The Sims 4 hits 70 million players, all thanks to base game going free-to-play

The Sims 4 has reached a new milestone almost nine years since its launch in 2014. It has officially become the most played game in franchise history.

On April 18, Maxis announced that The Sims 4 has been played by more than 70 million users globally. This is largely thanks to Electronic Arts’ decision to make the base game free-to-play to all new players in October 2022.

As a result, more than 16 million people have downloaded The Sims 4 in the last six months, with average weekly users increasing by 53%.

It is worth noting that 75% of new unique players were outside of North America. EA and Maxix managed to attract a new audience in Brazil, France, the UK, and Poland.

“It’s incredible to see how much our community has grown over the past eight years, and our players continue to inspire us with the countless ways they explore life in The Sims 4,” the game’s executive producer Phillip Ring said.

While the 70 million milestone looks impressive, pure sales of The Sims 4 are likely lower. In 2018, EA announced that the base game has sold over 10 million units globally, and its DLCs have been downloaded 30 million times.

Launched in September 2014, The Sims 4 received mixed reviews from critics, with an average score of 70/100 on Metacritic. However, Maxis and Electronic Arts managed to retain players by adding new features and content (including elements from previous installments in the series) to the base game through paid expansions. As of now, there are 13 expansion packs and 12 game packs for The Sims 4.

In 2019, Electronic Arts reported that The Sims 4 has surpassed $1 billion in lifetime revenue. Given regular expansion releases, the game has likely become even more successful since then.

Right now, Maxis is working on the next Sims game codenamed Project Rene. Announced in October 2022, it is said to feature more customization and gameplay mechanics compared to the previous installments. However, Project Rene is still early in development, so it is unclear when the new Sims title will be released.