Recently, The Sims 4 team have released a new campaign for the popular franchise, titled Play With Life. They are encouraging players to share their stories and discuss what the game means to them. The campaign runs alongside a new rebrand for the game, which has seen their focus shift to try and attract new and younger players to The Sims.
While many have praised the campaign, others have been critical, wondering why the moving video which accompanies it fails to feature anyone over the age of 25.
The Sims 4 has always been a franchise big on diversity. It allows you to create sims of varying sizes, ethnicities and ages. You can also fully customize your sim and chose their gender and sexuality, with options that allow for the creation of transgender sims.
It's this diversity which has brought many players to the game over the years. If you search #playwithlife on Twitter you can see just how many stories there are from LGBTQ+ players talking about how the game truly reflects them and helped them be themselves.
Inclusivity has always been at the forefront of the franchise, which was one of the earliest to allow same sex relationships. It's because of this that so many older simmers were disappointed to see the video full of only young faces.
While it's amazing to hear their stories and see their different journeys, many were left wondering why the team couldn't have included at least one older person.
The video and campaign accompanies a rebrand for the game, which is also aimed firmly at the under 25's market. The new base game cover has eliminated the solitary elder sim which we had originally, in favor of a group of young adult sims.
While the cover has been praised for its inclusion of a lesbian couple, when combined with the video, it felt like a slap in the face to many older simmers who no longer see themselves in the games branding and campaigns.
Despite this reaction, the Play With Life campaign has brought players together just as intended. Social media is filled with simmers sharing what the game means to them. The outpouring of love for the franchise must surely be a boost for the team, who are often criticized for anything from minor bugs to the price of DLC.
If you want to find out more about the campaign, you can check out The Sims 4 website for more details.