Electronic Arts and Maxis are preparing a new generation of The Sims.

On Tuesday, a The Sims product event was held to announce the new game and that the base game of The Sims 4 (without expansions) has been made free-to-play on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, PC, Mac, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. There will also be two expansion packs for the game in 2023, but Project Rene is the more important news. You’ll be able to play alone or with others, and the experience will be the same on all platforms (including mobile!).

“We are building the next-generation Sims game and creative platform and reimagining The Sims you know and love with new ways to play. This is the future of The Sims, built on a foundation of charming Sims, powerful tools, and meaningful stories. We start with our creative tools, a crucial part of our Sims DNA. We’re experimenting with what’s worked and where we can push further to offer more flexibility. We begin with the ability to change patterns and colours and the shapes of the objects you’ll be using when you build and decorate in-game.

With Project Rene, we want to make it easier to work together and share. You can choose to play or create by yourself or with your close friends. It’s entirely your choice. No matter who you may want to play with, we want you to be able to play wherever you want. So this is demonstrating an early technology test of how you can play this game across supported devices of your choosing. Same experience, different screens,” said Lyndsay Pearson, The Sims franchise’s creative VP, about the project.

Electronic Arts will release news about developing projects over the next few years and provide early access to small groups over time. It means we shouldn’t expect The Sims 5 (if that’s what it’s called… it wouldn’t be surprising if it’s just called The Sims) before 2024. Mobile has been mentioned as a target platform, so it’s a safe bet that iOS/Android pairing is in the pipeline…

Source: VGC