Plus, get an insider look at the recent Sims 4 Packs Sales performance and Marketplace Updates.
The reliable insider on ATRL, best known for their confirmed insider reports on The Sims 4 Marketplace and talks of The Sims Project X development is back with new information. This time revealing the internal inspiration for The Sims Project X development, as well as Sales Performance of some of the recent Sims 4 paid releases.
Let’s break down the new information in the latest Sims insider report:
New The Sims Insider Report for April 11th, 2026
The Sims Project X Inspiration
Question: Hey! I saw that some people got invited to an in-person playtest happening in Vancouver from April 21 to 24. Before signing up, there were questions about The Sims 4 and The Sims 3.
Do you know what this playtest is about? Could it be related to Project X? I’m really curious what they’re planning to test in person.
Sims Insider: It could be! I’m not really in the know for those kinds of things.
The only news I know that I’ve not yet shared is people on the team are using Hello Neighbour 2 apparently for both visual direction and exploration/map inspiration. Not sure what specifically, but outside The Sims 4, that’s being used to gauge what the size and design of the maps could look like, while taking notes on things such as lighting effects and other visual elements.
They’re looking at other games that share a similar stylised look to The Sims 4, while being more modern, as they don’t really have a lot of time to explore their own prototypes like they have done so with previous games. Apparently, Hello Neighbour 2 is one they keep going back to. Never played the franchise myself, but I’ve heard it’s popular.
Question: I haven’t played Hello Neighbor 2 either, but I googled it to see what it’s like and yeah, it actually does look pretty similar to The Sims 4 visually.
I just hope they know how many players have been asking for bigger maps and that they’ll find some kind of compromise.
Sims Insider: They are similar visually. I’m seeing people online already running with “They’re making it look exactly like Hello Neighbour 2, wtf???”
When I say that, I mean elements that make sense for them. Like lighting or textures or whatever else. It’s inspiration. Obviously the parts that won’t work for The Sims won’t be carried over.
I’m glad to see you understand what I meant.
When it comes to world size, my other explanation kind of covers that. But remembering the Sims is designed for casual players, all this extra fidelity is already going to have a hardware cost. Making it too big will price people out of the genre.
That’s probably why they’re also looking at it from a map perspective as well. It’s probably a good size while also being slightly bigger than a typical Sims 4 neighbourhood as well.
What is The Sims Project X?
Question: I am still kinda confused on whether Project X is now The Sims 5 or still The Sims 4.5. I wish they’d just commit fully because this feels like a disaster waiting to happen.
Sims Insider: It’s not a Sims 5. At all. Very Sims 4. It’s not a Remaster but it’s also not a remake. 4.5 is also probably a bad description too.
Best way I can describe it is imagine the Sims 4 base game now is the original Fortnite and Project X is the equivalent of skipping to the most recent version without any knowledge of anything in-between. You’d know it’s the same game and not a remake, but it’s also drastic enough to feel very different. Except X at this stage is being sold as a seperate game unless they decide otherwise.
This game is being designed to keep Sims 4 fans happy, and primarily isn’t designed to bring over anyone who isn’t a Sims 4 fan. Though some changes will likely make people happier to switch from earlier games, they’re avoiding alienating the Sims 4 audience and their primary concern is to effectively keep the Sims 4 DNA alive through this new product.
Do not expect them to try and appeal to people who miss The Sims 3 for example. They know some passionate players about that game are out there, but the numbers don’t lie and they won’t be trying to compete with InZoi or Paralives that are clearly inspired by Sims 3 and trying to fill that gap. EA knows the Sims 3 formula works to build hype but quickly falls flat and people get more addicted when the scale isn’t big for the sake of a selling point.
The Sims 4 ‘Neighbourhood’ design works well as it can “push” players more easily into the gameplay in more isolated environments, getting them invested faster. While Open Worlds seen in Sims 3, makes it harder to isolate new gameplay and push players in the same way. Unless you know what you’re looking for, it can be hard to discover new things in amongst base game and other DLC venues that can automatically place. Once players check out the world, and explore, they tend to check out faster. Pushing goals via a UI feature doesn’t keep players invested for long either. It was explained to us that it was a big reason why The Sims Mobile followed the same approach, over doing something more like Freeplay.
There was a rule they started in the earlier Sims 4 packs that was explained to us that worlds should feel like there’s something new being presented to the player from the view of any lot. This could also include things seen in your Neighbours lots. So immediately once a player looks around from where their Sims move in, there’s some kind of gameplay avenue being pushed to them. So either there’s something in the world, or one of your neighbours houses is purposely designed so you want to visit and see what it’s all about. This seems to keep players playing longer and more in-depth, than UI based goals which had short term success.
In an Open World, this is much harder to do without too many things happening in the world or too many builds doing too much ruining a natural aesthetic flow of the town. 4 doesn’t have to worry about that, because the aesthetics exist even if you bulldoze every lot in a Neighbourhood.
