Is The Sims 5 finally on its way? Many hints suggest that the fifth generation is currently being developed. It’s been 8 years since the fourth generation was introduced, so the time is right for a new one. But when is the forthcoming title actually going to be released?
Many gamers are eager to learn more about this. Is it going to happen in 2022, 2023, 2024 or perhaps even later?
Will there be a demo version of the game? And will it be available on PC, Mac, console and other platforms? There are so many questions, but what are the answers?
We’ll answer all of them on this page! Please note that nothing has officially been confirmed by EA and Maxis yet. We’ll update this page as soon as we have more details.
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When is The Sims 5 coming out?
Probably one of the most frequently asked questions in the Sims community currently is: when is the fifth generation coming out? Many Simmers are wondering what the future of the franchise will look like.
The truth is that currently (summer 2022) no one really knows when the game is coming out. Electronic Arts (EA) and Maxis have not confirmed anything regarding a launch date yet. Everything you read or see online and offline is based on speculation. It’s good to keep that in mind!
The Sims 5 is most likely not going to be released in 2022. Why, you may ask? It’s because it typically takes at least 6 to 12 months from the time a new Sims generation is officially announced until the game is made available in online and physical stores. As we’re getting closer to the end of 2022, a release this year doesn’t seem to be realistic.
So when do we think the game is going to be brought out? Is the next generation really on its way or is it still years away from now?
When we look at the release schedule of previous The Sims generations, it becomes clear that there were usually about 5 years between each new game.
However, if we look at The Sims 4 specifically, it can be seen that this game has been long overdue. It’s been almost 8 years since it was launched, so it’s definitely time for a brand new version!
| Generation | Release date (worldwide) | Days/months between generations |
|---|---|---|
| The Sims | February 4th, 2000 | |
| The Sims 2 | September 14th, 2004 | 4 years and 6 months (between The Sims 1 and 2) |
| The Sims 3 | June 2nd, 2009 | 4 years and 7 months (between The Sims 2 and 3) |
| The Sims 4 | September 2nd, 2014 | 5 years and 3 months (between The Sims 3 and 4) |
| The Sims 5 | Not confirmed. Prediction: 2024 | Almost 8 years and counting (between The Sims 4 and now, summer 2022) |
Even though it hasn’t been confirmed officially yet, we expect the game to be released no later than 2024.
Why? Simply because in 2024 it’s been exactly 10 years since the fourth generation was launched. Maybe, without even knowing it, The Sims 4 was supposed to last for a decade. The 10th anniversary seems to be the perfect time to launch a brand new generation.
We simply can’t imagine that The Sims 4 will continue much longer than that, almost double as long as it’s predecessors.
Aside from that, almost all of the most anticipated expansion packs have already been launched, so there is not much left. Also, many Simmers are getting impatient as well, as they are looking forward to a new game.
We also know that EA and Maxis have already been working on a next generation The Sims game for a longer period of time. Because of that, it probably won’t be long before we see an official announcement. We expect the announcement no later than 2023.
As soon as we have an official confirmation about when the game comes to market, you can be sure that we will announce it here on the site and across all of our social media channels. Besides general information, we’re also expecting some teaser images, trailers, as well as price and pre-order details. We will also be adding a release countdown to the site.
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Is the fifth generation currently in development?
Is The Sims 5 currently under development? Are EA and Maxis working on the next generation? These are some of the most frequently asked questions in the Sims community (link to Sims 5 community). We totally get it: all this uncertainty about the next generation isn’t fun at all!
Luckily, there’s some good news for fans who are eagerly waiting for the fifth generation, as the answer to those questions is most likely yes! EA and Maxis are currently working on a next generation Sims game, which is most likely going to be The Sims 5. Sounds exciting, doesn’t it?
How do we know that the game is currently being developed, you may wonder?
Simply because EA’s CEO Andrew Wilson and Chief Studio Officer Laura Miele both confirmed that EA and Maxis are working “the next generation of The Sims”. Read more about these teasers in the sections above.
