The Sims 5: 10 Rumors We Hope Are True (And 10 We Hope Aren’t)
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As more Sims 5 rumors appear, we are either excited, worried, or both. Get ready for leaks and speculations galore.
You Are Reading :The Sims 5 10 Rumors We Hope Are True (And 10 We Hope Arent)
The Sims is an incredibly popular but polarising game series. Never has a simulation franchise been so inconsistent and yet so appealing. This is evident in the latest installment, The Sims 4. Although it received mixed reviews upon release, it earned the title of best-selling PC game for two consecutive years (2014 and 2015).
This series started off in 2000 and immediately garnered critical acclaim for its original design and addictive gameplay. Developer Maxis and publisher EA have since released many Sims games including console exclusives, mobile freemiums, and standalone spin-offs, as well as the main entries. It is a series that allows for an unprecedented amount of immersion and possibility. You can recreate your life or live out a fantasy; it is the player’s choice. There is also a good deal of challenge in terms of managing Sim mood, financing, and relationships. It is truly a staple in the PC gaming landscape.
Since it has been a painfully long stretch for Sim fanatics since the last release, rumors have surfaced regarding the next installment. Some burning questions have been on player minds for years. Wheyesn will it release, and what new gameplay features are there? Taking in mind current EA affairs and their habits, some fear bad choices for game design and content. On the other hand, better technology and a shift in direction would allow for a totally great Sims game. Here are 20 of the best and worst rumors about The Sims 5 for you, the Simmers.
20 Awesome: An E3 Announcement
On June 9th, 2018, EA will be the first of the major publishers to present a conference at this year’s E3 (Electronic Expo). One of the many titles predicted to be revealed during this event is none other than The Sims 5. There are 2 contrasting factors to this rumor. Positively, EA has shown off gameplay for most of the series in the past (at E3). On the more skeptical side, EA has never directly announced a Sims game at the exposition; they normally announce before or after. But with the rising annual viewership of E3, EA may find it marketable to try their hand at unveiling this anticipated title for the first time.
If EA announces The Sims 5, they will surely win E3 for the Simmers out there.
EA Play is the conference, running from June 9th to the 11th. In these two days, many new titles should be revealed. If there is an announcement, expect anything from a 30-second teaser to a trailer showcasing gameplay. There would be a release date at the end of the announcement, too. Although rare, an 8-minute demo could be unveiled. In any case, only time will tell with this one. If it is not there, expect a very likely unveiling of The Sims 5 at next year’s E3.
19 Please, No: Delayed Due To The Sims 4
The Sims 4 has been receiving a lot of post-game content and support. Despite being nearly 4 years old, expansion packs are continually developed, with The Sims 4: Seasons arriving in late June 2018. This may be good news for fans of that installment but not for the anticipatory Simmers. With more effort being focused on expansion packs, the next installment may take longer. In this age of “games as service,” focus on the prolonging of titles rather than developing of new ones will always be more lucrative, especially for greedy EA. As you will see throughout this article, people love new titles more than anything else.
Indeed, The Sims 4 will get better, but it had its chance for way too long now.
The Sims 3 had nearly 4 years of expansion pack releases and 4 is steadily approaching that length too. By then, though, EA will have to leave the mantle and give the people what they want: the next game. Rockstar Games took many of their development team off GTA Online and are now working on their Red Dead Redemption 2 because that’s what its fanbase wants. EA needs to take a leaf out of their book if they want to earn back the respect of their fans.
18 Awesome: A Timed Release
As a counterpoint to that last downer rumor, EA might be executing a strategy to keep the public’s interest in The Sims prevalent enough just in time for a steadily approaching reveal. This is because the Seasons pack announcement has come in time for the EA Play hype season. And with the last expansion pack (Cats and Dogs) being released in November 2017, why would they wait to announce Seasons until late May 2018? The reason could very well be to create buzzworthy exposure for The Sims 5 announcement. By the time it drops, people are already playing the game again.
So Maxis waits more than half a year to announce a new expansion pack amid Sims 5 hype? Coincidence? I think not!
This is a tried-and-true tactic for companies looking to create hype for a brand. While The Sims is trending, EA could launch the perfect trailer to sky-rocket the hype train, potentially derailing it. We all want The Sims 5, and EA knows that. Even if the fifth installment is not in production, sales of the newest expansion pack could very well dictate the decision to work on a new game. If Seasons sells well after all that time since The Sims 4 came out, EA could finally realize the demand for the next installment. Only then would they start production.
