Years after it went free to play, EA adds more ways to monetize the game.
Years after it went free to play, EA adds more ways to monetize the game.
EA is adding some big changes to The Sims 4: Later this month, it’s introducing an in-game marketplace where users can buy creator-made items using a new in-game currency called “Moola.” The announcements mark another big shift for the game, which went free to play back in 2022.
Creators who want to sell in-game items will have to be part of the new Maker Program, which will be open to applications starting March 5th. EA will offer a “Maker Suite” that “provides official tools, resources, and clear guidelines” to ensure content made by creators works well when it’s actually in the game.
On the marketplace, Makers will be able to list their creations as “Maker Packs” that people can shop for. Users will be able to buy the “Moola” currency that they can spend on things in the marketplace, and EA says that Makers will earn about 30 percent of the Moola from any sales of Maker Packs.
EA is covering all of the overhead for creators who want to publish and sell their in-game items, and content available on the Marketplace will be “human-reviewed” to make sure it’s all “safe, compatible, and appropriate for the game’s rating,” EA says. Creators can still offer free or early access content via other platforms, but anything that’s available in other places “is not eligible” to go on sale in the official marketplace.
The marketplace will launch on PC and Mac on March 17th, and will come to PlayStation and Xbox “in the next couple of months.”
“At its core, the Marketplace is all about giving you more choices, and supporting the Makers whose creativity continues to shape how we all play The Sims,“ EA explained in a blog post. ”As The Sims continues to evolve, our focus remains the same: celebrating self-expression and building the future together as a community.“
The Sims remains a major series for EA, with the company highlighting it in an earnings report last year alongside other key franchises with “massive online communities” like EA Sports FC, Apex Legends, and Battlefield. Although The Sims Mobile was recently shut down, EA is still working on its next-gen The Sims game, codenamed Project Rene, which is set to be free to download.
