The Sims 5 Has Been Cancelled, According to Developer Updates

Fans are concerned that a number of developers working on the console version of The Sims 5 appear to have been sent back to work on The Sims 4.

If there’s one company that you’d expect to follow a simple, sequel-to-sequel progression, it’s EA, but they’ve always been very odd in how they’ve handled The Sims franchise, with their continued reluctance to announce The Sims 5.

The Sims 4 turns 10 in September, and while EA has often talked about the mysterious Project Rene, which has been described as the “next installment” of The Sims, they’ve always avoided calling it The Sims 5.

Project Rene was first announced in 2022 and while there have been updates and rumors since then, there has never been any official confirmation of what it actually is, and now fans are concerned that some developers who were working on “The Sims 5” are indicating that it has been canceled.

There’s a lot of uncertainty as to what’s going on here, as a series of updates on LinkedIn refer to The Sims 5 being canceled, but none mention Project Rene.

It’s unclear, but they may only be referring to the console version of The Sims 5. While many versions of The Sims have already been released on consoles, the series has never been as popular as it is on PC, and it wouldn’t be surprising if The Sims 5 launched as a PC-only title.

Even though this version of The Sims 5 has been canceled, there will likely be a new numbered sequel at some point, but it’s less clear than ever whether or not it’s Project Rene. In fact, some fans suspect that Project Rene could end up being a spinoff, after EA said that support for The Sims 4 would continue in parallel.

The only thing that has been shown in detail for Project Rene is the build mode, for creating and customizing homes, which, while an important part of The Sims experience, is not most people’s favorite part.

The real Sims were never featured as part of Project Rene, although the developers in these new LinkedIn ads talk about working on character customization tools.

Another possibility is that EA will simply stick with The Sims 4, treating it as a true live service title that’s meant to last forever and will be constantly updated.

Unfortunately, the reason these posts were made appears to be the ongoing layoffs at EA, making it even harder to guess what’s really going on behind the scenes.

There are a few different ways to explain these job updates, but until EA confirms its plan, fans will remain uncertain about the future direction of the franchise.

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