17 Please, No: Ultra-Realistic Graphics
With the exponential evolution of facial capture and the emergence of photorealistic graphics, many Simmers fear that the newest installment will follow this trend. It may exchange realism for the series’ trademark charm, which may turn off many veterans. This franchise has thrived on delivering a soft art style that kept a fine line between realistic and expressive so we hope that Maxis, the studio, does not focus on the former quality.
The graphics will undoubtedly get realistic, but TheGamer just hopes that The Sims retains its signature charm.
After all, The Sims includes many otherworldly and fantastical elements. These range from werewolves and vampires to aliens and ghosts. We at TheGamer could never envision the series having very realistic graphics when these monsters are lurking about in comedic fashion. Also, let us not forget the series’ sharp and light-hearted humor. It can be slapstick, deadpan and many other styles. In any way, The Sims could always make you chuckle with its expressive and cartoony animations. If advanced facial capture was used, a lot of the artful charm would be lost from the Sims themselves.
Hopefully, Maxis still creates animations through conventional animation techniques; without the reliance on industry standard motion capture and facials. Overall, ultra realism would not seem right with the series’ beloved running gags and style of humor.
16 Awesome: Playing With Friends
The Sims Online might have flopped back in 2002, but ninety-nine percent of games nowadays have some sort of successful multiplayer component. While the series has had superb media sharing elements and a strong modding community, some Simmers dream of a modernized Sims Online.
Good luck trying to play that retro MMO. The Sims Online shut down in August 2008.
Multiplayer could work in a variety of ways. In the vein of fellow simulator Animal Crossing: New Leaf, players could invite others to their house. The phone could be a gateway into a server browser, allowing you to create custom rooms for friends to join in. On the other hand, online could be taken a step further by being seamlessly integrated into the single player.
Your neighborhood could be filled with fellow players and they could be met during a morning stroll or even during work. There could also be a competitive element: competitions of the best houses, leaderboards of the most well-kept families, and more. Maybe there could be realistic relationships with other players like the ability to marry. Finally, building could be as easy as granting permissions to certain people in your house and letting them decorate in real-time. If made in a way that appeals to both role-players and creators, the online could be a phenomenon.
15 Please, No: Pay To Play
EA has infamously implemented this scourge of gaming for several years now. This business model has gained a lot of profit for them while equally tarnishing the joy of natural progression. As great as The Sims 3 was, it had ‘SimPoints’ which were glorified microtransactions. They were sneakily put into the buying menus by Maxis and links were inserted to purchase them. The Sims 4 thankfully did not include this.
While EA has been lessening the influence of microtransactions, The Sims Mobile and Sims Freeplay’s success may be a bad omen for the progression system in the newest installment. They might be freemium games so that business model is inherent to make a profit, but EA’s spontaneous track record of questionable business decisions is hard to judge.
Why would Sims need microtransactions when they can become astronauts and grow money trees?
Amid the backlash surrounding Star Wars: Battlefront 2’s pay-to-win progression system, EA removed all microtransactions for a short period. This gives a new hope (sorry, I had to) to The Sims 5’s future. However, Battlefield V will have cosmetic purchases. Since The Sims is a cosmetic-based game, we fear that this leeching business model could dominate the scheme of things. Spending real currency instead of the Simoleons my secret agent Sim risked his life for? Count me out.
14 Awesome: Heading To All The Platforms
PC has been the mainstay platform for the series, but that may change. Maxis might be taking their sweet time developing The Sims 5 because they are looking to release it multi-platform. Instead of waiting 3 years, console players could potentially have their hands on a copy at the same time as PC players. Console poets of the series have been criticised for being vastly inferior to their PC counterparts.
Some of these criticisms stem from some glaring issues. For one, these ports typically have less robust controls, making the movement of a Sim or cursor kind of awkward. The Sims will always be fully experienced when controlled with a mouse and keyboard because the point-and-click format is perfect (even though third-person controls are strong in some titles). Another major issue is that the user interface is generally less intuitive, but this again ties into the controls because the UI has to work around them.