Currently, the game appears to be in the pre-production phase. This indicates that the team is working on developing concepts and prototypes. That means that there is still a long way to go before the game will become available for purchase.
Several more hints have emerged online, indicating that The Sims 5 is currently in the works. We have seen several job postings online where EA and Maxis are looking for new employees to work on next chapter of The Sims.
Back in September 2018, the first job opportunity appeared on EA’s own career portal. According to the content of the job posting, Maxis was looking for a so-called Character Modeler for an “exciting new game in the best-selling Sims franchise.”
This might be The Sims 5 after all!
One more vacancy appeared during the same month in 2018. This time, EA and Maxis were looking for a Senior Concept Artis to work on an early-in-development AAA title.
The job description revealed some interesting details, to say the least:
“We are looking for a talented and experienced Senior Concept Artist to join a veteran team of developers working on an early-in-development AAA title at Maxis in our Redwood City location. This is an opportunity to help craft the initial vision for a new, innovative and immersive Maxis experience.”
— Maxis
The Sims also belongs to the category of AAA (Triple A) titles. The term AAA classifies whether a game will get a higher development status and marketing budgets. AAA games are often very expensive to develop. This suggests that companies working on these games will be putting a lot of effort into the development.
Since Maxis hasn’t released any AAA games lately and they are currently working on a new version of The Sims game, we can assume that this job description refers to The Sims 5, or whatever the final name may be.
Lately, more job opportunities by EA and Maxis have appeared online, which implies that next generation is being developed.
More recently, in 2022, we came across another very strong clue that indicates that The Sims 5 is being developed. Catharina Mallet, who is the Vice President and General Manager for Maxis and responsible for the The Sims Franchise, said the following:
“As we look towards our future, continuing to create entertaining and unexpected content for The Sims 4 for years to come while also building the future of The Sims franchise, we want to hear from all kinds of voices.”
— Catharina Mallet, Vice President and General Manager for Maxis
This shows once again that EA and Maxis are looking at the future of The Sims franchise, meaning that they are focussing on The Sims 5 as well.
So to conclude, all of these things taken together suggest that the next installment is definitely being developed! Exciting news, isn’t it?!
Hopefully we’ll be getting an official announcement soon! Keep an eye on events like E3 Expo, GamesCom, and EA Play Live where new games occasionally get announced.
Is The Sims 5 cancelled (because some say The Sims 4 flopped)?
Back in 2014, former The Sims 4 Producer Grant Rodiek (@SimGuruGrant on Twitter), shared something noteworthy on the official The Sims forums. His post sparked a lot of uproar in the Sims community.
Wondering what it was all about? Here is what Rodiek said:
“We’re not working on Sims 5. We’re not thinking about Sims 5. If Sims 4 isn’t successful, there won’t be a Sims 5.”
— Grant Rodiek, former Producer of The Sims 4 at Maxis
Rodiek’s message was removed from the forums after all of the commotion it caused in the community. However, his post can be traced back through WaybackMachine. Even though Rodiek’s post was removed, the discussion lived on for a long time.
As a result, many Simmers were questioning whether or not The Sims 4 was a flop. Let’s delve a bit further into this question.
Especially in the early days of the game, some Simmers believed that The Sims 4 was a failure for a variety of reasons. This can be seen in the “Is this enough proof that The Sims 4 is a flop?” discussion on the official The Sims forums, where this topic was widely discussed.
Right after its release, The Sims 4 didn’t have toddlers, swimming pools, and many things like pets and seasons were missing as well. This resulted in a lot of criticism from within the community.
Back in 2015, an article by Kotaku also stirred up some controversy in the community. The article stated the following:
“Neither SimCity nor the recent release of The Sims 4 performed very well, according to a person familiar with goings-on at the studio.”
— Kotaku
However, the source of this article is questionable as we have never seen any evidence that showed that The Sims 4 wasn’t performing well. So we just need to take this news with a grain of salt.
