Amid fervor for news on The Sims 5 at today’s Sims Summit event, The Sims 4 team announced it would create a new hub for custom content in its current-generation game.
Custom content, or CC to die-hard Simmers, is a core part of the most popular Sims games. It can be in the form of hair, clothes, nails, or skin textures in the Create-a-Sim maker, or it can look like Build Mode features, such as furniture, wall and floor styles, plants, or other items. Bigger mods can change how the entire game is played. There is an enormous amount of The Sims CC out there, but it’s often scattered across sites, something Electronic Arts hopes to change.
Currently, The Sims Resource stands as one of the biggest destinations for CC of all kinds. But others utilize Tumblr or follow the websites of well-known creators like Deaderpool, who makes the ubiquitous MC Command Center mod.
While many players use CC and mods on PC (console users can’t use CC), others continue to shy away from it. Sometimes that’s because of the lacking user experience at ad-laden sites like The Sims Resource, which offers a monthly subscription to remove both ads and download wait times. (The site is free to use otherwise.) In other cases, people worry about malware and spyware that may be tacked onto their virtual goods. In its presentation, EA promised a CC utopia where players could download “safe” content. It should be noted that many sites do check what’s uploaded. The Sims Resource, for example, says it has a submissions team that makes sure content is appropriate, virus-free, and of decent quality.
However, this wonderful place comes with a major caveat: You have to be invited to upload your work and join what EA calls “The Mod Squad.” What criteria the team is looking for exactly or whether that will continue after launch, no one knows yet. (It seems likely that more risque CC will be excluded.) Existing sites are much more open, which is crucial for those just getting started.
This seems even more exclusive than EA-operated The Sims 3 Exchange, which shut down in 2018. That also served as a hub for custom content uploads and downloads but wasn’t invite-only.
The Mod Squad and its CC haven isn’t here yet, and we don’t know when it’ll come (The Sims 4 team only vaguely said players can keep checking back for updates). But when it does, it’ll be interesting to see what ripple effects it might have on the independent and creator-driven Sims modding sites.