The Sims 5 to be Free-to-Play, as Revealed in Leaked Job Ad
If you had bet on The Sims 5 launching as a free-to-play game, now’s the time to collect your winnings. A recent leak from an EA job posting, spotted by Sims Community, reveals that the upcoming Sims game, currently codenamed Project Rene, will be a “free-to-enter” experience.
The job ad for Head of Marketplace and Monetization has been removed from EA’s job portal, but it clearly mentioned the next major Sims installment. Two primary responsibilities of the role included “Owning Project Rene’s in-game marketplace of content and UGC (free and paid)” and “Owning pricing of all content in this free-to-enter game.” From this information, we can deduce some key points about The Sims 5:
- The base game is likely to be free, and the game will heavily rely on DLC like expansions, game packs, and kits.
- EA anticipates some user-generated content (UGC) to be sold, suggesting plans to allow modders and custom content (CC) creators to sell their creations and take a share of the profits.
These details aren’t too surprising, as The Sims 4 base game has been free since last year. Although this change occurred after nine years, offering The Sims 5 as a free download from the start, while counting on consistent DLC sales, seems plausible. EA may also launch a free stripped-down version of the base game and sell a complete edition. Many players already consider the current Sims 4 base game alongside essential DLCs like Seasons and Pets similarly—tomato, tomahto.
The now-deleted job listing also mentioned an in-game marketplace with free and paid content from other players, not an unexpected development. The Sims franchise has a long history of custom content and a complicated relationship between compensated modders and the game’s Terms of Service. Currently, paid modding resides mostly on Patreon, where EA cannot reliably oversee or monetize. Though EA is unlikely to crack down on modding, enticing creators to join an in-game platform—with moderation and associated fees—certainly has its appeal.
Additionally, EA hosted a Behind the Sims Summit this week, offering a behind-the-scenes look at the upcoming Sims 4 Horse Ranch expansion and briefly discussing The Sims 5 prototyping phase.
