On February 4, 2023, The Sims will celebrate their 23rd birthday. In so many years, we have had only seen four sims game series, but dozens of expansions.
Indeed, the idea of The Sims is to be a life simulation game where you have to find a job, find true love, start a family, earn money and live the life of your dreams in a world of virtual simulation.
To improve your experience, many expansions accompany the game’s release to add new possibilities and features. And we can expect many DLCs and expansions for The Sims 5 as well.
On February 4, 2000, The Sims landed on PC. The game was accompanied by seven expansions between 2000 and 2003.
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In 2004, The Sims 2 arrived, offering great improvements, especially in terms of graphics and gameplay. The game was accompanied by eight extensions between 2005 and 2008.
In 2009, The Sims 3 had come to surprise the fans with undoubtedly the best series of the saga to date. Even more beautiful, with further improved gameplay and open world cities allowing us to wander anywhere… The game was an immense success and would be accompanied by eleven extensions between 2009 and 2013.
Finally, on September 2, 2014, the Sims 4 arrived to offer fans a nice cold shower. After the incredible flawlessness achieved with The Sims 3, we found a very poor basic game, without the possibility of having children or a swimming pool… With the end of the open worlds and many missing options.
Following the anger of the fans, Electronic Arts and Maxis offer many updates to offer the basic options, but it will be necessary to wait for the release of the many expansion packs and other kits to find a very good game over the years.
To date, The Sims 4 includes twelve expansion packs and twelve game packs, smaller than expansions, but which bring a lot of new features, much more than the famous kits that have existed since The Sims 2.
The Sims 5: It’s finally Official
Yes, The Sims 5 is official and Electronic Arts confirmed it in February 2020, for the 20th anniversary of the series. At that time, Andrew Wilson, CEO of Electronic Arts simply confirmed the development of the new opus at CCN’s microphone.
Wilson confirmed that Maxis, the developers of the license, already have ideas for online features on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, suggesting that for the first time in the history of the saga, The Sims will arrive at the same time on PC and consoles.
The CEO of Electronic Arts therefore implied that the next opus of The Sims would offer many more online features and perhaps even cross-platform possibilities (interaction between players, PC, PlayStation and Xbox).
This is the only time Electronic Arts has officially spoken about The Sims 5 to date. This week, we learned that The Sims 4, the base game, is going free-to-play.
That is to say, it will be offered from October 18 in free access to all players on PC, PS5/PS4, Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One and for an indefinite period.
In the process, Electronic Arts announced a stream event for October 18 which was took place and entitled “Behind The Sims Summit” with the program many big announcements around the license The Sims.
The Sims: All Releases and Expansions
The Sims (2000)
- Pack: It changes your life
- Pack: Surprise Party
- Pack: And more if affinity…
- Package: On vacation
- Pack: Between dogs & cats
- Bundle: Superstar
- Bundle: Abracadabra
The Sims 2 (2004)
- Pack: Academy
- Pack: Crazy Nights
- Pack: The Good Deal
- Pack: Animals & Co.
- Pack: Over the seasons
- Package: Bon voyage
- Pack: Free district
- Pack: Apartment life
The Sims 3 (2009)
- Package: Adventure destination
- Package: Ambition
- Package: VIP Access
- Pack: Generations
- Pack: Animals & Co.
- Pack: Showtime
- Pack: Superpowers
- Pack: Seasons
- Pack: University
- Pack: Dream Island
- Pack: On the way to the future
The Sims 4 (2014)
- Package: At work
- Package: Living Together
- Pack: City life
- Pack: Dogs & Cats
- Pack: Seasons
- Pack: Hour of Glory
- Pack: Paradise Islands
- Pack: At the CAF
- Pack: Ecology
- Pack: Snowy Getaway
- Pack: Country Life
- Pack: High School Years
Fans therefore waited four years between the first and second installments of The Sims. Five years between the second and the third. And five years between the third and the fourth. Today, it has therefore been eight long years that we have been waiting for the announcement of The Sims 5 which, we hope, will be soon.
When will The Sims 5 be released?
If The Sims 5 is actually announced on October 18, we can imagine that the game will arrive for the start of the school year in September 2023. Generally, The Sims games are announced a year before their release.
