The Sims Re-Release is an Utterly Unsurprising, Inevitable Disappointment

Dearest reader, 

I have a discussion topic I like to whip out every once in a while: Rockstar is the superior game developer compared to most. 

I believe this because Rockstar has done what numerous AAA companies refuse to do. Upon hearing this word they either smugly guff and twirl their mustache with a hotty tisk. Or hiss and retreat to their cave of riches. Smiting whoever may dare take their treasure and share it among the masses. 

I’m referring to archiving. An exceedingly rare practices among game companies. Especially those who are fortunate enough to still exist for decades.

GTA 1 and 2 are currently free to download from Rockstar’s website. History at your fingertips, just a couple of clicks away. Doesn’t that sound amazing? Almost as if it was the purpose of the internet. What if all classic games we’re made readily available like this? What Utopia we would live in if you could play the first Zelda game, for free, on your Switch right now. 

There will probably still be war but at least there would be just a little bit more happiness in this world. 

Rockstar isn’t a perfect company. However, they have earned my respect for respecting their games. No one is flocking to download these games, much like how no one rushes to a museum on a random Tuesday unless you’re a student or a nerd (we all are). But it’s the fact that it’s there, easily and readily available. The foundation of one of the most well known franchises in gaming, preserved. 

When it comes to art, there is a delicacy to its preservation. The art is either so obscene and horrendous that it must be preserved as history to learn from. Or is an important piece that demands to be shared. I staunchly believe that these legacies should be made free for the masses. As there is no gatekeeper more hated, forgiven, and known to us from birth, as a price tag. No one person should be prevented from education and joy because they can’t afford the price of admission. This is why we vote to keep our museums free for students. This is why we had the public domain before it was destroyed by that damn fucking mouse.

Most important, this is why Nintendo are dicks.

Because Kirby’s Dreamland should be free to play and ready to download from the switch eShop. Yes, it is an investment from Nintendo’s part. It takes human resources to port the game from its original system onto a modern console. But here’s the thing. Nintendo has money and the game is old. So free Kirby from his vault.

Who cares about return on investment for a game released in ’92. The most aesthetically hideous decade to be alive. The game is old, you made and you have money, just get somebody to work on a port and leave it in the eShop. Because that’s the point of art. Art is meant to be circulated and shared. It is meant to make a profit for its artist so that they can continue to make more art. And when is profit is made and that art becomes old enough, you make it free. And you continue to spread the joy. 

Oh if only there were ethics in capitalism. 

I am currently the same age as The Sims franchise. My introduction to the mainline games being The Sims 3. Yes dear reader, I remember all too well having to wait 15 minutes for the game to load and it feeling like half a goddamn hour. 

The Sims was revolutionary for me as a young player. My hands were forged by the fires of the PS2. I didn’t discover PC gaming until I was able to purchase Minecraft on my first laptop. After discovering the magic of indie games, I was diversifying my palate by learning about RPGs and simulation games. 

I grew up when let’s plays on YouTube were in their prime. Specifically Minecraft let’s plays which is what I spent most of my early teens consuming. Somewhere along the way, one of these let’s players was playing The Sims 3. The game looked oddly familiar, as if I had encountered it before. After some research, I was shocked to discover that I had. My Sims Kingdom is probably one of my most played Wii games. I played My Sims Kingdom when I was around 10. And now I was able to hear the words: ‘T for teen’ and have it mean something to me. Not because of some rating on a box. But because I was old enough to understand what this game was. A new game, a new world, a new genre. A literal new stage of life that I was about to explore in a game about life. 

I spent God knows how much money on this franchise. I bought nearly every Sims 3 expansion pack with the exception of Showtime and of course Katy Perry Sweet Treats. I’ve remade myself countless times, exploring different lifestyles and paths. 

I’ll never forget becoming a witch and living in a Gothic manor with my five star chef husband. Having triplets with him because I wanted a rock band. Then myself and my spouse accidentally dying in the pool shortly after having sex. This is very tame for the average simmer. And yes I do cringe at my young self not yet realizing that she did not have to get married and have children in the future. Thank God she did before she was 15.

Throughout the years I continued to play and explore myself and who I was. I was always keen to join the writer and artist profession. Dreaming that one day I would be a self-employed artist. 15 years later I am actively pursuing just that. After discovering that I wasn’t quite straight, the game became a safe way for me to explore my sexuality. I found myself much happier when virtual me had a virtual wife and a peaceful childfree life. I would have households in which we lived with queer roommates, traveling to mystical lands or far off futures where we could coexist happily and peacefully. 

