The Sims team has released an official blog discussing various concerns surrounding skin tones, wildly popular requested content, and details about the development process. They have also confirmed that a new Expansion Pack has been in the works since last year, and that they will be releasing details in the coming weeks.
Hi Simmers –
We want you to know we’ve been seeing all your feedback and we hear you. As we always have been, we’re committed to growing The Sims as a game and as a community, so instead of trying to respond to a variety of tweets we wanted to consolidate some thoughts and updates in one place:
- We are working on adding significantly more skin tones before the end of the year, and will share news on our progress soon. Beyond that, we’re committed to continuing to expand representation in The Sims 4. This is not one step, but a journey.
- On upcoming content – when we consider something for addition to the game we consider what it will take to update it meaningfully. This is just as true for babies as it would be for cars, bunk beds or any other number of feature requests. Sometimes there is foundational technology we need to work through and sometimes we need to dig into designs more deeply to make sure we understand your expectations. This work takes time, and we don’t update you on these projects until they become more real. Game development in general can feel like a long process and, like most of the world, we are adjusting to a continued state of working from home.
- In just a matter of weeks we’ll be sharing more about our next Expansion Pack, which we’ve been working on since last year. I want to set expectations now, though, that cars, babies, farms and bunk beds are not part of this EP. We understand how important these features are to you but we want to be honest that they are not part of this upcoming pack.
- As a team, we are going to make more of an effort to communicate what’s coming with more regularity and transparency so that you continue to feel in the loop about new features, experiences, packs, and general information.
That’s it for now, and you’ll be hearing more from us soon. In the meantime, all we ask of you is to be kind, engage in constructive conversations with each other, and continue to celebrate what makes the Sims special to YOU. And I can assure you that we will continue to listen, continue to invest in The Sims 4 and continue to engage with you. We could not do what we do without our players.
SimGuru Lyndsay & the Sims Team
