Only in The Sims can gamers fulfill their wildest dreams of becoming an astronaut, marrying a celebrity, graduating college debt-free, or owning a home. The first game celebrates its 20th birthday this week amid speculation and rumors that a fifth entry in the main series will be announced soon.
A new Sims game is inevitable at this point. Though it may not attract the same kind of attention that other Electronic Arts titles like Apex Legends and FIFA do, The Sims is a beloved franchise that has made billions in lifetime sales. The Sims 4 celebrated its fifth birthday last year, and with next-generation consoles coming this year and the future of gaming on the horizon, now seems like a good time for one of the industry's biggest players to announce their next move. But the biggest question surrounding a potential The Sims 5 is will the game be worth it?
In an EA earnings call last week, CEO Andrew Wilson teased a new Sims game. He told investors that Maxis was working on "The Sims for a new generation" and mentioned cross-platform and cloud play as potential features.
The idea of The Sims as a social experience is not entirely new. The Sims 4 has The Gallery, a place where players can share and download content as well as the option to share their creations on Facebook. Still, the idea of multiplayer or online focused Sims game is concerning for many players who prefer the personalized nature of the series.
In an era where most games have at least some online functionality, it's unsurprising that a game about replicating human interaction would move in this direction. Past side games in the franchise have incorporated more real-world social interaction. The Sims Online was an early 2000s MMO similar to Second Life, and The Sims Social went from being one of the fastest-growing Facebook games of all time to shutting down less than two years later due to disinterest.
Whatever form The Sims 5 takes, EA should learn some lessons from The Sims 4's launch. Released in September 2014, The Sims 4 initially lacked many major features. Though some, like toddlers, ghosts and swimming pools, were added through free content updates, others, like "Create a Style" and open neighborhoods from The Sims 3, remain absent.
Missing features have certainly not stopped The Sims 4 from being a successful game. Unfortunately, it is still often seen as inferior to its predecessor. Setting aside its missing features, The Sims 4 removed quite a few options from "Create-a-Sim," such as the ability to customize the colors of most clothing items and hairstyles and reduced the number of traits a Sim could have from five to three.
While The Sims 4 did offer some gameplay and AI improvements, what it introduced at launch did not make up for what was cut. The previous game also removed popular features, such as the personality points system and turn-ons and turn-offs being cut from The Sims 3, but replaced them with new features and major improvements. New additions like the emotions mechanic were well-received but weren't enough to justify what was missing from the game at launch.
Over the last five years, The Sims 4, like previous games in the franchise, has released a combination of free updates and paid DLC making the version of the game that exists in 2020 a fuller and richer experience than offered at launch. A new game is a great opportunity to start fresh away from the messy and controversial beginnings of The Sims 4. It would be unfair to demand that The Sims 5 be a complete package when it eventually launches, but it could offer a deep and feature-rich base game that can receive further expansion instead of feeling like a half-baked game that probably could have benefitted from a delay and desperately needs more content.
Even at its worst, The Sims 4 is still a game full of endless possibilities. Design minded players can still make their dream houses. Players who want to create themselves, their friends, or their favorite characters can still do so. Those who want to use the game to play out their fantasies can do just that. To be a success, The Sims 5 will have to fill its predecessor's shoes while focusing on improvements to the core gameplay fans enjoy rather than prioritizing new gimmicks.