Job listing shows The Sims 5 will soon become free to play, which should please many fans and players of the series.
The Sims is truly one of the great video game series; those who’ve experienced its magic have many fond memories of all sorts of exciting and surprising things they did over time, whether that meant romancing the Grim Reaper or pulling down a pool ladder while an unsuspecting Sim was taking a dip – two activities which could potentially connect.
The Sims 4 has been available to play since 2010, if that seems hard to believe! In that time it has amassed over 70 million players – no doubt helped along by going free-to-play last year.
As reported by Sims Community, EA may have unwittingly disclosed that Project Rene, their next Sims game will also be free-to-play.
On Maxis careers page there was an advertisement for an open position called ‘head of monetisation and marketplace for Project Rene’; although since removed it seems rather telling. Fans noticed something interesting within its job description that made quite an impressionful statement about EA’s intentions for Project Rene.
One of the responsibilities for this role was said to include overseeing pricing of content within this free-to-enter game and ensuring we had optimal pricing and content architecture, and owning Project Rene’s in-game marketplace of user-generated content (free and paid), plus overseeing data-informed player purchase journey aimed at maximising player value while optimizing player spend patterns while minimising player churn.
So if that information is accurate, then Project Rene is currently planned as free-to-start, with EA planning on earning income via DLC instead – similar to how The Sims 4 operates now.
EA has yet to officially confirm this information; so let’s wait and see.
