The Sims 5 may well be gunning for release on mobile phones before coming out on home consoles. The new Sims game is currently being developed under the codename Project Rene, and developer Maxis is actively hiring talent to help bring the project to fruition, with the process potentially revealing more than intended.
With news on The Sims 5 being fairly slim at this time, the game's considerable fan base is eager to learn more about how Maxis aims to differentiate the new franchise entry from its predecessors. While new features and content are a given, The Sims 4 has grown massively over the years since it first came out, and Maxis has a tall task in front of it no matter what.
According to a new job listing posted by Maxis, the studio may be aiming to release its new The Sims game on mobile devices before pushing it onto home consoles. Notably, Maxis is looking for a Multiplayer Gameplay Software Engineer to work on a game from The Sims franchise, and one of the requirements is that the applicant needs to have ample experience in developing "for both PC and Mobile platform games," without referencing consoles in any way, shape, or form. Of course, it is also worth highlighting that this job listing doesn't specify that the applicant would be working on The Sims 5, though it does mention Project Rene outright.
Maxis hasn't come out and said that The Sims 5 will launch first on mobile devices, it's worth pointing out. The job listing itself makes no such statements, but the studio is hiring for a fairly noteworthy position, and it's not hard to draw conclusions based on the information provided. There are a number of ways for The Sims 5 to revolutionize the genre that don't have anything to do with fancy graphics, for one, and launching the game on mobile phones could extend its audience by a fair margin.
As some believe that The Sims 5 should go live-service, the monetization model would certainly fit mobile devices rather well. At the same time, however, Maxis is simultaneously working on The Sims Mobile, and the new hire could end up working on a sequel to that particular title instead. In summary, it could go either way, and fans should wait and see what Maxis says next before jumping to conclusions.
One thing that is for sure, though, is that The Sims 5 has plenty of competition from the best real-life-sim games on the market. Not only are several previous Sims titles on that list, but the niche has been slowly growing even more competitive over time, with Paradox Interactive's Life By You being a particularly notable challenger.
The Sims 5 is currently in development.