This is not a drill. As of the 18th October The Sims 4 is now officially FREE TO DOWNLOAD! That wasn't the only thing to celebrate yesterday at the Behind The Sims Summit which was packed with announcements for the Sims franchise so whether you're a Sims Mobile player or prefer the Sims 4 there's definitely something for you! Here's the biggest news from the Sims Summit event.

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You can check out the entire live stream HERE

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Expansion packs

We can expect to see TWO new expansion packs in 2023, teased concept art shows two new worlds but it's not just the worlds themselves that have people going crazy. The child on the bike? The cities in the background (more apartments maybe?) but most importantly THE BABY CARRIER. Yes for now it's only concept art, but paired with the not so subtle baby cry during the stream? It can only mean one thing...

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They also showcased a screenshot with a mixture of CAS and Build/Buy assets which have even more hints at what's the come. The dentures in the glass along with the tease of a baby update has us convinced a generations pack HAS to be one of the teased expansions for 2023. The question is though - what could the other pack be? Let us know your guesses!

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Updates

SDX drops are expected to happen monthly from now on so expect more small drops from the team. In the past SDX drops have included new hairs, new objects, new updates and small bug updates.

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Supported Mods and CC

Simmers rejoice! Modders and custom content creators have been integral to the lifespan on the Sims 4, whether they're fixing bugs like Carl's Dine Out Update, creating new clothing and objects like Clumsy Alien and Pierisims, or adding whole new features like Pandasama and Basemental, it's undeniable that these creators made the Sims 4 enjoyable and kept it alive when the game felt stale.

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These creators are now getting the recognition they deserve and Simmers can rest easy knowing they're getting Mods and CC from a safe place with the new partnership with Overwolf. A portal, starting with a small group of creators but ready to be vastly built upon, hopefully means the end of worrying about accidentally downloading a Virus or even downloading an out of date version which could cause issues in game.

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With the tool set to be available from November we don't have long to wait until we can ALL (expect console Simmers it seems) get our hands on the beautiful content made by Simmers, for Simmers!

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You can check out Overwolf's video for more details below

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Improved Babies/Infant Life Stage

If you ask a Simmer what their biggest want for the Sims 4 is odds are they'll tell you either cars, open world or better babies, well the Sims team have FINALLY updated the babies and are expecting their arrival in 2023. No more object babies! All we've seen so far is a short clip of a crawling baby who is picked up by an adult Sim and some objects in the background so we need to be a bit more patient yet but will it be worth it? Now to retry the 100 baby challenge (again)

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Project Rene

In a surprise turn the Sims team decided to let us in on the "next generation" of the Sims franchise. They didn't official call it the Sims 5 but we know that before release The Sims 4 was referred to as "Project Olympus" so this doesn't necessarily mean a change in the name - which would be a bit of an odd move 22 years into the lifecycle of the Sims.

Lyndsay Pearson, the VP of Franchise Creative for The Sims stressed "This is super early for us, and we've never shared information about our games years before they launch to the world, but we're so excited to take you on this journey with us."

It's still a VERY early model so it's expected that the final product likely won't look anything like the current videos and screenshots we've seen but we're loving the openness from EA about the future of everyone's favourite life simulator franchise.

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So what did you think of the Summit? What do you think the teased expansion packs will be? Will Project Rene be a flop?

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