Video Gamer is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Prices subject to change. Learn more
It’s come to light via a job listing that EA’s upcoming life sim The Sims 5 (currently known as Project Rene) will be taking a free-to-play approach, following the previous game’s similar approach last year.
Fan account The Henford Hen uncovered the job listing for a ‘Head of Monetization and Marketplace, Project Rene’ on EA Maxis’ website, which lists the following under the responsibilities section; “Own pricing of all content in this free-to-enter game, ensuring we have an optimal pricing and content architecture. Provide guidance to content teams on in-game content needs to meet player demand.” While it uses an odd specific version of the term, free-to-enter does indeed seem to imply that the game won’t cost anything to start it up.
Exactly how the sequel will be monetised is a fairly easy guess, given the Sims is certainly a series that is no stranger to having players pay for items, clothes, and plenty of other things for money. There’s also the fact that The Sims 4 is also free-to-play as of last year, and it’s likely the new game will follow a similar business model. However, the new game is still in development – and much could of course change between now and whenever it releases, so it’s too early to say for sure how it’ll manifest at this time.
However, EA has revealed a little more on the progress of Project Rene thanks to a recent Behind the Sims broadcast that took place overnight. As mentioned, it’s still early days in production yet, but Maxis showcased some brief prototypes of the upcoming game’s lighting, animation and technical aspects. That also included some detail on how they’re experimenting with UI and how to show what Sims are feeling and thinking without cluttering up the screen too much. We’re promised we’ll be getting more information on Project Mara AKA The Sims 5 as development continues.
No products found.
