‘The Sims 4’ will be permanently free-to-play from October

The Sims 4 is going free-to-play from October, following an announcement from EA.

The Sims 4 will be permanently free-to-play from October 18, and will be available to PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One users.

Anybody who already owns The Sims 4 will be able to get the game’s latest Desert Luxe downloadable content (DLC) for free, via a promotion that will run until October 17. This can be downloaded by logging into the game and claiming it in the main menu.

“With The Sims 4 going free to play, our team is more dedicated than ever to developing new and meaningful The Sims 4 experiences for our players and we will continue to develop and release packs, kits and Sims Delivery Express drops into the foreseeable future,” shares a blog posted by EA.

The blog adds that a “special-edition stream” will broadcast on October 18 at 6PM BST. The stream, titled Behind The Sims Summit, will share “more about what’s in the works” for The Sims.

It’s been a busy year for the fourth mainline Sims entry, which has released a slew of downloadable content (DLC) over the last year. This month, fans were treated to two DLC releases – the First Fits Kit and Desert Luxe Kit.

While First Fits focused on adding more children’s clothing with “trendy patterns & colourful fits,” Desert Luxe introduced “new furniture inspired by the natural landscape of the Southwestern Desert.”

Back in July, Maxis launched High School Years for The Sims 4. Although the expansion pack added plenty of new content for teenage sims, it unintentionally came with several concerning bugs – including one that caused Sims to rapidly grow old and die, and another that allowed Sims to date their family members.

An earlier expansion for The Sims 4 catered to the game’s supernatural side by allowing Sims to turn into werewolves, which provides “unique temperaments and abilities” for any Sims who catch lycanthropy.

In other EA news, yesterday (September 13) the company announced that PC versions of FIFA 23 will launch with an “absolutely vital” kernel-level anti-cheat system.