I loved the Sims 3 for the same reasons I loved Minecraft. It was my own little world. A happy and peaceful one away from the harsh realities of existing in the real one. The real world was scary because I didn’t know the future. I knew that I was ready to grow up, but I couldn’t quite yet. I was ready to find myself, but I didn’t know who I was. Most important, I wanted to live, but I didn’t know how to or what life looked like. So, as an undiagnosed neurodivergent player, a middle class, suburban, black teen in the newly bankrupt city of Detroit, I spent my lonely hours escaping into a world of doll houses and blocks.

When the Sims 4 for was announced I was ecstatic. I pre-ordered the game and had my dad drive me to the closest GameStop to pick up my physical copy. Popping the disc into my laptop, I eagerly recreated myself in a new game with shiny new graphics. Popped myself into a household and began playing. 

Dear reader, the only thing I remember from this time is recreating the main characters from the BL anime Love Stage, and being bored.’

The Sims 4 upon release was the most lackluster and bare bones gaming experience I’ve had in my 14 years. It has gone down in infamy that upon launch the fourth installment of the franchise was missing numerous key features that were apart of the base game. Such as toddlers, pools, and numerous build items. These features were later added but took months or years to do so.

Since then the franchise has been far from pretty. I will not go into detail about EA’s greedy business practices, nor the numerous controversies that EA and Maxis have come under fire for. 

No my dear reader. I’m here because who the fuck is surprised that the re-release of the Sims 1 and 2 is trash.

I have been playing MySims Kingdom on my switch in chucks. It’s a great way to unwind and feel nostalgic without gorging on a game that feels like it’s giving me a diabetes. I wish the game didn’t cost $40. I wish that I could have spent $20 or less on this single game, not forced to have MySims along with it. I wish I didn’t feel obligated to get my money’s worth of the MySims Cozy Bundle and force myself to play MySims. But, fuck it. I have my game and fuck you and me I’m going to be happy with it. 

Why? Because I never thought I was going to play MySims Kingdom again. I thought the game was lost forever when my little cousins destroyed it along with the rest of my Wii library. Even now as an adult with money I can easily purchase a Wii and the game. But who am I kidding? I’m not going to do that.

It felt like a long shot that MySims was going to be re-released on the Switch. EA has stated they didn’t want to put any of the mainline Sims games on the Switch and nobody cared. MySims Kingdom was the exception we were all silently asking for. And EA was probably sitting on re-release until the perfect time had come. This was stupid easy to port and they knew it. 

I wish I could say the same thing about the Sims 1 and 2. As a younger player, I was never interested in going back in time. As an adult with a gaming PC, it’s too much work and effort to emulate the complete games. I mean no disrespect to those who are doing the jobs these companies should have done. I realize the difficulties of emulation is the reality of archiving. Tech gets older and more powerful by the day. The Sims 3 is 16 years old and is having an increasingly difficult time running on modern computers without the help of fan made patches.

For a franchise that’s well known for its coding to be held together by Band-Aids and glue, a re-release of the Sims 1 and 2 was definitely going to be a task. EA didn’t have to completely fix these games. Simmers weren’t asking for them to smooth out the old bugs and exploits they love and missed so much. All we were asking for was a little bit of time and effort. A little bit of time to figure out how to make these games run on modern PCS. And a little bit of effort to make that possible. 

Because dear reader, I know shit about coding and game development. I know that it’s challenging and a team effort. I know it takes time and love to honor a legacy and give these games back to the people. The people who thought they would never play them again as physical games become more and more obsolete. Those who cannot afford modern gaming PCs. Those two young to experience the original games but would still like to. Those whose old computers may one day die and their games dying along with it. 

As a player, is the ultimate purpose of video games not to make memories? Was I not supposed to pour hours into Minecraft only to have those memories blend into a feeling? Was I not supposed to remember the feeling of laughing with my friends as we built PvP arenas? Was I not supposed to remember the feeling of holding back tears as I watched Ellie pet a giraff? Am I not supposed to remember the horror of failing to save a Life in Life Is Strange? Should I forget how powerful it felt to be Batman when trying to survive Arkham City?

Do artists make art so that they will be remembered? Already fine disappearing into the shadows of their creation? A name attached to a work attached to memories. 

