The Sims 4, EA’s hugely popular life sim, is going completely free-to-play this October.
Normally, that’d be a huge red flag, implying that microtransactions were going to be awkwardly shoehorned into the game. Does your Sim desperately need to relieve themselves? Tough. You can either wait five hours till the Poo-o-meter counts down or spend six Diamond Simoleons (£79.99 for a pack of 100) to let them go right now.
Fortunately, that’s not going to be the case with The Sims 4. Instead, EA will be hoping that the free base game will be a gateway to one or all of the many, many expansion packs and game packs that are currently available. Screen Rant did the maths earlier this year and worked out that all The Sims 4 content would cost around $870/£750.
Still, if The Sims 4 does lead you down the life-sim rabbit-hole, you can cherry-pick what, if any, content you purchase. And, at the very least, you can participate in The Sims’s official sport, pool-ladder removing, though in The Sims 3 and The Sims 4 it’s irritating rather than fatal.
Hang on, though.. what about the people who bought The Sims 4? It came out back in September 2014, which is seven years of sales revenue. Those who purchased the original will get the Desert Luxe Kit, which gives your sims’ home an oasis-style feel, free. You can find out how to claim it here, but we’ll have to wait a while to see if that’s enough to sate potentially disgruntled The Sims 4 purchasers.
You can read our The Sims 4 review here, and check out our other content and guides here. The Sims 4 will go free-to-play this October 18th, on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One and PC/Mac via Steam and Origin.
