In exciting news for fans of The Sims, EA has just confirmed that when The Sims 5 finally releases, it will be free to download.
In a new Behind the Sims presentation, EA had this to say about the upcoming life simulation game codenamed Project Rene:
“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.
We want playing to be super easy for you to invite or join friends and experience new features, stories and challenges.”
EA also stated that Project Rene or The Sims 5 won’t replace or continue The Sims 4; instead, the two games will exist side by side when it is eventually released.
“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.
In Project Rene, you won’t begin with everything you have in The Sims 4, but we plan to add new experiences and content to Project Rene over time.”
And while the game will be free to download or enter, there will still be DLCs coming.
“For example, basic weather may be added to the core game for free, for everybody. “And in the future, a pack for purchase may be focused on winter sports with activities like ice dancing or a snowman building competition.”
This format should be familiar to fans of The Sims, as DLCs or expansions have always been a core part of the game. However, this time around, EA says the DLC content won’t include anything too crucial so that they can try to lower those barriers to play and give everyone the broadest shared systems.
As of writing, there still isn’t a release date for Project Rene, although EA has confirmed that the game is currently in the early stages of development.
The biggest takeaway from the Behind the Sims presentation is that Project Rene will allow you to play with friends and across devices and that players can hop into the game for free, with no subscription fee involved.
Are you excited for this latest entry into the franchise? Let us know in the comments.