We explore the History of all Sims 4 DLC being released for Free and where it all began.
EA has quietly announced this week that they’ll soon be making another one of their Sims 4 DLC free for PC and Mac players. The upcoming Free release of The Sims 4 Blooming Rooms Kit has continued the debate and conversations within the community about paid DLC going free. And what’s in it really for dedicated players who purchase said content on day one.
Spoiler alert – nothing much. Stuff Packs, Kits, the Base Game and even a Game Pack have all at one point gone free as a hidden promotional mean from Electronic Arts to bring back new players. But why are they doing this?
We dug deeper into all of The Sims 4 Content that eventually went free, along with a community poll for players to see what they think about the recent deals trend.
The History of Free Sims 4 DLC
If we’re going to track down all of The Sims 4 DLC that went free, we need to go back to where it all started.
Back in 2019, Maxis have revealed their first ever permanent deal for The Sims 4. Allowing players to claim The Sims 4 Base Game free of charge for the entire week duration. This later became a permanent deal in October 2022 when the video game publisher made the Base Game Free to Play. Forever.
Such decision made somewhat sense to the majority of existing players in The Sims 4 community. Considering that up until that point the Base Game has been available for paid customers for over 8 years.
The Base Game went through three significant price changes. Going from $60USD on the release day, to $40USD a couple of years later. With the $20USD tag being the final price cut. In occasional promotions before the game went free the game was charged from $5USD to $10USD.
As long as it’s not Paid DLC…oh wait!
There were a couple of times where The Sims Team tried to test out the theory of will Free Pack promotions result in better user retention and in-game engagement. The biggest telemetric update that could’ve paved the way for bigger Free Sims 4 DLC promotions are Expansion Pack trials. Which happened mostly in the year of 2021 when City Living, Eco Lifestyle, Get Famous and Island Living Expansion Packs went on Free Trial Weeks. During which players could download a Pack and play it for 7 days until the timer runs out.
And then, the first permanent Free DLC happened on the same week of The Sims 4 Base Game going free. By making the up and coming Sims 4 Desert Luxe Kit free of charge for the seven day duration of the big promotional week.
This still somewhat seemed like an understandable deal. Considering that the Kit hasn’t even come out yet. This Sims 4 DLC was put behind a $5USD paywall seven days after the promotion.
Free Paid Content in 2023
Things really picked up the pace in 2023 with the first release of a Free Bundle. An exclusive deal between EA and Epic Games that helped congregate Sims players onto a new Epic Games launcher platform. Allowing players to claim Jungle Adventure Game Pack, Luxury Party Stuff Pack and the Fashion Street Kit free for a limited time. Only this time the deal was only available for PC players.
This was the first time both a Stuff Pack and a Game Pack were offered for free claim. And those who were techy enough to figure out connecting two launchers were able to have them on their EA App / Origin launchers.
Afterwards, with each coming season came a new Free Deal, including:
- The Sims 4 My First Pet Stuff Pack (November 2023 / PC and Mac)
- The Sims 4 Romantic Garden Stuff Pack (December 2023 / All Platforms)
- The Sims 4 Backyard Stuff Pack (March 2024 / All Platforms)
…and now, The Sims 4 Blooming Rooms Kit.
If we exclude the Base Game, so far EA has given out $70USD of Free Sims 4 DLC content to the new players. With three recent packs focusing solely on the outdoors, gardening and plants.
Is it fair for the players?
There’s tens of hundreds of dollars worth of Sims 4 DLC currently available for simmers. Including:
- 15 Expansion Packs
- 12 Game Packs
- 20 Stuff Packs
- 27 Kits
At the moment, we’re at 74 DLC paid releases into The Sims 4 series. 10 years down the line. The russian roulette of which Sims 4 Content gets to shine in the free monthly spotlight is fun, but also raises serious questions from the community about is it safe to buy any more content in the future.
Time is money, and that saying also goes in the case of The Sims 4’s collection. Previous Sims Games had a more rigid structure when it came down to price cuts and releases. Still, the same Sims games didn’t knock up more than 70 Packs (and counting) to their name.
Each Sims 4 DLC release is an extension of the Base Game’s legacy. And the more time passes away, the more they’re forgotten and moved onto the next big thing that’s coming out.
If you rely heavily on The Sims 4 Gallery then you probably noticed how hard it is to make that Family Home or Household port in your game just like from the pictures. The segregation of Sims 4 DLC structure and its variety makes it hard for players to enjoy Gallery creations without being reminded that they don’t own a certain Pack or Kit.
In my opinion, what harm could a free Sims 4 Blooming Rooms Kit do when a newcoming player will still be reminded that they don’t own The Sims 4 Greenhouse Kit. And so back and so forth.
Let’s ask the audience!
But enough about my theory. Let’s ask Simmers what they think about the recent trend of Free Sims 4 DLC.
What are your thoughts on The Sims 4 Content going free? Join the friendly constructive conversation with us and stay tuned on Sims Community for the latest Free Sims 4 DLC updates!
