This past week we’ve already had some big news ahead of the release of Enchanted by Nature on the 10th of July. Although for fans it may be disappointing that this is more of the rumour and innuendo than real concrete facts. Nonetheless, what with the early signs of Enchanted by Nature already showing up in rumours in the past, it’s worth us taking at look at what may (or may not) be coming to The Sims 4.
Gone with the wind
The original rumours come from a now-private Twitter thread, although archived elsewhere. So, we’re going to break down the very basics of what this is all about and then look at the feasibility of these rumours:
- The next expansion will be a vacation-themed pack that allows you to customise and create your own, with the ability to establish custom venues and a major focus on family vacations. This will be the most expensive expansion in The Sims 4 (“-that doesn’t add a new Pet or Life stage”) but apparently mostly due to inflation.
- EA expects a 7-10 million sales target within 12 months for this upcoming expansion, and apparently marketing plans are well-underway to prepare for launch.
- Kits will remain a strong part of the overall Sims 4 experience, as the profits from them are reinvested to support free game updates.
- There are plans floating around for more specific cultural worlds (such as Africa) but EA are resistant as they want more ‘culturally ambiguous’ worlds to explore instead.
- Project Rene is apparently not in trouble and the plans haven’t changed from it being a full-online Sims experience.
The breakdown
A lot of this sounds feasible, if somewhat overblown. Considering the major overhauls we’ve seen in previous expansions (Business & Hobbies) or the return of fan-favourite features (Enchanted by Nature) the features touted here sound a little too vague. It could be we’ll have something very extensive, like going on cruises or to resorts and viewing the stories that unfold there. But this being the ‘most expensive’ sounds a bit grandiose.
However, we do know that there’s no plan on slowing down with new expansions as EA’s vision for the future is of maintaining the Sims 4 for the foreseeable future. So this is very much in the camp of ‘feasible but perhaps a bit overblown’.
As for the sales target, it sounds high but The Sims 4 continues to be a major driver for EA’s sales and using kits to support base game updates would be a sound business strategy; and likely welcomed by players too.
That’s the same case for the idea of ‘culturally ambiguous’ worlds too. It’s rather ironic that both Business & Hobbies as well as Enchanted by Nature debuted very European/North American-style worlds, but visiting more exotic locales is definitely something I can see the stuffy suits at EA pooh-poohing.
Rene is my name
I think the only part of this I’m definitely sceptical of is Project Rene. Aside from the initial wave of interest and the close eye we keep on it, I’ve not really seen much in the way of discussion. The earlier soft launch of ‘City Life Game with Friends’ was an interesting one, but as I observed then this is a genre that’s massively oversaturated already.
Certainly, the idea that there’s absolutely no turbulence in development despite the lengthy of the cycle is something that definitely makes me suspicious. But again, the reason we take a look at the rumours is that, occasionally, there’s a grain of truth to be seen.