I know this is a long explanation but once I put that developer hat on, it’s hard to not explain.
But tl;dr – very Sims 4, very much not Sims 3, EA very happy for their competitors to go down that route and fill that gap, too niche for EA’s plans for X.
Of course, anything can change. But that’s my understanding of “what is X?”
The Sims 4 Packs and Marketplace Performance Updates
Sims Insider: Just got some clarification, I originally said Adventure Awaits underperformed in a previous post.
Apparently it did really well in the Christmas rush and they’re putting it down to Expansion fatigue since it came so close after Enchanted By Nature which is why it didn’t do so well at launch. People apparently were also hesitant as a previous patch a few weeks before apparently broke a lot of mods due to a pack selector and had to wait for their mods to be updated or something.
Royalty & Legacy had the best launch since Life & Death apparently, people apparently are really engaging with the new world and club tools. EA are happy.
Also something really confusing that I’m not sure I understand what it means, but previously I said the Marketplace was exceeding expectations. That’s still true, but it contradictions another point where EA are unhappy with the amount of virtual currency being bought, and expected higher. God knows what that means but I’m just the messenger. I personally don’t understand it and neither does the person I spoke to about it.
On The Sims 3
Question: Can they remaster Sims 3 with modern fixes like they did for Sims 1 and Sims 2 and just be done with the franchise please?
Sims Insider: Short answer: I don’t think they’ll ever do any kind of update to the Sims 3.
Long answer: The Sims 3 really failed to maintain a longterm audience, and all the DLC (and especially the Expansions) they had planned in advance one by one performed worse and some of it failed to be decently profitable. That’s one of the reasons why the Sims 4 started with one Expansion in production per year (Get To Work counts as a 2014 project) and continued that way for several years. Just to avoid making the same mistakes.
So I don’t see them going back to The Sims 3 in any meaningful way because a lot of marketing deals failed to make a noticeable uplift and later DLCs performed less than what was required to be considered a success. It’s one of the reasons why delaying the Sims 4 was not an option, they pulled the plug on doing more with the Sims 3 because there was just no decent profit to be made and investors wanted the success they were promised.
I think that’s left a sting in EA’s butt that they won’t let go of. It doesn’t surprise me the 25th Anniversary went by and it wasn’t given a lick of attention. I don’t seem them ever doing so.
The Look and Feel of Hello Neighbor 2
One of the replies within this Sims insider thread was right. I was about to look up the look, feel and ways of discovering areas within Hello Neighbor 2.
As the Sims insider suggested, this doesn’t mean that game features and exact visuals / items will make its way to The Sims Project X. Hello Neighbor 2 is just being used as an inspiration for the game’s starting point of development. “For both visual direction and exploration / map inspiration” they stated.
Not everything is as it seems in Raven Brooks. Picking up directly after the events of the original game, the police show up at Mr Peterson’s house — where he had kids locked up in his basement.
As Quentin, an investigative journalist, you sneak into crime scenes and people’s houses to find clues and evidence. It’s up to you to piece this puzzle together. Building upon the formula of Hello Neighbor 1, you play in a larger open world with multiple houses inhabited by suspicious characters.
Official Hello Neighbor 2 Features on Steam
- Sneak into suspicious characters’ houses, because that’s what investigative journalists do
- The town of Raven Brooks is your playground, with AI-driven residents inhabiting its houses
- Track down Mr Peterson – the infamous creepy Neighbor
We also snapped a few photos of Hello Neighbor 2 graphics and visuals from Gaming with ACK‘s YouTube video walkthrough.
EA Would Like A Bit More Moola After All
It turns out that there’s some space for correction following the previous report of Sims 4 Marketplace being a success. The latest insider report claims that EA is still “unhappy with the amount of virtual currency being bought”, even if The Marketplace’s success did exceed their expectations.
When it comes to Pack success, The Sims 4 Adventure Awaits wasn’t that big of a flop after all. However, nothing came close to the release of The Sims 4 Royalty & Legacy, which according to this Sims insider was the best selling Expansion Pack since Life & Death.
What do you think about the latest Sims insider report on The Sims Project X and The Sims 4? Let us know in the comments down below and stay tuned to the latest Sims News!
So, because of the people picking up the free kit, maybe? That’s how I think the overall numbers of the marketplace could look good, but not moola per say. It makes less sense the more I think about it, though.
Also, didn’t that one official survey from January kind of foreshadow the marketplace? I’m not sure if that alone is enough to be reliable.
Also I think they may have underestimated how much people are buying the player sets. Because the numbers also include official kits. So people could just be getting 500 moola and buying official kits rather than buying player sets at the differing price points.
