The Sims 4 released all the way back in 2014, so fans of the series have every right to feel aggrieved that they are yet to hear anything about a potential sequel, with very little in the way of official statements from EA on what exactly is even happening.
Project Rene is the proposed next step for the series, releasing for both mobile devices and PC, with that being actively developed alongside the community via regular, very restricted playtests.
That may well not be the only forward direction for developer Maxis right now though, as rumours abound of another release that could potentially be on the horizon pretty soon, and fans aren't really sure how to feel about the whole thing.
Sims 4 Remaster Might in Development? Fans Confused
As first reported by SimsCommunity.info, a new version of The Sims 4 base game is rumoured to be in development, with the intention of it joining the next generation Project Rene platform.
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Speculation swirls about what exactly it will look like and what will be included, but essentially it will involve the game moving to a new engine, with additional features like open neighbourhoods and some of the ridiculous number of content packs included in the base offering.
In a post sharing the revelation on Reddit, fans were split into several camps, with many not knowing how to feel about the idea of a remaster.
"I know a lot of people are on the whole 'Anything but making Sims 5' train, but if this is a major upgrade that lets you use all the content you've purchased, it's kind of a preferable scenario than starting all over again with a new barebones Sims game," one said.
"I don't think they would do this. It would create an actual clusterf**k," another said.
"You'd have expansions from the old game and then would they work or not in the new game?
"New expansions exclusive to the new game? Idk I don't see it."
"At this point don't call it 'Sims 4'. Just call it 'Sims Forever' since they plan on updating it until the end of time," a third said, despondently.
Whatever their plans are for the next Sims release, it's clear there's a lot of pressure from an audience that has grown increasingly frustrated with the current state of play.
Whether they can subvert those expectations and put out a real winner remains to be seen, but there are a lot of potential stumbling blocks.