EA Just Shelved A Mysterious Sims Project—That Could Be Good News For Players

It’s been a bumpy couple of years for The Sims, and many players aren’t particularly enthused about Project Rene/Lotus, as it seems to be once again trying to recreate The Sims Online, something EA has tried to rebuild over and over. In fact, much of the reason The Sims 4 launched in such awful shape was due to the fact that it was initially meant to be an MMO-style game that could run on mobile devices. Less than a year before launch, EA pivoted to a more traditional Sims game–but by then, so much of the game had been built with online play and mobile devices in mind that it was too late to turn back. Despite releasing over 100 DLC packs and embarking on a concentrated campaign to squash the game’s many, many, many bugs, longtime Sims players are still frustrated with the state of The Sims 4, often pointing out the numerous ways it pales in comparison to its predecessor, The Sims 3. 

The Sims 4 is officially “done” in that there are no plans to release any more expansion packs for the game. When it comes to the future of the franchise, most players don’t want the next Sims title to be yet another attempt at shoehorning online and/or mobile gameplay into a game that is, at its core, all about building and playing with digital dolls in their digital dollhouses. So EA’s decision to hit pause on Project Rene/Lotus’s development isn’t something I find especially heartbreaking. In fact, I think it’s the first truly wise decision EA’s made regarding the franchise in a long time, provided EA actually plans to support Project Evergreen long-term (which the name Evergreen would suggest).

Sims 4 players don’t want Project Rene, but they do want either The Sims 5 or a complete, playable version of The Sims 4–ideally one that doesn’t require the purchase of $1,600 in DLC packs to feel “finished.” Hitting pause on its weird, experimental Sims projects in favor of attempting to preserve The Sims 4 in a stable, playable, “evergreen” state is arguably the best decision EA could make, given the current state of both EA and The Sims franchise. Pouring resources into a concept that has failed before (online MMO-style Sims gameplay) rather than a tried-and-true formula (a digital dollhouse) would only harm the franchise at this point.

Of course, there’s no telling what kind of shape Project Evergreen will launch in, assuming it does successfully make it to launch. It sounds like the Evergreen devs have a deadline to hit–hence the reshuffling of resources away from Rene/Lotus–but even with the increase in development resources, there’s no guarantee Evergreen will be a massive hit with players.

Provided the rest of development does go smoothly and Evergreen is indeed well-received by players, it may still fall short of EA’s goals when it comes to profits. EA has spent the last decade doing everything possible to monetize the living hell out of The Sims 4, a game that–unlike EA’s lucrative sports catalog–is largely intended to be a solitary gaming experience that doesn’t require online play. Back in the olden days of The Sims 1, 2, and 3, players would purchase the base game, a few expansion packs, and maybe a couple of “stuff packs” for extra decor options, but that was all one really needed to enjoy the game. 

The Sims 4, however, introduced an era of seemingly endless DLC: expansion packs, game packs, stuff packs, kits–there are over 100 of them, ranging in cost from $40 to $5, and totaling around $1,600 if purchased individually outside of sales and bundles. In addition to the constant stream of DLC releases, EA has in recent years implemented daily login rewards, various events and challenges, and even a paid mod store nobody asked for–all in the hopes of getting players to spend more time and money on The Sims 4. For a while there, I half-expected EA to implement a Sims 4 battle pass.

There’s no telling what sort of irritating monetization tactics we’ll see in Project Evergreen, but at the very least, Evergreen sounds like an attempt to try and maintain the series’ roots, rather than continue chasing the mobile MMO Roblox-like direction Project Lotus seemed to be taking. Even better, Evergreen may turn out to be the game Sims players have been aching for since The Sims 4 launched to middling reviews back in 2014: a game that isn’t fundamentally broken and lacking in content.

The real question is if Evergreen will be successful enough to keep The Sims franchise alive. Given that EA’s new owners were happy to kill off what was shaping up to be a potentially great Mass Effect game, it’s not hard to imagine a world where the Grim Reaper inevitably comes for The Sims, regardless of whether players love or hate Project Evergreen. After all, feelings don’t generate dollar signs, and EA’s new owners have made one thing abundantly clear: killing off an iconic franchise is “worth it” if it saves EA a few Simoleons.