The Sims franchise is the most popular social simulation franchise on the market. Almost every PC player has either played one of the various Sims titles or knows someone who has. The franchise served as a spin-off of SimCity and has been going since 2000. Over the years, it has become one of the best-selling video game series of all time, and it shows no signs of stopping. EA consistently releases new content for the latest entry in the franchise, The Sims 4, which has given fans more content to spend hours messing with.
The Sims 4 serves as the latest entry in the series and was released in 2014. It received mixed reviews at launch since it seemed to be missing a lot of features from the previous entry in the series, The Sims 3. In response, EA has steadily added content to it through various levels of DLC content. While expansion packs are nothing new to The Sims franchise, EA took it to another level with the introduction of game packs and kits. The game has become chock-full of various DLC packs of different sizes, and EA has not hinted at stopping. However, It has been nine years since a new Sims game has been released, and it is long overdue.
The Sims 4 Has Been out for a while
The Sims series began in 2000 and introduced players to an open-ended life simulator that would take over their lives. After seven expansion packs that added content to the game were released, The Sims 2 came out in 2004, which expanded upon the series even more. The Sims 2 received eight expansion packs and nine stuff packs over its lifespan, and The SIms 3 was launched five years later. The Sims 3 took the series open-world and received a whopping 11 expansion packs plus nine stuff packs. Then in 2014, EA released The Sims 4 and has not released a new mainline Sims game for nine years.
The Sims 4 continued the trend of receiving expansion packs and stuff packs post-launch, as it has so far received 11 of one and 18 of the other. It also introduced two new forms of DLC to the series known as game packs and kits that add different types of content to the game in varying sizes. When the game launched, it was heavily criticized for lacking content that previous entries had, but EA has steadily added new content to the game. However, there has been a nine-year gap between releases, with the only notable Sims release since being a mobile title.
A New Sims is Long Overdue
Before The Sims 4 was the focus of the franchise, the longest wait between two mainline Sims games was five years. Even during that wait, there were some Sims spin-offs released like The Sims Medieval and The Sims Castaway Stories. On top of that, there were other Sims series that fans could play like SimCity and MySims. Now, the entire Sims franchise is solely focused on The SIms 4.
The Sims 5 could start the franchise off fresh and bring with it some huge innovations. One of the features that Sims fans miss is the open-world gameplay from The Sims 3. The Sims 5 could take that feature and make it work better. It could also take features like the character creator and expand on them even more. Games have advanced since 2014, and The Sims 5 should take advantage of that.
The Sims 5 could also launch with a lot of the features that The Sims 4 received with expansion packs. While this is probably very unlikely, as almost every iteration of The Sims received a Pets and Seasons expansion, doing this would allow other expansion packs instead. Releasing it with these staples would help set itself apart and allow resources to go to other features that The Sims may not have seen yet. This is requested from pretty much every new Sims entry, and The SIms 5 should actually deliver on it.
If Sims 5 is not in the cards, then EA should make a new Sims spin-off instead. Games like The Sims Medieval could benefit from a sequel, and the MySims franchise desperately needs a new entry. Providing fans a new Sims spin-off would give them something to tie themselves over while they wait for the eventual Sims 5. The franchise used to release spin-offs often, and it should return to that.
It has been too long since a new Sims game has hit store shelves, and there have not even been Sims spin-offs during the gap. While EA continues to churn out different DLC types for The Sims 4 and keeps making decent money, it should also give fans a new Sims game. The next entry in The Sims franchise is long overdue, and now is the time to make it.