To ask EA to make these re-releases free on PC is like asking Scrooge for a copper coin. EA has not the type of corporation that would waiver a return on investment. Simmers are long used to the disrespect from EA. Many quitting, many staying because we cannot quit. Our game is our comfort. Our escape. Our lifeline. For me, to leave The Sims is to return to being a ghost in a shell. I cannot do it. I take such great comfort in The Sims 4, that I cannot quit. 

$40 is a ridiculous price for classic art that must be free. Especially from a company that has more than enough and continues to profit from its legacy. It is a disrespect to these games to not make them free. 

But no, no, it gets worse. 

I was really hoping I could bitch about money. I was hoping that I would be proven wrong. That the game wasn’t crashing upon launch or right after making a household. That EA wouldn’t continue to happily shit on players like they have food poisoning. That maybe just maybe EA which show a little bit of mercy to the franchise they continue to beat the corpse of. But no people! Corporations aren’t people remember! So of course they continue to follow the ‘launch now, fix later’ motto. They’re the fucking Olympic champions of this disgusting method after all!

The Sims 1 and 2 re-release is an utterly unsurprising, inevitable disappointment. Because asking EA to treat their games and their players with respect is akin to deprogramming a cultist. You’re getting absolutely nowhere unless they want to change first! 

This is EA we’re talking about!

The company that canceled the 5th installment of the game because the Sims 4 is too profitable. 

The company that killed SimCity 2013 on launch because they got greedy by forcing everyone to play a multiplayer experience for a historically single-player game. 

The company that scrambled to release the Sims 4 as a single player game after the baffling failure of SimCity 2013. 

The company that treats Simmers, the devoted and loyal following that loves this game so much, as nothing more than it’s bitch! Taking it from behind at the desk in the corporate office.

Because after the skeletal release of The Sims 4, EA has released DLC after DLC. Pack after pack, kit after kit, each of them dwindling with content. 

And we cannot leave them. 

Dear reader, I have spent less than $200 on my Sims 4 game.We do not condone piracy here at unboxed. However, I must be able to present my case. 

I have not paid for Sims 4 DLC since I was 15. I have been using a DLC unlocker and piracy software to enjoy the full and complete game since. I have shown friends how to do the same so that they can have the same escapism that I rely on. I make a decent living and can afford to slowly build my DLC library over time while packs are on sale. However, I refuse to engage in the greed and classism of a notoriously greedy company. $1,000 is a ridiculous price to pay for toys in your virtual dollhouse. So I will keep my coin rather than feed it to the dragon. Especially when that dragon threatens fire and instead spews hot breath.

The price gouging of the Sims 4 is an age-old practice of gatekeeping by the oligarchy. The open deception meant to weed more money from us, especially the sickening nature of how the launch screen take advantage of neurodivergent players to buy more DLC, is not something to be supported. To give EA money for The Sims 4 is to give them permission to continue their greed. It is to give them permission to live without trying or changing. Permission to continue to be used and fuck us. 

And I, for one, am not going to give them that permission. They already took advantage of me when I was young, and I’m getting too old for this shit. 

As a zoomer, it’s normalized that life gets worse the older you are. 

You’re in Middle School, ignoring questions about why you aren’t on Facebook. Preferring to spend your time as one of the millions of Machinima viewers. You’re anxious without knowing what anxiety is. You’re afraid that when the future comes you’ll be nothing while you desperately want to be something. For now you are a body with a detached soul. A stranger in halls full of strangers. An individual who doesn’t know whether they are being honest and truthful to their true self. Someone who feels safer hiding behind a mask when with those they cannot be genuine with. Worst of all, you are the amusement of children who take pleasure in your anger. And no one can tell you why.

You are the only child of parents who couldn’t make it shortly after you were born. You are happy for all that they have given you, but unhappy for all that you are. They tell you to live, you’re not sure how to do that. 

The only place you feel alive is in virtual worlds of doll houses and blocks. You make memories that will disappear as you age. In 10 years, those hours that blended together will become a feeling. 

Kid, one day you’re going to learn the harsh truth. That there are these things known as corporations. Ran by adults who will make your adult life worse as time goes on. They will pluck those feelings, that happy little heart you hold dear in your hands, and they will feast upon it. You will watch them chew greedily and merrily. Sickened, enraged, and most depressing: unsurprised.