The Sims 4 still doesn't look like it's getting a sequel anytime soon, and publisher EA is now giving fans a better idea of the reasons behind that decision. The Sims 4 is easily still the most popular realistic life simulator on the market, and EA believes keeping The Sims 5 from happening will actually benefit the game's massive fan base.

EA and developer Maxis are coming up on the eleventh anniversary of The Sims 4, which first launched in early September 2014. With more than a decade since its release, the game is still pulling in big player numbers, with more than 45,000 concurrent players logged earlier this week on Steam, which doesn't even account for those playing on consoles.

the sims 4 release another new update for july 2025
The Sims 4 Releases Another New Update for July 2025

The Sims 4 gets one more update during July 2025, and it changes and fixes a number of issues players have complained about.

By 

With the release of the Enchanted by Nature expansion on July 10, there are now 16 full expansions for The Sims 4, in addition to more than 85 content packs, numerous creator kits, and a bunch of items and features added through free updates. But all of those extras are the exact reason that EA is hesitant about rebooting the world by launching The Sims 5. In an interview with Variety, EA Entertainment president Laura Meile indicated she feels obligated to keep moving forward with The Sims 4, as releasing a sequel would cheat the current players out of the big investments they've made in the present game and force everyone to start over with a lot less initial content. “What I wouldn’t want to have happen is you to have to start from day zero and start from scratch and give up all of the things that you have created, give up all of the content that you’ve purchased over the years,” she explained.

The Sims 5 Isn't Happening, and That May Be a Good Thing

For those who need to experience everything the game has to offer, The Sims 4 is a very expensive hobby. The base game of The Sims 4 went free-to-play in 2022, and it provides players with plenty of realistic experiences and some supernatural ones, like ghostly hauntings and alien abductions. But with expansions priced at $40, Game Packs at $20, Stuff Packs at $10, and Creator Kits at $5, players can easily spend more than $1,000 trying to snatch up everything unless they catch it on sale.

While the news may still be disappointing for fans who are yearning for The Sims 5, all hope is not lost for Sims fans waiting for an entirely new game. A multiplayer Sims spin-off game is currently in development, as Meile announced in the same interview. She's keeping pretty tight-lipped about the content for now, but developers are working "feverishly" on it, and she believes the end result will pave the way for EA's growth moving forward.

Rating block community and brand ratings Image
The Sims 4 Tag Page Cover Art
7 /10

The Sims 4

Display card tags widget
Simulation
Display card system widget
Systems
PC-1 PlayStation-1 Xbox-1
Display card community and brand rating widget Display card open critics widget
Top Critic Avg: 70 /100 Critics Rec: 26%
Display card main info widget
Released
September 2, 2014
ESRB
T for Teen: Crude Humor, Sexual Themes, Violence
Developer(s)
Maxis
Publisher(s)
Electronic Arts
Engine
Proprietary Engine
Cross-Platform Play
Xbox, PlayStation, and computer versions of Sims 4 are all separate games incompatible with each other
Cross Save
no
Display card main info widget end Display card media widget start Display card media widget end

WHERE TO PLAY

SUBSCRIPTION
DIGITAL
PHYSICAL
Checkbox: control the expandable behavior of the extra info

Genre(s)
Simulation