- The Sims: announced in May 1999 at E3, for a release in February 2000 (9 months later)
- The Sims 2: announced in May 2003, for release in September 2004 (one year and four months later)
- The Sims 3: announced in July 2008, for a release in June 2009 (11 months later)
- The Sims 4: announced in August 2013, for release in September 2014 (one year later)
- The Sims 5: announced in October 2022? For a release in September 2023?
How will The Sims 5 be released?
Usually The Sims comes to PC and later to consoles with less hands-on gameplay and less content (usually not all expansions come out on consoles).
However, over the last few years we’ve had more and more DLC coming to PS4/Xbox One as well.
In addition, following the declaration of Andrew Wilson, one can imagine that EA and Maxis aim for a simultaneous release on PC and consoles.
- The Sims: released on PC in February 2000, console release in 2003 (three years of waiting).
- The Sims 2: PC release September 2004, console release 2005 (one year wait).
- The Sims 3: released on PC in June 2009, released on console in 2010 (less than a year of waiting).
- The Sims 4: PC release in September 2014, console release in 2017 (three-year wait).
The Rene Project
This René project would also make it possible to play in multiplayer with friends, and perhaps even to play in crossplay, that is to say to be able to play with friends, whatever the platform on which they play (PC or console ).
The video also shows a new game mode, which allows you to play simultaneously from a computer or a telephone, on the same game.
You could therefore start a game on the computer, and continue it immediately afterwards on mobile, while on the go. Lindsay Pearson specifies that this system is in the test phase: it could therefore not appear in the final phase.
During the next few years, new information should be shared with us concerning the evolution of this project. However, it is very likely that this game will not see the light of day for several more years, since its development is still in its infancy.
Latest News and Leaks
Under this section, you will find all the latest news, leaks and rumors about The Sims 5 consecutively listed by date.
Nov 3 2022: The Sims 5 (Project Rene) has been Hacked and Pirated
According to a report from known insider Tom Henderson, The Sims 5 has already been hacked and pirated just a week after playtests for the game opened on October 25. First revealed during the Sims Summit presentation on October 18, The Sims 5 was introduced as Project Rene, which has been described by developer EA Maxis as a “next-generation Sims game and creative platform”.
Jan 2020: Developer’s recruitment
The Maxis studio begins to recruit, in August 2019, new developers “for a new game” in the Sims franchise! In particular, seniors in the field of multiplayer…
A very long time later, in January 2020, we learned that the game was designed to be on the next-gen PS5/XBOX Series X and… in multiplayer! The consoles arrive at the end of 2020 but absolutely do not mention the Sims franchise.
However, the studio in charge of creating this video game would think of two totally unique games: the Sims 5 in single player, and a stand-alone multiplayer iteration. The latter would become the basic platform for the entire future of the Sims franchise, much like Warzone compared to Call of Duty games.
New Features that are expected by Sim community
Absolutely no gameplay elements are confirmed yet. Fans are expecting a few items, including:
- Open World, absent since The Sims 3 and sorely missed by the community.
- Terraforming, the ability to build more than just your house.
- Mod support, like the last game we listed the best mods for, and those were bringing in some real additional content.
- Cheat codes are always desired, allowing to live the experience without too much difficulty.
- For the sake of inclusivity, the Sims 4 adds in January 2022 the option to choose your pronoun. Gamers from the LGBT community seemed to be asking for it, here these gamers will have a huge choice for their Sims.
- Better graphics and optimization
- More attention to console players
FAQs about The Sims 5
Is the development of The Sims 5 official?
Yes, it was confirmed by Andrew Wilson, the CEO of Electronic Arts in February 2020 for the 20 years of the saga.
When is The Sims 5 release date?
For the moment, no information on this subject. If the game is really announced next month, we can hope for a release by the end of 2023.
Will there be several editions?
We have seen many DLCs and expansion in previous installment of Sims games so It would be safe to say we will see many different editions and packages.
Will The Sims 5 be free-to-play?
For the moment, no information on this subject. But there’s a good chance it will.
Will there be an online mode?
According to the latest live stream by developers, The Sims 5 will hugely focused on online elements and multiplayer gameplay.