On a positive note, new contact packs and updates were consistently added, which made the game more engaging over time.
In terms of sales and active players, The Sims 4 is actually a successful game.
In 2019, EA announced that the game exceeded over $1 billion USD in lifetime revenue. A major achievement!
According to The Washington Post in 2020, The Sims 4 attracted a total of 20 million unique players. Later in 2020, EA themselves talked about 30 million daily, weekly, and monthly active players.
Based on these figures, The Sims 4 is definitely not a flop. And it appears that the game’s buzz is still going strong.
In 2017, EA also responded to some of the concerns from the community by sharing some statistics about The Sims 4’s popularity. This data demonstrated that the fourth generation was still going strong. According to EA the “The Sims 4 community is thriving.”
Even now, almost 8 years after the release of The Sims 4, new expansion packs are constantly still being added, suggesting that the fourth generation is still doing well.
Let’s go back to the main question of this section: will The Sims 5 be cancelled? The simple answer to that is no! The game isn’t cancelled.
The Sims 4 is a successful game, and there have been numerous confirmations showing that fifth generation is currently being developed. EA’s CEO Andrew Wilson, as well as Chief Studio Officer Laura Miele, both confirmed that the next generation is on its way!
Has the fifth generation been delayed?
It’s been about 8 years since The Sims 4 came out. Some of you may be wondering if the fifth generation has been delayed because The Sims 4 is long overdue or because of other reasons. Some believe that COVID-19 had an impact on the development of the video game.
After some issues appeared after the release of The Sims 4, and after the flop of SimCity 2013, EA and Maxis definitely want to make sure that the launch of the upcoming installment will be as smooth as possible. That’s one of the reasons why it could take a little longer for them to prepare for the launch.
Since EA is listed at the stock exchange, they simply can’t afford another big failure. That would cost the company a lot of money, and investors also want to see a return on investments.
Although it’s difficult to determine for sure whether the game has been delayed, we have never seen any proof that this is actually the case. For that reason, we don’t think that The Sims 5 has been delayed.
Is The Sims 5 coming in 2022, 2023, or even later?
We know that many of you are wondering when The Sims 5 is coming. Will it happen in 2022, 2023, or maybe even later? Let’s dive a bit deeper into this question.
Despite the fact that The Sims 4 is way overdue, we don’t think The Sims 5 will come in 2022. Why? Simply because there is typically a 6- to 12-month period between the announcement and release of a new installment.
Since we’re getting closer to the end of 2022, and we still haven’t seen any official statement about the launch, it is safe to say that the fifth generation won’t come this year.
Now you may be wondering if the game will arrive in 2023 instead. As we haven’t seen any confirmation yet, it is hard to tell whether or not it will be launched in 2023. However, a release date announcement in 2023 appears to be highly likely.
A game release date in 2024 seems more realistic, purely based on the fact that the fourth generation was launched in 2014 and is long overdue.
If The Sims 4 was a actually 10-year-plan (and no one really knew about this), we can imagine that 2024 will be the last year in which we can expect new expansions and content updates for the fourth generation.
The Sims 4’s 10th anniversary seems like the perfect time to introduce the next installment. We can assume that the official announcement will happen in 2023, followed by the official release in 2024.
Another thing to keep in mind is that EA announced in early 2022 that The Sims 4 content would continue to be released for years to come. This is an interesting quote from EA’s site:
“As we look towards our future, continuing to create entertaining and unexpected content for The Sims 4 for years to come.”
— Electronic Arts
Considering that it is 2022, that would mean that they will continue to bring out stuff in 2023 and probably 2024 as well. On the other hand, when The Sims 4 was launched, fresh content for The Sims 3 was still released, so this doesn’t necessarily mean everything.
However, looking at the past content releases for The Sims 4, the majority of the most-wanted expansions have already been made available. So what’s left to be revealed?
To conclude, there hasn’t been any official confirmation about the launch date yet, so we just need to wait for the official announcement.
The Sims 5 expansion packs release dates: When will they come?