I think the metric is how many marketplace or kits being sold.The free one wouldn’t count. So why the numbers are saying people are purchasing.The numbers are not showing players are not getting a lot of moola.
My assumption is that the difference is that, while many people are using the marketplace and buying items from it, they are only purchasing enough ‘moola’ to make the purchases they want and avoiding any extra.
EA likely expected people to just buy up large amounts of the virtual currency to ‘sit on’ for when stuff they want comes in. It’s what a lot of other gamers do in things like Fortnight and MMO’s that have a virtual currency. Thus, EA assumed Sims Players would do the same thing, but its a different animal with the Sims and its players.
They have probably sold lots of sets and items, but that isn’t the income they were looking for. That wanted players to buy a lot of the currency immediately, which would be nonrefundable if the marketplace system ultimately failed. It is a common tactic of EA’s.
That most Sims players are much more frugal didn’t get factored in.
Ohhh that’s a good take! Not too sure about simmers being frugal, though. That may have more to do with it being a new feature, maybe?
This is a mess stop covering this persons delusions.
You’re being downvoted but you’re correct. They shouldn’t ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever be reporting on rumors that cannot be sourced to a specific person with a specific reason to believe that person. “Just trust us bro” isn’t enough. Hell, “they were right about some stuff before” isn’t even enough. If you cannot source a claim to the people you’re making it at, don’t post it. Ever.
exactly, this is ridiculous. giving some lunatic a platform for lies
Soooo they say they don’t want people to start over with a new game when they have all their Sims 4 content, so their solution is to… start over with a new game? I don’t understand how this helps Sims 4 players because it’s still a new game. I hope they actually address this soon because it’s so silly.
Its basicly what you guys asked for without droping ts4. A reworking of ts4 at its core
Its because the current version is too unstable to expensive continue or maintain.
How about EA stick with their original game TheSims and stop stealing other people’s ideas for Project X whatever that is. Also, the only that I got through the Marketplace is the free kit.
the hello neighbor thing is a big fat lie. it won’t be wonky or disproportional, don’t be silly.
Taking inspiration from that game doesn’t mean that particular aspect of it would be carried over as well.
Anyone think this could be an “official” leaker? Like, some sort of PR tactic where they pretend to leak to get a feel for how audiences are reacting to their various ideas with the ability to pivot if people react super negatively? The only reason I’m suspicious of them (most of their leaks have been accurate) is the pro-EA bent of some of the latest info (marketplace doing well, packs selling well, etc.). If they are not a PR person, obviously someone who still works at EA is leaking to them because they said they no longer work there. You’d think EA would make an effort to shut down their leaky employees, but they’ve been blabbing with impunity for awhile now. Kind of odd.
Not really. They have actual players beta testing things anyway through the Sims Labs, it’s likely one of those beta testers is the leaker.
The future is looking bleak for the franchise.
Players have been asking for a new game. 4’s core is awful and outdated. I would rather an expansion for 3 before starting “over” with another version of 4.
That’s just wishful thinking and makes zero sense to make an expansion for The Sims 3.
It doesn’t make much sense NOW because they have left TS3 to rot with zero updates for over a decade. The game doesn’t even recognize modern GPUs out of the box so it performs really bad. These things can be easily fixed with mods and third-party tools, but it wouldn’t be too hard for EA to fix it themselves.
I don’t think they have many developers left that can even CODE for The Sims 3. The game is written in C#, a much more complex language than Sims 4’s Python. Not to mention TS3’s code is very complex. I was actually working on a CORE mod at some point but I gave up because it’s a very daunting task.
So yeah, TS3 is as dead as it can be, at least from EA’s side. Modders are doing some amazing things now that they know the game and how everything works. And the fact it’s not getting more updates makes modding much easier as modders don’t have to keep updating their mods.
The Sims 3 wasn’t this flop they’re making it out to be. That’s a straight up lie. The famous graphic sown on Investors Day last year (which compared the sales of each entry) showed TS3 performed almost as well as TS2. There’s barely any difference between the two.
TS4 did better than those two, but it has also been updated for twice as long (or even longer), so it makes sense that it sold more overall.
There’s honestly no reason for them not to release an updated version of TS3 that works well with modern computers. There’s already tools and mods that help with that, but it would be cool to have an official version that at least recognizes modern GPUs out of the box. I think they don’t want to release a fixed TS3 because they know it competes directly with their cash cow (Sims 4), and they don’t have the skilled developers needed to keep adding content to The Sims 3 either.
Also, if the Sims 3 did underperform, it’s not because of a lack of interest, it’s because it was so badly optimised. I only bought three Sims 3 expansions and then had to stop because my computer literally couldn’t handle any more. But that was 15 years ago. If they made it play well on modern PCs, I’m sure there’d be interest. Ultimately they’re not remastering the Sims 3 because they’re already making so much money from the Sims 4 (with barely any effort).