Electronic Arts and Maxis shared some news about the upcoming The Sims 5, which is still in early development and has a working title of Project Rene.
The Sims 5 will be a free-to-play game from the very beginning. As a reminder, The Sims 4 became free to play only in 2022, 8 years after its release.
"This means that when Project Rene is ready and fully open to players, you will be able to join, play and explore it without a subscription, core game purchase or energy mechanics," EA said.
The Sims 5 will coexist with other Sims games, including The Sims 4.
"Project Rene and The Sims 4 will exist side by side. We will continue to support both at the same time and will plan to bring more exciting content to The Sims 4 community for the foreseeable future," EA emphasizes.
As in the case of The Sims 4, the new game will earn money from the sale of expansions, content packs, etc. Since its release in 2014, The Sims 4 has released 14 large paid Expansion packs, the latest of which, Horse Ranch, was released on July 20, 2023. In addition, the game has received 12 smaller Game packs, which are also paid, of course.
Since its release, The Sims 4 is believed to have sold 70 million copies across all platforms. Another 16 million players joined after the game became free to play in October 2022.