It was big news in 2022 when The Sims 4 base game went free-to-play. At that point, this fourth installment in EA’s popular life sim series was going on 10 years old, and many believed it was a sign that The Sims 5 was coming. However, EA doubled down on continued support for The Sims 4 as a mainstay of the franchise, with ongoing updates and new content to keep it thriving as the mysterious Project Rene turns into something else altogether. This had led fans to wonder what might come next for Sims fans who want to stay free-to-play in The Sims 4.
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Free base game updates have historically added some new features and content to The Sims 4, but many of fans’ favorite features remain paywalled behind EA’s slew of paid add-ons. New DLCs ranging from the cheap Kits to full-on $40 Expansion Packs continue to release, adding more content to the base game, and new demands on simmers’ real-life Simoleons.
With so many years of expansions to catch up on, The Sims 4 can be a pricey hobby, especially with some of the older packs being such core elements that they’re practically required add-ons in most players’ eyes. And that’s likely why recent speculation has led to a popular theory about what other longstanding The Sims 4 content might soon be free.
Among the earliest expansions to The Sims 4 was the Seasons Expansion Pack, which released in 2018. This pack added weather and, as the name suggests, seasonal rotations to the base game. It also let players imitate the stress of real life with heating and cooling costs and a busy winter holiday schedule with Harvestfest and Winterfest back-to-back.
Between the addition of weather elements and seasonal activities, many Sims fans can no longer imagine this life sim without Seasons. And yet, anyone committed to the free-to-play base game will live life without this integral part of the game… or rely on mods, which notoriously break every time EA pushes an update. And that, along with some recent additions to the base game thanks to the Cozy Celebrations live event, leads players to suspect that The Sims 4: Seasons might soon be added to the free-to-play roster.
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The Cozy Celebrations live event and recent Sims 4 base game update added a few new Winterfest touches to the game. This includes the Grouch trait, which pretty much turns Sims into the Winterfest version of the Grinch. As some players have pointed out, it’s a little weird to add this trait to the base game when some simmers don’t have holidays at all. For some, this further proves longstanding speculation that the Seasons Expansion will soon be added to the free portion of The Sims 4. After all, what’s a Grinch and a set of frosted cookies without a Winterfest to celebrate?
Of course, there are plenty of features that only work with certain expansions, and it’s never stopped EA before. Players can simply ignore this trait, or watch it do absolutely nothing unless they’re willing to pay the $39.99 price tag to add holidays to their game. So while this player speculation is interesting, and we’d all love to add this to the stack of evidence that Seasons for all is coming, it is still certainly no guarantee.
