Today’s Sims Summit event announced what everyone was hoping for: the next generation of The Sims.
Lyndsay Pearson, who heads The Sims brand, repeated that this is an extremely early look at the game, which is years out. Still, it’s news that many fans have been hoping for.
While Pearson never called it The Sims 5, this game that is almost certainly The Sims 5 will have cross-platform play. The first look showed the early game build on both PC and mobile. And no, it’s not The Sims FreePlay or The Sims Mobile. Pearson also alluded to multiplayer, saying you can create alone or with friends. Of course, details were sparse, so it’s unclear how exactly this will all work.
The not-Sims 5 reveal also showed a robust update to what is now Build Mode. You can now more easily customize furniture with various patterns and colors, harkening back to The Sims 3's color wheel, only fancier. Other details, including adding in pillows individually and the ability to move each item on an axis of its own, also have Simmers dreaming of the new build possibilities.
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Some of the features looked oddly familiar though (that is, besides the return of the long-lost color wheel). Many of the build tools look a lot like the ones shown off in early gameplay videos of Paralives, another upcoming life simulator game by indie dev Alex Massé. While it’s still without a release date, Sims fans hungry for choice have been salivating at that game’s every news morsel. Many are even speculating that the potential competition from Paralives led The Sims team to show off the next game early.
The Sims has stood without meaningful competition for a number of years, which helps to illustrate why many fans are excited about a new game breathing new life back into the genre. It’ll be interesting to see when each game launches and how the other responds. The Sims 5 still seems a ways away, making Paralives likely to be the first out of the gate.
Regardless, Pearson made it clear we’ll be waiting a long time for The Sims 5—excuse me, the next generation of The Sims. And considering how much of a mess the launch of The Sims 4 was, fans will likely be poised to scrutinize every detail when the time comes.
In other Sims Summit news, EA also revealed an official custom content (CC) hub for The Sims 4.