In order to give players “an ongoing experience” with ‘The Sims 4’, Electronic Arts won’t be making a follow-up game as the company moves “beyond linear, sequential ‘Sims’ releases”.
‘The Sims 4’ will not be getting a direct sequel because Electronic Arts (EA) is looking to move “beyond linear, sequential ‘Sims’ releases”.
The beloved simulation franchise – which is published by the gaming company and developed by Maxis – hasn’t seen a new instalment since its fourth entry in 2014, and now the series’ general manager Kate Gorman has confirmed the studio won’t be working on a direct “replacement” to ‘The Sims 4’ because they want players to have “an ongoing experience” with the current title.
She told Variety: “The way to think about it is, historically, ‘The Sims’ franchise started with ‘Sims 1’ and then ‘Sims 2’, 3, and 4. And they were seen as replacements for the previous products. [But now,] we are not going to be working on replacements of previous projects; we’re only going to be adding to our universe.”
The EA chief emphasised the studio didn’t want players to lose their “progress” or “attachments” that they have been made in ‘The Sims 4’.
She continued: “What this means is that we will continue to bring HD simulation experience and what people would want from a 5. But it doesn’t mean that we’re going to start you over… As we think about the future of it, we want you to continue all of those families and generations.
“Those creations are your progress, your attachment. We don’t want to reset your progress.
“And so it’s not about … what the numbers are in the games, but know that the future of the franchise looks more like keeping your progress, keeping things across titles, and really having an ongoing experience, and not a start-and-stop experience between products.”
The Sims 5 not happening as EA moves ‘beyond linear releases’ for the series
