“If the Maker Packs were more interesting they’d be selling better”
It appears that Electronic Arts isn’t happy about The Sims 4 Marketplace content. Just weeks after an insider report claiming that EA is unhappy with the current amount of Moola being sold through the Marketplace.
The same Sims insider that predicted The Sims 4 Marketplace a month ahead of its official announcement stated new information regarding EA’s satisfaction with the Marketplace content. “EA’s not happy that the content being made for the marketplace isn’t as good or interesting as either the EA or Creator Kits and believes if the Maker Packs were more interesting they’d be selling better” claimed the insider.
The insider also revealed that there is a new Sims 4 Live Event planned for May 2026, which could fit into the schedule of a new Sims 4 Update already being teased for early next month.
Plus, if you’ve been eager to read more about The Sims Project X we have some tiny bits of information from the insider. Nothing major or what hasn’t been mentioned before though.
Read the full Sims insider report below:
Table of Contents
New The Sims 4 Marketplace Performance Report
Statement: The fact they’ve moved the official kits back out of the marketplace suggests all isn’t going as well as they’d like us to believe. Might be wishful thinking but maybe the backlash is moving the needle a little…
Sims Insider: I got some more information on the Marketplace performance, and without going to deeply into it, EA’s not happy that the content being made for the marketplace isn’t as good or interesting as either the EA or Creator Kits and believes if the Maker Packs were more interesting they’d be selling better.
Kits like Restoration Workshop, Greenhouse Haven and Book Nook Kit were hugely popular because they added things players didn’t have like the ability to build a realistic Greenhouse, Modular Bookshelves and Workshops. The issue with the Marketplace is there’s nothing there that does this and EA was expecting more unique ideas.
Whether that’s the direction of Maxis developers in charge of the marketplace or the decision of CC makers, wasn’t clear.
That said EA isn’t too concerned at the moment, because money for existing DLC is still coming through strong. The Sims 4 is moments away from having more unit sales of its DLC than The Sims 1, 2 and 3 combined (including storefronts) so the revenue is still going strong. But they do see dips in sales across the board when there’s no new packs to keep things fresh and the Marketplace was supposed to address this, but so far isn’t. Though more people claimed the free Kit than EA expected, which was good as it was used to bring people to look at the Marketplace. The issue is, people aren’t staying there for long.
New The Sims 4 Ingame Event and Project X Talks
Statement: I heard that during one of the playtests people told EA it felt way too similar to Sims 4, so now I’m curious if they tried to move even a little away from that visual style. I mean, I get that the whole point of Project X is to keep that Sims 4 vibe, but who knows what might’ve changed since then lol…This no-news silence is actually killing me
Sims Insider: The marketplace was meant to create more “buzz” so the silence isn’t supposed to be here. EA thought the Maker Packs would be more interesting.
That said, regular updates and quality of life improvements are still coming and I believe there’s an Event on the horizon unless it’s been canned because the engagement numbers aren’t needed for investors. But there was one scheduled for May but I was told this back in January.
[It’s an] In-game event. It was pencilled in back in either Dec/Jan when I was talking to someone about it, it was before the Royalty Event happened.
But overall player numbers are extremely strong, so there’s no real need for EA to worry about players leaving the game, so less need to be super loud or in your face to get people to play the game.
2025 was the most successful year for The Sims on record, and while The Sims 1 and 2 re-releases assisted with that, the Sims 4 alone was able to achieve that. Businesses & Hobbies really did a great job at keeping player engagement which was likely largely fuelled by the back of the 25th Anniversary. Perfect timing for that pack.
Unless plans have changed, X should be very Sims 4. It’s the whole idea. The Sims 4 has eclipsed the rest of the franchise and for most players is “The Sims” and players recognise older games but don’t identify or engage with them. EA doesn’t want that identity lost.
But EA are known for never having a consistent opinion and the longer games are in development, the more revisions EA give developers. Developers have learnt how to work with EA to avoid this.
Statement: To me, not carrying over DLC content is a major turn-off for me. I paid a lot of money and started playing Sims 4 recently so I am not interested in going over to Project X for the next 5 years.
Sims Insider: It’s going to be interesting to see how they address this. Do they avoid the Sims 4 brand entirely and brand it a new game and hope people don’t question how similar it is to the Sims 4, or do they acknowledge the Sims 4 and then deal with the backlash of why not all DLC carries over. There’s not going to be a simple winning formula. But neither was a Sims 5.
The biggest issue EA has right now is they were completely underprepared for how massive the Sims 4 became after the Growing Together Expansion (it was already the most successful Sims game before that point) and since then have had no idea what to do with the franchise because they’ve had no long term plans or avenues that considered this success. It’s why one second they’re saying the Sims 4 is here to stay, the next there’s a new game, the next there’s an update to overhaul the whole game, the next is selling that overhaul as a new product. They simply just don’t know how make sure they don’t lose this playerbase they’ve acquired. They also don’t want to spend insane amounts of money to keep The Sims 4 going either. They want it to be a secure profit product and having such a large back catalogue of DLC makes it very hard not to spend money to keep it stable.
It’s going to probably be the most interesting rollout for a Sims game ever.
– source
What do you think about the latest Sims insider report on The Sims 4 Marketplace and The Sims Project X? Let us know in the comments below and stay tuned for the latest Sims franchise updates!
The marketplace arrived too late to the game. In fact, it should never have arrived in the first place, but what I mean is that there’s already a ton of custom content created over all these years, so I suppose it must be hard to create something original and eye-catching these days.
I think the market place is a cool idea but Eaa needs to just make it a place for Console players to get cc. In return ther can idk makde more gamepacks or higher qual7ty kits for a higher price
I mean surely EA signed off on the restriction of the Makers only being able to use base game content when creating their Maker Packs. So to me it’s EA’s fault here for restricting the Makers from not being able to build upon features in other packs. We could be getting Maker Packs that give us new variations of Laundry machines, or Flower Arranging Tables. I would give anything for some more modern looking versions of things like the Gemology Table for example.
An old, cheap looking washing machine and dryer would actually be a great addition for poorer houses/sims vibes.
Of course the market place is flopping. It arrived late into the game’s lifespan, most content is just tweaks of existing content, it’s all overpriced, and the new content is so low quality that you can count the polygons. Like gee, who would have guessed that players want their new content to be new.
They were able to get away with recycling assets in Royalty and Legacy because it provided gameplay we didn’t already have even if the foundation for said gameplay was based on systems introduced in previous packs. They need to stop with the sunk cost fallacy mindset, rip the band-aid off, and create The Sims 5. You’ll be able to spend the resources needed to properly plan the game out and not feel bound by The Sims 4. EA dug the hole for themselves by letting the game go on as long as they did so they need to dig themselves out.
Aren’t there restrictions like having to use pre-approved assets to create new items for the marketplace? How can creators be expected to make anything original with those restrictions?
You know, the Sims 3 store actually had new gameplay items. Think about stuff like the toddler playpen, stroller, surfboard, basketball ring, ballet, … it had so many great additions to enhance gameplay.
Meanwhile, the sims 4 makers place is only about aesthetics and some sets only have like 4 items.
In the Sims 3 store you can buy entire sets or the objects individually if you like only a few objects whereas in the Sims 4 you HAVE to buy the entire set.
I am 100% sure if they would release any toddler/infant gameplay objects, that maker set will sell like crazy even though the backlash and even I would have a hard time not buying that as I refuse to support this.