I’m pretty sure I know what the strategy is, here.
The Sims 4 is one of those games that definitely made EA a loadsamoney. Which is why it’s actually not much of a surprise that EA has made the decision to make the base game free to play.
Yes, starting October 18th, the base game of The Sims 4 will be free to play. As this is the base game, though, if you want some of the extras, expect to open your wallet wide.
As for why, though, we can only speculate — so that’s what we’ll do. If I were a betting man, EA has probably figured out that this 8-year-old game has probably reached saturation; even at its reduced price, it’s not going to sell many more copies anyway. By making it free, they soak in a number of players that weren’t going to buy it into the ecosystem. And what an ecosystem it is. A few years back, I really went through all of the DLC for the game and tallied both it and the costs up. I’ve since forgotten the numbers (and they’re almost certainly higher now), but I recall feeling they were kind of disgusting. As in, many times the original MSRP for the game.
There could also be a as-yet-unannounced sequel on the horizon. So maybe it’s a last hurrah of getting saps to spend several hundred dollars on DLC. That said, you’re still getting a full game here either way, so it’s worth keeping in mind.
Source: PC Gamer
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