Nicknamed Project Rene and currently in the early stages of development, it would seem that The Sims 5 has already been cracked and pirated by certain third parties. These hackers have managed to replicate the Denuvo tokens used to grant access to the game, as The Sims 5 started its playtesting stage on October 25.
The long-awaited sequel to Maxis' legendary life simulator has been the subject of a lot of speculation. Many fans of the franchise, especially those who have been there since the first game, have become jaded by the monetization practices and exorbitantly priced content packs of The Sims 4. Though Electronic Arts has supported the game for almost a decade, the community always assumed that The Sims 5 would eventually come to fruition, and wondered in which direction the game would be taken in.
As a result of this crack, the Sims community might get its answer sooner rather than later. According to Insider Gaming, whom the group of hackers contacted following their success, this early unencrypted prototype of The Sims 5 runs on Unreal Engine, and it is assumed that Electronic Arts plans to release the game under Unreal Engine 5 should the prototype meet the company's expectations – thus making full use of its powerful capabilities and advanced rendering technology.
Though not much is known about Project Rene this early into its development, one of the features that have players excited is the possibility of taking room decoration an extra step further than what it was in The Sims 4. Players can now take apart a bed and manually adjust the shape of the headboard, the texture of the blankets, or even the placement of the pillows. This feature would allow for a lot of unique, asymmetrical designs, and given how much of a draw customization and house building is for The Sims players, offering deeper ways to personalize their game seems like a homerun for Maxis.
As opposed to The Sims 4 pivoting from a multiplayer game into singleplayer, The Sims 5 will have a stronger identity in its development. One of its more exciting multiplayer components is its implementation in the Build and Buy mode, allowing players to collaborate on designing a house together with ease and establishing a strong social component to the game. Though the crack allows the hackers to play The Sims 5 in a P2P network outside the official Electronic Arts servers, it is unknown as yet if the group has any plans to make the access token generator public.
The Sims 5 is currently in development.
Source: Insider Gaming