The Sims and The Sims 2 were re-released by EA today, but fans are labeling it as nothing more than a bad cash grab after playing it. The Sims is one of EA’s most valuable franchises out there. It has been running for 25 years now and has amassed millions of players. The Sims series has sold over 200 million copies across all of its entries over the last two and a half decades, making it one of the most commercially successful franchises out there. The idea of essentially owning a virtual dollhouse and creating your own custom characters and making them do whatever you want appeals to many, especially when you mix in player created mods.
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However, as time has gone on, it has become increasingly difficult to play the older Sims games. Prior to this week, The Sims and The Sims 2 in particular weren’t sold anywhere digitally and those who were interested in playing them had to do a lot of tinkering to get them to work on modern PCs. It left fans hoping that maybe The Sims 2 would one day be re-released. While one might imagine players would be more interested in playing more advanced entries like The Sims 4, there’s certain things about the older games that are done far better than the newer versions and therefore make them arguably superior in some sense. After years of longing, EA surprised fans by announcing that The Sims and The Sims 2 were being re-released on Steam as part of a 25th anniversary celebration.
It was a tremendous surprise and allows fans to revisit two of the best Sims games with ease. The new versions are largely the same games as the original releases, however there have been some improvements such as ultrawide support and new resolutions like 1440p. Sadly, fans aren’t pleased with these re-releases of The Sims and The Sims 2 via The Sims Legacy Collection. Many are annoyed that EA is charging $40 for these games when The Sims 2 and all of its DLC was previously given away for free. It would likely be easier to bare if the games also functioned well, but they’re riddled with issues.
The Sims 2 Legacy Collection Is Filled With Bugs and Technical Issues
The Sims and The Sims 2‘s re-releases are riddled with technical problems such as not being able to launch the game in any resolution besides 800×600, frequent crashes leading to loss of progress, and more. On top of that, it is surprising to see that there isn’t even Steam achievements included in these new releases, something that’s pretty commonplace in new Steam releases. Both games have “mixed” reviews on Steam right now, which is certainly far from where EA probably hoped for given these re-releases have been on fan wishlists for years.
“No fixes or anything, just a cash grab re-release,” said a review from Steam user Gylala. “What a joke. This trash for the 25th anniversary? It shows EA has put as much effort and quality into this as anything they have for years now, meaning nothing.”
“This screams “lazy cash grab” and honestly, it hurts,” reads another Steam review from Sprague. “I know it’s not a remaster, but I wish we have more stuff than just “hey, let’s make y’all pay for a quick compatibility fix that you could get on the internet for free, from fans that actually care cause we obviously don’t”. I know I shouldn’t complain because we finally those great games back but… there’s literally no quality of life improvement, at all. […] What really gets on my nerve is that they literally just using our nostalgia. They did nothing for us fans. They never do. They just take our money and we somehow keep giving it to them. I’m done, EA. That’s the last time you ever get money from me.”
Ultimately, it looks like this new Sims re-release isn’t exactly what fans wanted. While it’s The Sims and The Sims 2 just as we remember, that’s not a good thing when that means it is struggling to work on top-tier modern hardware. Hopefully, EA addresses the situation quickly and these re-releases get fixed otherwise it’s only going to upset fans. The Sims fans are already a bit annoyed since the long-awaited The Sims 5 was canceled to continue supporting The Sims 4, but broken versions of their favorite games is only more fuel on the fire.
