Will there be The Sims 5 mods? Since the next The Sims game was revealed on October 18, 2023, under the placeholder name Project Rene, we can start to think about what we might see in terms of mod support.
The Sims mod community is one of the largest ever, and thousands of Sims 4 mods have kept fans coming back to the simulation game over the last eight years, even alongside regular official expansion packs and updates from Maxis. Sims fans know what we want, and the developers don’t always deliver, leaving modders to take it upon themselves. So will the same be true for the next game in the series, and what Sims 5 mods would we like to see?
The Sims 5 mod support
The main difficulty with guessing whether The Sims 5 will support mods is that we don’t yet know the format of the game itself. Project Rene will be an early access project, so it’s highly unlikely that mods will be feasible unless they’re officially supported by developer Maxis. That may change when The Sims 5 releases fully, but for now it’s far too early to know for sure.
The other question regarding mods is whether Maxis has listened to the mod community over the past eight years, with existing mods giving the developers an idea of what players want from the game. If they include what people want, there will be less need for mods, but there will always be imaginative modders coming up with new ideas. Of course, Maxis did demonstrate the ability to take player feedback on board with the July 2022 update, which added long-overdue sexual orientation changes.
Either way, we can probably guess that given EA’s support of the Sims mod community historically, there will be some level of mod support on whatever iteration of The Sims comes next.
In our Sims 5 interview with EA’s executive producer on The Sims, Phill Ring, and The Sims VP of franchise creative Lyndsay Pearson, we got a little more information on what kind of structure to expect. Pearson explains that the studio will continue to do what’s worked for it, and that includes add-ons, while also pointing out that there’s a lot the studio hasn’t ruled out yet.
What’s also clear from both our conversation and the reveal itself, is that players will have more creative freedom out of the box, before having to turn to mods. Pearson says the studio is “exploring everything from breaking some of those manipulations, being stuck on a grid, or making things look a little bit more organic, such as stacking objects in ways we haven’t been able to do in Sims 4 before… to actually – at the object level – being able to modify pieces of the object itself, and really get in there and customize it to the level that you want.”
From the very short gameplay presentation, we can see individual pieces of furniture being modified, like a bed with different headboards and footrests. We also see pieces of soft furniture being overlapped, placed angled, and tilted. The coolest bit? You can replicate all of that meticulous arranging by forming an area into a collection, which you can then save and share online.
The Sims 5 mods wishlist
So what would we want to see from The Sims 5 mods? Again, this wholly depends on the base game itself, but we can always start to think about what we may or may not get.
Sex mods
The first, obvious place to go is Woohoo. Sims always could get intimate with others in the life game, but there have to be limitations with just how explicit things can get. As such, we can assume that there will always be room for Sims sex mods, with some of the most popular existing mods removing censors and adding more options when it comes to getting freaky.
Religion mods
Like sex, religion is another area that needs to be tackled with care, which is perhaps why there are limitations to religious aspects in the Sims 4 base game. Sure, Sims can celebrate certain religious holidays, but that’s about it – and will likely remain the case in future games. As such, modders have taken to adding religion, or more vague spirituality, via mods.
Personality mods
It is more likely that we’ll see some more developed personality in a new Sims game, as this is something that can more easily change with time. Current Sims 4 personality mods, such as Have Some Personality Please, add additional interactions between Sims, with more depth in conversation and feelings. So, while this is something that could be more evolved in a new base game, there will always be room for more.
Career mods
Your career is one of the most important parts of your Sim’s personality, but again there are limitations to what the developer can offer. With so many career options in real life, it would be hard for Maxis to cover everything, so the wonderful mod community will undoubtedly cover any glaring omissions.
So that’s what we’re thinking about The Sims 5 mods and support so far, but hopefully, we’ll learn more about this and when The Sims 5 release date could fall very soon – it’s a very exciting time to be a Sims fan. If you’re thinking about what else could come from Project Rene, take a look at our Sims 5 cheats guide too, which explores classic Sims cheats and which might return.