiscent of the ones introduced in the Sims 4 Sweet Slumber Party Creator Kit by Trillyke, which was one of the first available and official creator kits.
Star & Kawaii Pimple Patches FREE CC Sets by DaisyPixels
DaisyPixels, a creator well-known for creating very cute and sweet clothing items and other pieces of custom content, was one of many people who felt a certain way about the marketplace and the quality of the items shown in previews. An anonymous follower expressed to DaisyPixels that they were sad because they wouldn’t be able to get the pimple patches that were shown in the marketplace preview, from the Sims 4 Sunburst Collection.
In response, DaisyPixels stated “I don’t really like the idea of anyone paying explicitly for PNGs and this thing took me like 10 minutes“, releasing the first set of Star Pimple Patches. After another anonymous ask, the Kawaii Pimple Patches were also released as a set by request.
Both sets come in five swatches each, with the Star Pimple Patches coming in single colors and a multicolor scheme, and the Kawaii Pimple Patches coming in multiple sets with various cute little stickers.
This CC set by DaisyPixels gives players options and decent quality without a price tag or virtual currency requirement, making it easily accessible for those who can mod or add custom content to their game. The colors provided can easily work with most custom content or base game clothing items and don’t seem to have any issues with warping or pixelation that we often see with some face paint textures, found both in custom content and in-game items.
While items placed in the Sims 4 Marketplace cannot be reuploaded anywhere else by the creators, and contain restrictions on multiple factors of the creation and publishing of these sets, we’re likely to see many free CC creators show true love for this game’s community by providing easily accessible custom content, whether they are free from the start or after an, often short, early access period.
What are your current thoughts and feelings on the Sims 4 Sunburst Collection, or any sets coming from the Sims 4 Marketplace in general?
Make sure to follow The Sims Community as we spotlight amazing free CC creators and provide accurate and honest reviews of any paid content, including Marketplace Sets, to make sure you’re getting your money’s worth!
Five dollars for pimple patches? They cost more than an IRL pimple patches pack lol.
Besides the comparison, also 5 dollars is 50 cents per items and most of them are just a flat image (the makeup surely takes a bit more of work because of transparencies and things)… They just want to ride the cash cow like Riot with the skin prices of Valorant and LoL
Ur so right ,the M. Place wont be a Succes ,u can read my comment below about my thoughts of it and experience ab. CC or Mods. 🙂
I bought all 17 CC in the M. Place with Moola Coins, but now that I know EA doesn’t support them and doesn’t offer them as EA Exp. Packs & Kits, I have deactivated them. I don’t want to run any risk after every update of having problems with my save, stuttering, freezing, bugs, or crashes. It is a shame, though, because they are really fun CC, but it’s better to find out now than to keep spending money. I hope no one spends their money on them and that this M. Place with Moola Coins disappears soon. It didn’t yield anything in The Sims 3 anyway, so I don’t understand why they think they can achieve anything with it. No, I’m sticking to EA Packs & Kits!! People, don’t spend money on them. If you want Mods, you’re better off downloading them for free!! But I prefer playing Mods so my game keeps running smoothly!! I don’t want to take any risks, so I hope EA comes up with Packs & Kits like Sockets and lots of other fun things, more for Infants in terms of Clothing and Hairstyles, and also more choice for Toddlers and Kids. I hope EA just makes and releases this themselves that makes playing much more reliable and you don’t run into complications like with CC or Mods.
And besides that, if the paid CC via M. Place causes problems, you can wait until the Creator fixes it, and until then you just have to wait. Furthermore, if the Creator chooses to stop supporting it, you won’t get a new update. So if the game updates then, it can immediately cause problems. Feel free to downvote me, but this is really the truth. Be my guest if you want to risk all kinds of problems in your Sims 4!
Honey…….
Sadly this is the truth im talking ab. my experience ,The Sims 4 works alot better then any CC or Mods.
I think this is a shame and a bummer too, but unfortunately, that is just how it is. So the fact that I am telling the truth and getting heavily downvoted makes absolutely no sense, but if that makes you happy, go ahead and do it, and be my guy! Ultimately, you decide for yourselves how you play The Sims 4, with or without CC & Mods.
Its also such a shame to ask Money for it in de M. Place for something EA doesnt test and Guaranteed u for no any probs in ur Game ,thats why im not taking any risks no more !!
The 17 CC in M. Place cost me for nothing €65,00 Euro’s ,its breaking my heart that i not can use the CC ,because it cost alot of troubles in my Sims 4 !! 🙁 ..
Legitimate question, are you ok? Because I can’t help but feel like you’re either trolling or losing it.
I think the zeitgeist in each post is fascinating, but I’d guess people are downvoting (I didn’t touch either vote) because both lovers and haters of sims 4 kind of have come together in deciding the marketplace doesn’t deserve a cent, much less those 65 glorious euros.
It’s a shame that’s what it took if you’re being honest, though. We all gotta stop the sunk cost fallacy at some point, if it applied. I stopped buying/playing in Jan of last year. I still keep up with news because I love the franchise and I’ve kept up with this game since presale already. It’s like a sinking cruise ship.
Im fine thanks for asking ,im not trolling or losing it just telling my experience and opinion i guess there is nothing wrong with it ,im a big Fan of The Sims 4 i keep playing it ,i have all the Stuff Packs ,Exp. Packs & Kits ,a bigger Fan as me cant be !!
But if this is really ur opinion u be free to do that .. u may and think whatever u want i really dont care what people think or say ab. me dont judge a book by its cover ; ) ..
And btw ,pls play however The Sims 4 u want im not judging ab. that if u think thats word it the CC & Mods ,to destroy ur whole Sims 4 with Bugs ,Lags ,Crashes ,or Loading issues or in ur Save be my Gast ,ur Game ur rules ,my Game my rules ,everyone is free how they wanna play it ; ) !!
They’ve lost their damn mind. I will never support microtransactions AND especially because creators only get 30%. I will continue to support the creators I love via Patreon.
Don’t have any intention to touch marketplace. After Japandi cc was advertised as costing 1000 moola and actually it costs less, I start to believe they are just just testing us. To see how many will fall for it, what is the limit they can go up with these microtransactions. It might be also kind of soft-training for the future content EA is planning – aka project X.
What bothers me most is the level of negligence we have to deal with when updates are released. As I said once: they release 15 bug fixes and introduce 50 new bugs.
If you’re really desperate, you can literally just use the tattoo feature to make blemish patches. It’s mostly dots on the face anyway.