Hopefully, Maxis practices enough to turn their own Sims title into a console version that matches or even surpasses its pc version. Maybe then EA will not have to hire a totally different developer to port the game like they did with the panned Sims 4 console versions.
13 Please, No: Mandatory Online Play
Digital Rights Management (DRM) is incorporated by companies to defend products against piracy. EA used this approach in 2013’s SimCity, and the result was disastrous. Players were always required to be online to play and the servers were defective, leaving many who bought the game in the dark. Although The Sims 4 did not use DRM, EA might use it again since 4 became one of the most pirated games of all-time.
If you pirated The Sims 4, you would be welcomed by solely pixelated Sims. This is a lesser and more humorous case of DRM.
This presents many problems. For one: what about all the offline Simmers? There must be many out there who just want to game in peace without the interference of online services. Another situation to consider is when the gamer’s Internet goes down; they won’t even be able to play! Worse yet is if the servers go down and players would have to experience the same hell as 2013’s SimCity players. At the end of the day, pirating is inevitable and DRM will not avert a good hacker from revealing a way to bypass it. All DRM will do is drive away the very people actually buying the game. There is nothing worse than not being able to use something you paid for.
12 Awesome: Story Mode
You know what was an underrated Sims game? Bustin’ Out. It had a unique campaign aptly called Bust Out Mode. In this mode, you escaped your mom’s house to live a life of your own. It was whacky and immersive, giving more context to your daily Sim life. While most will prefer the open-ended mode, some Simmers like myself wants some sort of story to exist alongside my Sim shenanigans. Maybe by having a separate mode, it will draw in even more types of players. In this case, people who like to follow a campaign instead of playing a nonlinear sandbox title.
Even a couple of PSP Sims ports were solely comprised of a story mode. The Sims 2 for the handheld didn’t include any building or nonlinear progression at all. Instead, it had a campaign where you progressed to various areas in a third-person perspective. It had more of an adventure feel than the sandbox style you often relate to The Sims. For people who do not like to build and enjoys a narrative instead of a sandbox, this mode would be perfect. We have not got a narrative-driven Sims since The Sims: Medieval. This unique title in the series had a quest structure that acted like an RPG. Hopefully, The Sims 5 has some sort of RPG-light/story progression.
11 Please, No: Relying On Expansions
If The Sims 4’s lack of content is anything to go by, it is EA’s unwavering aim to earn more money. The lack of content was arguably the fourth entry’s biggest flaw, with many putting the weakness down to EA purposefully leaving out content. After adding the desired content in the form of expansion packs, the game ultimately made more revenue, much to the chagrin of many players. EA has had a slight redemption in the gaming community by announcing that all Battlefield V downloadable maps will be free. However, it is very possible that they will intentionally make The Sims 5 barren in content in order to pad out many post-release expansions.
There is an advantage to having lots of expansion packs. As you would expect, they expand the game and give you more content. However, paying an initial $60 for a game just to fork out much more money on DLC is a darn shame. Free DLC is always welcome but EA seems to just give miscellaneous content for no charge. This is really another rumor where we have to await its fruition. It the core game is jam-packed with content, gamers will not feel as much trepidation when buying new expansion packs.
10 Awesome: Open World
We have seen many franchises make the transition to the open world genre, so why not The Sims? The third entry’s open neighborhoods were the closest we ever got to this type of simulation game but there is so much potential for a wholly integrated world. Maybe it could be set in a massive map with environments including towns, cities, forests.
Many franchises have made the transformation into the open world genre great. Given the fatigue people have with the genre, though, The Sims could be the next breath of fresh air that needs to envelope this scene of gaming. Open world simulation games are pretty much unheard-of right now and The Sims would be incredibly fun in a large, interconnected map with varied environments. And if multiplayer is available, a new level of online gaming could be achieved.
The online could be something everyone wanted from GTA Online; an endless playground of opportunities and activities. The Sims emphasis on performing tone and tons of tasks could open up the perfect gateway into open world and multiplayer. With all these elements coupled together, The Sims could finally feel like it is set in a living, breathing world.
9 Please, No: Loot Boxes
Similarly to microtransactions, loot boxes has wrought many problems in the gaming scene. First, it encourages a shallow sense of progression. Leveling up and opening a box containing randomized items is addicting but ultimately leaves something to be desired. Conventional progression will always be superior because you know what you’re going to get and it makes progression more exciting. What’s worse is that it encourages gambling when coupled with real-world currency purchases.
