There are several rumors about The Sims 5 that suggest that it might have the same fate as SimCity, utilizing a completely online mode that could take away from the best parts of the game. With Maxis' official showcase displaying how it’s playable on multiple devices at once, the possibility has only become more likely. Considering how this mode ruined SimCity’s launch, with servers being shut down only after a few days, The Sims 5 having a similar model of gameplay is concerning.
The main reason why SimCity was online was to prevent piracy, a problem also common in The Sims, with The Sims 5 being pirated in its playtesting phase. This suggests that Maxis have returned to a completely online mode to prevent this growing issue. While this choice expanded some aspects of SimCity, the change also took much away from the creative gameplay that defined the franchise, which could happen in The Sims 5. By limiting the classic The Sims gameplay, which thrived in letting players express themselves, an online mode could fail catastrophically.
An Online The Sims 5 Could Ruin The Series
Maxis has slowly been implementing more online features into The Sims, such as with The Sims 4’s gallery. Due to its online nature, the gallery is completely inaccessible to players with pirated copies; however, piracy is still very frequent, especially considering the expensive price of The Sims games with all DLCs.
While creating a completely online game is a good way to prevent piracy, The Sims, much like SimCity, is traditionally a single-player game franchise. In the past, the series has thrived on letting the player simulate their own fantasies within the game’s limitations and there has been no great demand to move the gameplay online. With SimCity, players were heavily disappointed with the game's completely online mode, because it led to restrictions in essential game mechanics.
With Sims 5 leaks revealing essential gameplay aspects of the title, longtime fans of the franchise have grown hopeful that the new online features it introduces help expand the creative boundaries set by previous titles. Without any official reveals from Maxis, however, many have become concerned over the possibility of gameplay being restricted to a completely online mode. Having The Sims 5 function like SimCity (2013) could help lessen the incidences of piracy that have been affecting the titles, but it might leave many fans disappointed with the final product.