Over the past few years, Electronic Arts, like many developers, has experienced layoffs. This includes a recent wave impacting the team working on Battlefield 6, a highly successful FPS. Now, it looks like quite a few members of the team working on The Sims have also been let go. Recent posts on LinkedIn suggest that at least one project for the life sim series has been axed.
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It’s no secret that the future of The Sims is looking a bit uncertain with the mysterious Project Rene and ongoing issues with The Sims 4. Now, at least one project in development will apparently not see the light of day. Former Maxis Narrative Designer Franci Dimitrovska shared via a March 12th LinkedIn post that their project at The Sims “has been cancelled,” as reported by The Sims Community. Based on images for an undisclosed The Sims project on Dimitrovska’s portfolio, it appears that said project was the mobile Sims spin-off Town Stories. Here’s what we know about the never-fully-revealed game that might have been.
The Sims: Town Stories Apparently Canceled
The Sims: Town Stories was never quite formally announced by the team at EA and Maxis. However, The Sims Lab playtests for an early build of the game leaked back in late 2024. So fans had a good sense of what the mobile game Town Stories might have been. The game was being developed alongside Project Rene, which would’ve meant 2 more mobile Sims titles headed our way. It would have been free-to-play with in-game monetization, much like prior Sims games, like the now-defunct The Sims Mobile.
As part of The Sims Labs, Maxis and EA’s experimental branch of playtest products, some gamers got to take a first look at The Sims: Town Stories. The game centered on building up your town and interacting with the residents, including famous Sims legacies like Bella Goth and Bob Pancakes. Early images hinted at quite a different art style compared to prior Sims titles, which makes it look aimed at a potentially younger audience than The Sims 4. At any rate, the game now appears to be canceled, per Dimitrovska’s update on LinkedIn.
For now, EA does not appear to have made any public statements about the cancellation. Given that the game was never formally announced beyond its Project Stories status with shareholders, we may not get a formal explanation. With Project Rene shifting to a mobile-only focus as of early 2026, it’s possible that EA wants to avoid launching 2 different mobile Sims spinoffs in close succession. It’s also possible that early playtests weren’t as promising as the team might have hoped. At any rate, it appears there’s at least one less new Sims game in the works as of this week.
With big changes on the way for The Sims 4, as well, this year is looking like it could be another tough one for the beloved life sim franchise. That said, it’s pretty safe to say not too many fans will be crushed with the news that The Sims: Town Stories is no more. Early playtesters said the game felt childish and saturated with microtransactions, leaving few Simmers looking forward to the game. It’s a shame for the team that has put so much work into the project that The Sims: Town Stories is no more. But for fans, it may not be a huge loss.
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[H/T: The Sims Community]
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