The Sims’ future is very far from becoming the Metaverse

After the recent “Behind The Sims” stream, the world now has a lot to talk about regarding the series. Not only is The Sims 4 base game available to all for free, the fans also got information on tons of updates and expansions to come to the eight year old game. And of course, we finally got a hint of what’s to come with “Project Rene”, something that points towards a 5th main release iin the franchise.

We had the opportunity to sit down with Lyndsay Pearson, VP of Creative for the Sims franchise, and talk with her about the evolution of the games, its ever growing community, and what we can expect to see in the future. And what we discovered is that the studio’s decisions all seem to come from watching their fans very carefully.

Regarding the change to a F2P model for one of the most successful entries in the series, Pearson revealed that they felt as if this was the right time to make the switch. “There’s so many experiences, so much content to play with, that it felt like the perfect time to say ‘Come join us. Come be part of this game with us. Invite your friends, now they have no excuse not to play with you! Come and join the Sims Universe’.”

A constant evolution, fueled by the fans

According to her, the development of the games and its expansions is directly connected to the people who play them. Pearson went on to talk about how the community has helped guide the evolution of the franchise throughout the years, in a sort of celebration of everything that the community has created: be it stories, designs, buildings or any sort of creation. And of course, that includes the modders and, more recently, streamers and YouTubers that specialize on The Sims.

“I think what keeps evolving is that we have so many more platforms to connect with now,” said Lyndsay. “So the whole evolution of streamers and YouTubers was like a totally new thing for The Sims obviously than what we were in those first years and this created this entirely new way to share your experience of the sims. And it feels, even though you’re still playing it by yourself you feel more connected because you can be part of a stream, or you can be playing a challenge or part of following someone’s story”.

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It is all of this together that inspires the creative process that goes into the creation of new expansions and ideas for the games. Pearson admitted that “Those that love to build sims or houses of course have a very different wishlist of what they hope to see in the game. The modders and custom content users have their own wishlist [of things they want to see in the game]. So we know there’s different flavors but they’re all a part of the Sims community and they’ve all got a part to play”. This in turn gives the developers the challenge of figuring out how to distill hundreds of different ideas to make a cohesive product, one that the fans will be able to actually enjoy and create with.

But it’s not only the fans that dictate how things arrive to the franchise. Speaking of this same creative process, Pearson revealed that they work really hard to update and modernize the ideas they’ve done in the past for newer versions of these old expansions. Using the University pack as an example, she said that since the original one on The Sims 2 was already 10-15 years old, they had to look for newer inspiration. After all, school has changed considerably since then. It is in doing this modernization, and also striving for larger representation, that their ideas have been renovated successfully without feeling like they are treading the same ground over and over again.

Project Rene and the many questions that come with it

Eventually, the conversation shifted to the future of the franchise, and to Project Rene. While they showed that the game will have multiplatform connectivity, a focus on multiplayer, and very detailed customization, a lot of questions still are left unanswered. One of those is whether this is a real sequel, or some sort of spin-off.

“Well, we’re giving ourselves the title of “Project Rene” right now to have the freedom to explore some of those spaces, right?”, said Lyndsay, assuring us that the game is still “The Sims”. “It IS an evolution of The Sims. It IS the future of innovation with The Sims. Which means that the core DNA of the franchise will still be there. But we’re looking to expand and push boundaries to bring it to life through different tools and ideas” What they seem to be going for is an expansion of the sharing capabilities of the game, integrated into its systems.

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An online world, but far from the Metaverse

This means that what they’re trying to do is create new ways in which players can experience the game. It’s more devices in which they can join in, new ways to create with your friends (even in real time), and perhaps new kinds of gameplay options. We even asked if it was going to be something akin to The Sims Online, the old Sims MMO that launched in 2002. And it seems like they did look back at it for Project Rene, but quickly realized that there’s many ways to improve on that old experience.

“The Sims Online, for its time, was a really intriguing game because it was way before the way that people play games now,” Said Pearson. “I think multiplayer has evolved so much since then, because it can take so many different forms now. And what is more inspiring to us than looking back at how it was back then is seeing what are the different reasons that I would connect with a friend.” She pointed out that it’s about figuring out what you want to do with your friends (or by yourself), be it building, designing, decorating a home or simply playing with their Sims.

Of course, given this huge expansion towards a more “online” approach, we couldn’t help but wonder if the current “Metaverse” developments would have an impact on it. Thankfully, the answer is no. Sort of.

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“For us when we think about The Sims, we don't try and think about “how can we try and turn The Sims into the Metaverse” because that’s not what our players want or need. But it is a question of how we continue to serve our players and what they expect from us. How do we connect them and help them share more effectively?” To be even more clear, she admitted that they recognize that “The Metaverse” is something that may line up with the nature of their games, but that it’s not about just making The Sims into that sort of experience. Project Rene “is still about The sims: it’s my stuff, my Sims, my space, my friends. And anything we do from there has to start from that point”.

This next Sims experience may still be a couple of years away, but EA and the developers are adamant of the fact that more information will come very soon. “I know we’ve grown a lot in 20 years,” said Lyndsay. “But it’s still about little people walking around, doing stuff, and that has always been true. And we’ll be revealing more over time.