As soon as we have more details about the first expansion packs for The Sims 5, we will share it on this site.
We will also share a release schedule list as well, so you know what’s in the pipeline.
How can I get The Sims 5 once it’s available?
Are you wondering how you can get the fifth generation when it becomes available? Even though we don’t have all the official details yet, we can already share some information about what’s expected!
The Sims 5’s base game will most likely become available as a digital download on at least Origin (EA’s game platform) and possibly even EA Play and Steam. This is where you can download the game.
Other editions and expansions will probably also be available the same way later on.
You will also be able to buy the base game and expansions from other sources, including Amazon, CD key sites and other online and physical stores.
There will definitely be pre-order options available as well before the release.
We will update our site as soon as we have additional information!
Will The Sims 5 be released as a physical and digital game?
Even though nothing has been confirmed yet, it is almost certain that it will be possible to get The Sims 5 as a digital download via platforms such as Origin, and perhaps EA Play and Steam as well. Here you will be able to activate, download, install and play the game.
Besides a digital version, there may also be a physical copy of the base game and potential expansions. This will allow you to use a CD or disk to install and run the game.
Information about the different editions of the base game and expansions have yet to be confirmed.
The Sims 5 versions/editions: Which edition will come when?
There will probably be different versions of the base game available at launch and during the pre-order period before the release as well.
Even though nothing has been confirmed, there will most likely be a Standard Edition, Limited Edition or Digital Deluxe Edition. Other editions, such as a Premium Edition and Collector’s Edition are less likely going to be available for purchase.
Release dates for the various fifth generation versions have yet to be confirmed.
On what platforms The Sims 5 be available?
On what platforms can we expect the fifth generation, you may be wondering? EA and Maxis have already shared that The Sims 5 may become a cross-platform game, as stated in Forbes, so that it can be played on different devices. This is exciting news!
It is expected that the game will be released on PC (Windows) first, followed by a Mac (Apple) release.
Additionally, there is a good probability that it will be released on consoles like PlayStation 5 (PS5) and Xbox Series X.
We don’t think it’s likely that the game will be launched on PlayStation 4 (PS4) or Xbox One, simply because those are older devices and EA and Maxis usually concentrate on newer consoles only. The demand is probably too low as well.
For fans who are wondering whether The Sims 5 will be coming to Android, we don’t think it will. The game is also unlikely going to be released on iPad and iPhone. A launch on Nintendo Switch doesn’t seem to be likely either, which is very unfortunate.
However, we need to wait for official information, as nothing has been confirmed as of yet. Once it’s ready, we’ll share it here.
Will there be a trial/demo version of The Sims 5?
Probably one of the most common questions Simmers ask about The Sims 5 right now is whether there will be a demo or trial version of the game. Before making a purchase, it’s usually a good idea to try things out.
Looking back at the older Sims series, we can see that EA and Maxis introduced a playable demo of The Sims 4 Create A Sim (CAS) in 2014. This allowed players to try out an early beta version of CAS.
Even The Sims 3 had an official demo available. Back then, it was possible to play the base game, as well as Create A Pet (CAP) for free for a limited period of time. CAP allowed gamers to create cats, dogs and horses.
Based on this, we think it’s highly likely that EA and Maxis will also launch a demo or trial version of the fifth generation.
All we have to do is wait for further official information on this!
Watch out for “fake news” about the release date
One Google search for “Sims 5 release date” and you will find a ton of articles and videos predicting when te fifth generation will be launched.
However, the truth is that nobody really exactly knows with absolute certainty when the game is coming! Since there hasn’t been an official announcement as of yet (summer 2022), everything you read online or offline is purely based on speculation.
We’ve listed a few examples below of sites showing release dates, which are obviously not correct. Don’t let yourself be fooled!
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Poll: When do you think The Sims 5 will be released?
When do you think the next generation of The Sims will be coming out? Will it be 2022, 2023, 2024 or maybe even later? Please vote below and encourage your Sims friends to do the same.
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