The Sims 4 May Be Ending 2025 With a Whimper, Not a Bang

It’s been a whirlwind year for The Sims franchise. From long-awaited clarity about the future of The Sims 5 to a shadow-dropped board game, fans of the series have been kept guessing throughout 2025. The Sims 4 has been the workhorse of the franchise for more than a decade, and it’s seen plenty of ups and downs this year.

While there was a lot of excitement surrounding the game in the early months of 2025, following the success of the Life and Death EP in late 2024, it may be fizzling out at the end of the year instead of finishing strong. A leaked roadmap detailing the September to December slate for The Sims 4 has painted a surprisingly quiet picture, with only a handful of updates and smaller Kit releases rounding out the year. Now that the first roadmap milestone has been confirmed as accurate, fans are starting to brace for an underwhelming holiday season.

A Leaked Roadmap Was a Sleepy Omen for The Sims 4’s Q4

Earlier this week, a leaked Sims 4 roadmap started making its rounds online. At first, the leak was taken with a grain of salt. However, once it was officially confirmed that the Adventure Awaits Expansion Pack would have its full reveal on September 4, as the roadmap suggested it would, fans started paying closer attention. What the roadmap shows is not the grand finale players might have expected after such a packed year, but instead a schedule that lulls itself to sleep.

As per the leaked roadmap, a handful of Kits and a couple of base game updates for The Sims 4 are all that’s slated for November and December. Compare that to September and October, which are anchored by Adventure Awaits, and it’s hard not to feel like the game is winding down 2025 without much ceremony. Here’s how the roadmap breaks down:

September 2025: Adventure Awaits EP reveal, gameplay trailer, new event, and base game update
October 2025: Adventure Awaits Expansion launch and a new Kit (Autumn Apparel)
November 2025: New Creator Kits and a base game update
December 2025: Base game update and more Kits

If the leak is accurate, and it has been so far, then fans will be looking at a holiday season with very little substance.

The Sims 4: A Game That Knows How to Spark and Stall

What makes this sting is that The Sims has shown, time and again, that it knows how to end a year with fireworks. Sims 4 expansions like Get Together and Discover University have anchored past holiday seasons, and those packs left players with big mechanics to chew on, and content to explore, over the quieter months. The 2025 roadmap doesn’t seem to follow that same playbook.

Kits, while fine for bite-sized content drops, don’t carry the same weight as Expansions or even Game Packs for The Sims 4. They’re often met with mixed reception, with many fans seeing them as filler rather than meaningful content. Closing out a year with only a couple of kits risks leaving the player base uninspired, especially after a year of mixed bags.

The Writing on the Wall

The elephant in the room is still The Sims 5. Official updates about the next generation have shut the door on the project, with EA confirming that The Sims 5 is not in production. It makes sense from a production standpoint; players have invested heavily in The Sims 4 for over a decade. But for players disappointed that a next-gen Sims game isn’t arriving anytime soon, late-year momentum is vital. Instead of going out with a bang, the game risks leaving the impression that it’s running on fumes. Even if Maxis delivers something splashier in early 2026, the lack of momentum heading into the new year could dull player excitement.

The Sims 4’s Awkward Afterlife

the sims 4 players creates pokemon inspired tattoos

Typically, a game in its final phase builds momentum towards a smooth conclusion, but The Sims 4 appears to resist ending. While The Sims 5 remains unreleased, Project Rene is seen more as a side project than a main installment. This situation raises more questions than answers for fans. Consequently, The Sims 4 acts as a temporary fix to the franchise’s uncertain future. In this unusual state, it’s neither declining nor advancing. The regular release of Kits and occasional Expansions keeps the game active, yet it feels like it’s barely held together with duct tape. For veteran players, this limbo feels less like stability and more like stagnation.