EA spokeperson confirmed that Early Access for The Sims 4 CC can stay!

A few days ago EA has published a new modding policy for The Sims 4.

The New Policy focused on two things:

• CC Monetization Allowance and Rules
• Branding Prohibiton

The Monetization Update for CC Creators mentioned that players are not allowed to monetize directly through offers, but exclusively through donations. Any content that players release should be released for free, “regardless of whether they donate.”.

Naturally, this official statement from EA made many believe that Early Access Content is affected too.

Some of your favorite CC Creators who respect the Guidelines like to release Early Access CC / Mods Content to their followers / supporters. Specifically through Patreon, which is very popular in this community.

However, the statement from EA made plenty of fair CC Creators rework their strategies and make a decision.

In fact, EA’s entire statement has made a huge scramble in the entire community for this game. Only for EA to confirm that Early Access is allowed.

The following statement was shared on Gamespot:

This statement was shared after several EA Help Customer Service employees confirmed that Early Access is not allowed, and that they have checked.

EA also updated the official policy, which now states the following:

Although I’m very happy about the decision for Early Access content to remain for fair creators who follow the rules, I’m still worried. How did EA not know their audience well enough and that many Creators have turned CC and Modding into their full time Careers?

This all has caused such a tumble in the community, mostly for nothing.

We didn’t even get to celebrate paywalling not being a thing anymore. LOL

What do you think? Join the conversation below!

Permanent Paywall is now a thing of the past! Unfortunately, Early Access for Creators is suffering the damages…

ARTICLE UPDATE #2: Early Access is no more.

EA Help and Contact Support have confirmed the new EA Policy on The Sims Mods. Players have reached out to EA to ask valid questions in regards to the very confusing and awfully worded Policy.

EA Help replied with a confirmation: Modders and Creators are no longer allowed to release their content through “Early Access”.

Another screenshot comes from falsetochild:

This marketing scheme and pull is absolutely irresponsible and damaging towards the entire Mods and CC Community. Who have literally made The Sims 4 to what it is today.

NEW ARTICLE UPDATE: It seems like Early Access for Creators is no longer allowed. Creators will have to immediately provide free access to Custom Content. It looks like there are no exceptions to this situation.

EA has published a new Page on EA Help with a new set of Policies, Rules and Guidelines for creating and publishing Mods and CC for The Sims 4.

An article that includes new, and more strict rules for Publishing and Promoting personal Mods and CC for the game. See what they have to say about the new Rules:

There are some valid concerns listed here which would prevent perma-paywalling. A practice done by few community members where said creators never make their content available to the public, but rather lock their CC / Mods permanently behind a paywall. This caused some major issues in the community – one of them which was doxxing.

If you are a Creator who is publishing through Patreon, it’s getting obvious that you will **no longer** be able to provide Early Access to your creators.

Passive advertisements and requests for donations must be limited to the Mod website or distribution site, and not appear within the Mod itself.

All users must be able to access the Mods in full for free regardless of whether they donate.

Previously it was thought that there would be no repercussions for Early Access. However, it was explained by some community members that there’s a big exception in the bottom part, which says that Creators *must* provide their Mods for free. Whether people support them on Patreon (or other platforms) or not.

In the case of the simming community, this is most likely referred to Patreon. Which is a popular platform for CC Creators and Modders to publish their content and earn revenue.

The new policy also suggests that players no longer can use official Assets for The Sims 4 to promote their content. From The Sims 4 Logo and Renders to even the official Plumbob.

If you plan to publish your Mod, the options of using The Sims 4’s official brand material is no longer an option. You have to make an asset on your own, or else you might be reported by others as suggested by the new “How to Report Mods” section.

It seems that the question that bothered many within the community regarding Permanent Paywall is now answered. Unfortunately, EA has added repercussions for Custom Content Creators and Modders who have been following the rules for years. Leaving the huge part of the community wondering what the future of their own creations is.

Questions regarding The Sims 4’s stability and performance remain as well.

The Sims Team has released a game breaking update for the game. An update that contains huge issues including:

• Incest Wants
• Auto-Aging
• Huge Bugs and Glitched for High School Years

There are so many Bugs and Glitches that The Community is still reporting on the Huge Issues they’re experiencing in the game.

EA’s own platform EA AHQ is also prepopulated with demands, questions and frustration over a video game that’s losing all of its main functionality.

There’s also a huge surge in Broken Mods and CC, with many Creators working tirelessly to still update their Mods. On top of that all – EA releases this new Policy just a few days ago.

In case you didn’t know – the Modding Community at this very point are Fixing The Sims 4.

As a player, I am happy to see Permanent Paywall being a thing of the past. But as a Graphic Designer, I feel sorry that Creators have to update all of their assets.

What do you think about the new Mods Policy?