The Sims 4 Hits 10-Year Milestone, But Where’s the Celebration?
This week marks a significant milestone for The Sims 4, as the game officially turns 10 years old. It’s the only game in the series to hit the double-digit mark while still receiving content updates, doubling the lifespan of The Sims 2 and The Sims 3. Yet, despite this monumental achievement, there’s an undeniable sense of frustration among long-time fans, fueled by a mix of neglect from EA and dissatisfaction with the current state of the game.
What’s most surprising is how little fanfare has accompanied this anniversary. EA hasn’t even acknowledged The Sims 4‘s milestone across its social media platforms or news channels. No celebratory post, no commemorative in-game item, not even a simple “10” graphic. The silence is deafening, and for many players, this lack of acknowledgment is emblematic of a deeper issue: The Sims 4, despite its longevity, feels more frustrating than ever.
An Overstuffed Experience
Over the last decade, The Sims 4 has expanded massively, with an overwhelming 79 packs now available—12 expansion packs, 16 game packs, 20 stuff packs, and 31 kits. For context, The Sims 3 had only 11 expansion packs and 9 stuff packs during its four-year lifespan. While the kits are small, mostly cosmetic add-ons, their sheer volume has contributed to what feels like an oversaturation of content. And with 48 additional gameplay packs in the mix, the game’s complexity has ballooned in ways that haven’t always been positive.
This glut of DLC has led to increasingly buggy gameplay, causing frustration among even the most loyal players. EA itself acknowledged the issue earlier this year, announcing it had “assembled a team” to tackle ongoing bug fixes—something many argue should have been a priority long before now.
For many, the frustrations boiled over with the release of My Wedding Stories in 2022. The game pack, intended to revitalize wedding mechanics, instead broke them so badly that EA took two years to release fixes for some of its most glaring issues. By that point, the damage had already been done for many players. Other packs, like Dine Out, continue to suffer from game-breaking bugs that make core mechanics—like running a restaurant—nearly unplayable.
The Price of Dedication
The growing bugginess and bloated content model aren’t the only issues weighing on the community. The cost of experiencing The Sims 4 in its entirety is astronomical. Even with sales and bundle discounts, completing your collection can easily run into the hundreds of dollars, making it a daunting task for newcomers and longtime players alike.
Adding to the frustration is the fact that EA shows no signs of slowing down. Just recently, they announced new content, including two additional kits and an upcoming expansion, Life and Death. The continued release of DLC adds to the game’s already overwhelming complexity, raising concerns about how much longer the developers can sustain this model without fundamentally breaking the game’s already delicate balance.
Is There a Solution?
But what can be done? Starting fresh with The Sims 5 might seem like an obvious solution, but there’s little reason to believe the series’ next installment won’t follow the same DLC-heavy path. Fans have long since resigned themselves to paying extra for core features—like Seasons, Pets, and University—which have become staples of the franchise over the last two decades.
Mods offer a temporary fix for PC players, but console players don’t have that luxury. And while modders have done incredible work smoothing out gameplay and even fixing bugs, the responsibility shouldn’t fall on them to make the game more playable.
Ultimately, it feels like a lose-lose situation. The game is more expensive and bug-prone than ever, and while players would love to see EA stop releasing new content and focus on fixing what’s already there, that’s not likely to happen. Bug fixes don’t generate revenue, and in today’s development landscape, that’s hard for a company to justify.
Dag Dag for Good?
For many players, The Sims has been a source of joy for years—some even for decades. But for a growing number of Simmers, the modern experience of The Sims 4 has worn thin. What should have been a time of celebration instead feels like a moment of reckoning. After 10 years, is this still the franchise they fell in love with, or has it become a shadow of its former self? As EA continues to roll out new content, fans may have to decide whether they’re ready to say “dag dag” for good.