Gambling is clearly a problem when considering The Sims’ young demographic. A monetized loot system could prove too addicting to many teens and even kids playing. That is something Sims games don’t represent; it is a creative game that should not rely on pay-to-win strategies. Instead, gamers will always enjoy slowly earning enough Simoleons to buy items or leveling up in skills to unlock new opportunities. Things like ‘Aspirations’ and the skill trees were enough to get a determined player through to the end of their Sims’ life cycle. These were unique systems that fit with the themes of the game. Loot boxes, contrarily, would never fit with the series’ simulation nature or style. The Sims brand is too sacred to be associated with superficial corporate trends like this.
8 Awesome: No Loading Here
Loading screens have always been a problem, especially so in The Sims’ area-based structure. 2 and 4 constantly suffered from these due to the frequent switching of areas, and even 3 had some bad menu loading. While it is expected to include these in previous games, technology has advanced enough to remedy the wait between gameplay. The previously mentioned possibility of open world could remove loading screens entirely.
This slow process is a problem for the heavy spenders of furniture and building. Too many assets in a piece of Sim land can make performance and frames per second very sluggish and laggy. On low-end computers, this is not very compatible. The asset overheating could also affect more powerful computers, potentially festering into game-breaking crashes. Furniture is not the only assets that slow the game down. Sim friends, memories, skills and other info can also be the result of lag. It is not fair that players with more game time should be subjected to longer load times. These built-up developments on Sim careers should be better coded in The Sims 5 so less time could be spent waiting. Playing the game beats staring at that green diamond for 15 minutes straight.
7 Please, No: Less Customization
To the dismay of many Simmers, no color wheel was included in The Sims 4. As a result, custom colors were lost and a lot of visual creativity went down the drain. Gamers could not create unique color schemes or patterns unlike in previous entries. And although the character customizer was on-par with previous entries, not as many clothing styles were available. This left a lot of customization purists with less choice.
With EA’s less creative direction as of late, you might want to be skeptical about The Sims 5’s customization choices. A lot of The Sims is about expression in areas such as fashion and decoration. By having the ability to select from a wide range of patterns, your Sim house can have a personality of its own. More clothes styles are always awesome too.
Fans would like to see the return of Body Shop from The Sims 2. This was an official tool that was provided by Maxis. With it you could create Sims in any way you wanted with even more advanced tools than the main game. For example, you could insert images you edited from Photoshop onto a shirt and many other image types. This was not the only sign of support Maxis used to show for modding. There was also a media-sharing website called The Exchange for the first three games. Here, you could upload lots, Sims, and more. Fans are crossing their fingers for these features to come back.
6 Awesome: A New Engine For Sim Behavior
Every main game in the series utilized a different engine each time. Therefore, we can safely assume that the newest game will also boast a totally new one too. The Sims 4, despite its flaws, had the ‘SmartSim’ engine, which made Sims more expressive and emotional. Hopefully, this engine will expand upon AI even better while including other graphical and mechanical improvements. Maybe the engine could let Sims naturally develop their personality and behavior in an even more realistic way than The Sims 4? That would be immense.
What really needs to be accomplished is a more believable way of relationship building. I could use ‘Chat’ and ‘Tell a Joke’ about 20 times on a female Sim and she would accept a marriage engagement from me on the same day. That is clearly not how relationships work. If Maxis’ new engine could allow a more long-term relationship system, getting to know fellow Sims would be more satisfying and immersive. A new engine is kind of like the brain that could make all of these rumors come true. What it all comes down to is whether the engine can handle all of these elements and mechanics into a complete, fulfilled package.
5 Please, No: The Same Engine As The Sims 4
What if EA got that lazy? They have repeatedly used the Frostbite engine for tons of games since 2008. It is definitely an impressive engine because they have been updating it since it first released. Their Ignite engine has also been effective and continually updated for their sports games since 2013.
The Sims 4 had one of the best engines in the series, but it often felt like a slightly more refined version of The Sims 3 with smoother visuals and a more cartoony art style. It also had its problems with pathfinding, a Sim limit of 180, game-breaking bugs and more. This might be because funds made from The Sims 3 were given to other EA developers prior to 4, resulting in a seemingly outdated engine. No wonder the base content was scarce but at least it funded Titanfall 2.
