Despite the fact that The Sims 4 is seven years old, gamers continue to play it, which could be due to a lack of competition.
The Sims 4 is almost eight years old, but fans don’t seem to mind because the community thrives on Youtube, Twitch, TikTok, and other social media platforms. The Sims 4 is still the most popular life simulation game on the market, and it continues to generate revenue for Electronic Arts.
However, it’s possible that fans aren’t playing The Sims 4 because it’s the best life simulator. In fact, it’s practically the only option on the market that has the same level of functionality as a Sims game.
While the first four Sims games were released at regular intervals between 2000 and 2014, EA only recently confirmed that The Sims 5 is in development, and fans are not expecting to see any progress on the new game for quite some time.
It would be inaccurate to claim that EA released The Sims 4 in 2014 and hasn’t touched it since. Although almost all updates and additions to the base game are paid, the company has added DLC on a regular basis. There are over 45 unique downloadable content options for The Sims 4 Packs, including kits, stuff, game, and expansion packs, among other versions of the game. The largest expansion packs, which include new areas and NPCs as well as in-game items and events, cost $39.99 each — nearly the same as a brand-new AAA game.
Cottage Living, the most recent DLC, was released in 2021, and fans loved the new content, which included farming and more animals for players to raise. Many fans are still angry at EA for putting so much effort into a seven-year-old game instead of creating a better, more modern experience. Players have also expressed dissatisfaction with the high cost of downloadable updates for a game as old as The Sims 4 — owning the game plus all expansion packs (excluding stuff packs, game packs, or kits) would cost just under $500.
The Sims 4 has a monopoly on the life simulator market, owing to the game’s extensive capabilities. While other simulation games tend to specialize in one area and stick with it, The Sims games have always offered multiple ways to play, allowing players to explore the entire game or just a small portion of it. Gamers can play an architecture, design, landscaping, dating, family, college, and career simulator all in one game, which is something that other life simulation games like Animal Crossing can’t quite match.
A potential rival to The Sims 4 finally appeared on the horizon in 2020. Paralives is a new game in development, described by its developers as a “dollhouse life simulator.” The game’s creators claim to be huge fans of The Sims franchise and have taken on this project to help the genre grow and expand.
Fans have expressed their enthusiasm for the upcoming game on social media, especially since the development team has consistently released updates and videos, including a new video of the character creation process in December 2021. The home and character creation videos in Paralives demonstrate extreme flexibility and creative freedom, highlighting issues that fans have had with The Sims 4 for years, such as the lack of curved walls and tattoo placement freedom.
While Paralives is expected to be a strong competitor to The Sims 4’s dominance of the life simulator genre, players have no idea when that will happen. Paralives is still in development, and while fans anticipate a release date in 2021, the game’s creators have yet to confirm or estimate a date. For the time being, The Sims 4 is the most capable life simulator available, and it continues to reign supreme.
