Rumor: The Sims 5 Allegedly Canceled

The fate of The Sims 5 is uncertain, with one version allegedly canceled according to a former Maxis employee.

A former Maxis Studios employee has suggested that at least one version of The Sims 5 has been canceled. The overall fate of The Sims 4 sequel remains unclear.

The next entry in The Sims franchise was first teased as Project Rene in October 2022. While originally describing it as “the next generation” of the series, Electronic Arts had also insisted that the game wasn’t meant to replace The Sims 4, having instead suggested that it was envisioned as a different kind of experience, not least because it was in development for everything from PC and consoles to mobile devices. The publisher has yet to outright confirm that Project Rene and The Sims 5, which fans have also long suspected to be in the works, are one and the same.

The Sims 5 PS5 Version Allegedly Canceled

Whatever the case may be, at least one aspect of The Sims 5 project has allegedly been canceled, according to a recently uncovered LinkedIn profile of a former Maxis employee. Unearthed by Twitter user SimmerBerkay, the profile’s experience section states that the staffer worked as a lead character artist at Maxis over a three-year period ending in spring 2024, during which they contributed to the PS5 version of The Sims 5. However, they listed that project as canceled.

While SimmerBerkay did not reveal the original source of this claim, a follow-up investigation by Game Rant has identified one Thomas Sincich as the owner of the profile in question. The artist’s LinkedIn page also mentions that the purportedly canceled game was being made with Epic’s Unreal Engine 5. Since Project Rene has been all but confirmed to use the same engine, this tidbit offers some circumstantial evidence strengthening the theory that these two are—or were—one and the same.

The exact timing of the purported cancellation is currently unclear. Sincich left Maxis in April 2024, so that’s ostensibly the latest point at which he could have been made aware of the project getting shelved. Neither EA nor Maxis have offered an official update on the state of the upcoming game since 2023 when Project Rene was still looking for playtesters. One related piece of news did emerge in January 2024, when it was announced that Grant Rodiek, a key figure in The Sims development team, had left Maxis and EA. The industry veteran cited a desire to try something new that “challenges” him as the reason for his decision to depart from the studio.

The fate of The Sims 5 hence remains up in the air. One possible explanation for Sincich’s cancellation claim is that Maxis merely scrapped the PS5 version of the game and that it’s still planning to bring it to other platforms. In the meantime, The Sims developer is currently also working on a game code-named Project Dolores, according to some of its recent job listings.

Source: Game Rant