Keeping in mind EA’s reuse of engines and inclination to save money, they might totally upgrade the engine used previously; but the same one nonetheless. This same engine might entail the same problems seen in that disappointing entry. We all want The Sims 5 to have a completely different feel so let us hope this decision sees the Sims’ green-lit light of day.
4 Awesome: Dynamic Weather System
Seasons might be coming to The Sims 4, but better tech will probably allow a whole heap of weather patterns to start with. These will most likely happen naturally during gameplay. Precipitation in the base game would be awesome as weather is a natural part of any sandbox game. It is surprising that all of The Sims games (apart from Castaway Stories) did not have weather to start off. Weather can completely change gameplay circumstance in interesting ways.
The Sims 5’s engine could allow for a dynamic weather system akin to something like The Witcher III or something more simplistic like fellow simulator Civilization. Sims could react realistically to different patterns. A Sim could hold a newspaper over their head when rain starts pouring down or even contract hypothermia if they stay in the rain for too long.
The disaster weather patterns found in SimCity could also make their way into the fifth entry. Cataclysmic events like meteor strikes and hurricanes could be available for the more twisted Simmers out there. They could also be very rare mishaps when using the weather machine; something The Sims 2 did with rare fire rain. Fans would also like to see small details like wind blowing a hanging sign back and forth or clothes being drenched by rain.
3 Please, No: But Where Are The Pools?
A total of 82 features were cut from The Sims 4’s development cycle. Three of the most infamously removed features were toddlers, pools and vehicles. Although toddlers and pools were added in free updates, beloved features such as terrain tools and the previously mentioned ownable transportation. Many of these features were expected from the start, not months or even years later.
This revelation of insight into the development cycle clearly shows a lot of lost potential in The Sims 4. EA might not have wanted to give Maxis enough funds to make the game they truly wanted to. Instead, they were working with limited resources. Maxis has even confirmed this notion, stating in the toddler update announcement that they “had to find the right time, resources, and design.”
The Sims 5 will hopefully be more well realized. Maxis is taking their time with it more than any other game in the series and the ninth generation will allow for the game they have always dreamed of. All that is needed now is for EA to let Maxis loose on a creative development process and then who knows how many additions will be added? We are guessing more and then some.
2 Awesome: Virtual Reality
Surprisingly, our penultimate entry contains the strongest lead on The Sims 5’s existence yet. According to people who saw it, a Reddit post was made by EA asking gamers if they are “ready to live” in The Sims world. Although considered by some to be a virtual reality update for The Sims 4, many think otherwise, due to the supposed report that the post was removed minutes after. If this is official, expect either The Sims 4 or 5 to be compatible with Oculus Rift, Playstation VR, and the Oculus Rift.
What could we expect from a VR Sims game? Well, it very well could be first-person. Although that would lose some of the strategy the game possesses, the level of vicariousness would be through the roof (as long as you do not build a roof). Maybe I am delving too deeply but it would truly be an emotional experience to live the life of a Sim from birth to death. It could be the ultimate second life; somewhere to raise a child, go to work and live a fantastical life. While some fans are polarized by this rumor, we at TheGamer think that VR would be groundbreaking for the series.
1 Please, No: Not Coming Any Time Soon
Unfortunately, besides the virtual reality leak and some of those rumors, there is not much conclusive evidence to back up the existence of The Sims 5 so far. Coupling the lack of info with EA’s games-as-service approach recently, and it seems like The Sims 4 is here to stay for at least another year. It may have left a bad taste in many a Simmer’s mouths, but at least the fourth installment is turning into what we first envisioned it to be. However, believe us, most people immediately want the next chapter in a series, whether that is a video game or anything else. When it comes, though, expect it to be the greatest Sims game of all-time (apart from the untouchable Sims 2).
What-with news of EA firing some of its veteran ‘SimGuru’ development workers and shifting others to mobile development, it seems like we will have to sit this one out until the veterans work their magic again. However, Some of the SimGurus said that “if Sims 4 doesn’t sell there won’t be a Sims 5.” We are in 2018, and The Sims 4 became one of the most sold PC games ever. Make true on your promise, Maxis.
Link Source : https://www.thegamer.com/the-sims-5-rumors-true-other/