I have just had a big eureka moment about the future of the franchise— more specifically where we’re going next. Many simmers have seen rumors of The Sims 5 potentially popping up soon, but the Gurus say the Sims 4 is chugging along strong. What gives?? I have an idea about that.

You may be asking why I am posting a discussion about the Sims 5 in The Sims 4 General Discussion area, and I have a simple answer for you:

I believe The Sims 4 is going to be The Sims 5.

Now, I know that sounds absolutely ridiculous, so allow me to explain. I believe that EA is currently completely revamping The Sims 4, and it will be rebranded as The Sims 5 in the coming year. In rebranding it, they will be focusing on a new direction with upcoming packs, and using the expanded Sims 4 engine to the best of it’s ability. Improving upon it and using it going forward.

I have come to this conclusion based on a comprehensive set of facts [i.e two facts + a lot of speculation on my end] that I have compiled on my Pepe Silvia board. Let’s get into it.

1.) EA is very money driven

The Sims 5 coming from an already established engine, with all of the bells and whistles already done and ready to go would be really appealing to higher ups.

What’s more is that The Sims 5 being a huge Herculean update to The Sims 4 would increase interest in past packs and content. Even if they say, make The Sims 5 a free update to The Sims 4, they could potentially see former players returning to the game they abandoned and buying up packs they missed, new folks buying most up most of Origin/Steam in anticipating for the Sims 5, etc. Instead of a 40-60 dollar base game, they’d be seeing potentially hundreds of dollars going into it before the game even dropped. That’s got to be appealing.

What would be appealing to players is already having game staples like University, Seasons, Pets, etc. in the base game already. The team could get experimental with The Sims 5, and not have to go back to, “bring us pets!” “I want university pls!” They can bring new features and packs they haven’t seen before without having to start all over. What’s more is that in a previous survey, they asked which past packs we wanted more features added onto. They could hypothetically return to say Island Living, and add underwater stuff and an active Lifeguard career.

2.) The Sims 4 has been facing technological challenges that seemingly came out of nowhere.

This could suggest that the team is messing with the files and the code of the game in order to make the needed adjustments. Improving the foundation of a game that’s 5+ years old would be challenging to say the least.

“Okay, then. So that doesn’t really say anything conclusive, but if we were to entertain the notion of The Sims 4 being the base for The Sims 5... What could that look like?”

Well, the foundation of the game would be improved. Simmers pre-existing saves, hypothetically wouldn’t change at all, unless they say improved the baby life state or some stuff like that. These changes would be seen in any new save started up by the player!

The game would feature the lore that it missed when the game first dropped (i.e Johnny Zest being the Landgraab’s son, Eliza and Bob hating each other.) It would also see pre-existing sentiments in premade households, as well as the integration of pack features across the board (if that makes sense??) so like if a Simmer has Parenthood installed, Sims around town could have the Parenthood traits. If Get Famous is installed Sims that should have some level of good or bad reputation, would have it + any level of fame. Premades would have positive or negative relationships with those around town, biographies, and added lore content (like a less game breaking version of memories or a scrapbook feature.) This is why I initially suggested that The Sims 5 would be a free update, because some of these, I feel, were disappointing oversights on the teams end. The fact that premade Sims pre-Seasons have randomized hot and cold outfits seems like a detail that I can’t believe they missed.

I can also see them working with game changers to revamp and improve neighborhood lots— adding pools and build mode base game updates to already established builds. It appears as though their work with game changers like lilsimsie and James Turner really helped drum up enthusiasm for Snowy Escape. That’s got to be something that EA and the Team noticed.

Now there have been rumors that The Sims 5 would have online components and that worried both me and a lot of other people. The Sims is what I play to get away from people, not to play with them!

But the fact that they worked with game changers for Mount Komorebi, Sims Spark’d reality show, and the prevailing theme of the past two big expansions got me thinking. And me thinking is dangerous.

What if the online component was community building you could do with other Simmers? Like the team offers map templates and some pre established empty lots (like Newcrest, but with multiple aesthetics to choose from) and you either by yourself, or with friends you allow could build the community together? Like you can establish a list of lots you need, which one of your friends is building what, Sims you want to create, etc. and you build them together and add lore, relationships, etc. through menus and stuff. Then you can upload them to the gallery or download one from a Simmer you like! That would be so cool and a huge exciting feature that would generate a lot of gameplay and a lot of fun!

Your friends could also request Sims or lots and you could send them what they requested too, kinda like a more improved feature of what they did in the Sims 3: Showtime.

Anyway, so yeah... long post... sorry about that. But what do you think? Would you like this? Would it disappoint you? I’m curious!