Despite the memes about buying incredibly high-powered PCs just to run The Sims 4, part of the game’s appeal is that it doesn’t require a specialized gaming computer to run. For many gamers who love The Sims 4 but want to see more competitors bringing new things to the life sim genre, inZOI has been one to watch. With its hyper-realistic graphics and motion-capture tech, inZOI looks poised to capture the Sims 4 audience and then some. But then, they released the required specs, and many cozy gamers got a shock to the system. As one post on X succinctly puts it, “this game will be inaccessible to most life sim players.”
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inZOI will launch into Early Access later this month, but the developers are waiting for an upcoming live stream to share many crucial details about the game. The pricing, DLC plans, and many other open questions from fans will be answered during the March 19th showcase. But ahead of that, Krafton has confirmed the required PC specs for inZOI, and it’s causing many Sims 4 fans to think twice about their anticipation for this one.
With the realistic graphics and apparently open world without loading screens, some gamers expected that it would have higher PC spec requirements than your Sims 4 or Stardew Valley. But many feel the stated specs are above and beyond even what they expected, especially if the game winds up being poorly optimized for PC. So many recent PC releases, including the hugely popular Monster Hunter Wilds, have run into challenges when it comes to optimization, which leaves many potential inZOI fans feeling less than optimistic.
inZOI Might Miss Out on Its Biggest Early Access Audience
As Krafton put it in its official statement about the minimum and recommended system requirements, inZOI “deliver high-quality graphics and realistic city-level simulations.” This, according to the developers, is why the game will “require higher system specifications to run smoothly.” The post goes on to break down the hardware requirements and optimal settings to run inZOI when it launches into Early Access on March 28th. The team does note that it will “continue working on optimizations to improve performance” as the game arrives in Early Access. That said, many gamers who are seeing these recommended specs for the first time are realizing they might not be able to play this highly anticipated The Sims 4 competitor.
For many life sim fans, games like The Sims 4 might be their primary way of engaging with gaming. They may not have invested in an intensive gaming PC because they haven’t needed one – and with the current economic situation, many can’t afford to. As one gamer puts it, “12GB of RAM as the minimum? In this economy?” Those who’ve played the demo, which has since been taken down, confirm that it ran poorly even for those who installed new graphics cards to try and get it to run. But even those who have specifically purchased gaming laptops are finding that they won’t be able to run inZOI due to its PC requirements.
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That said, some gamers are happy to see that the newer life sim isn’t catering to older devices. After all, The Sims 4 came out in 2014, so the fact that it runs on older computers shouldn’t be a surprise. Technology has come a long way in the past ten years, and some gamers are happy to see a life sim making use of those improvements to deliver the graphics and depth of gameplay they want to see.
At Early Access, inZOI will only be available on PC via Steam. Developer Krafton has stated the goal to bring the game to current-gen consoles at a later date, likely coinciding with the full release. So, those who don’t have a PC that can run inZOI but who do have a current console will likely wait for the console release. Those who have enjoyed casual gaming on a laptop that can run The Sims 4 and Stardew Valley, who don’t have the budget or desire for a current-gen console, however, may well wind up getting left behind.
Are you looking forward to inZOI? If so, do these specs have you thinking differently about the life sim? Let us know in the comments below!
