After 12 Years, EA Is (Mostly) Nudging The Sims 4 In The Right Direction

In the 12 years since The Sims 4 launched in 2014, EA has released over 100 DLC packs in an attempt to fill in a game that was largely barren of content at launch. The end result is a game with loads of content, but also loads of bugs and optimization issues. (Though some of those optimization issues are a result of The Sims 4 initially being conceived as an online mobile game that could be played on any device.)

But recently--especially since the 25th anniversary of the franchise in 2025--EA has turned its focus to finally fixing the game. It started with a roadmap of planned base-game patches and bug fixes, and now The Sims 4 players get regular updates on EA's plans to tackle some of the game's biggest issues. Most recently, EA announced an upcoming patch that aims to optimize the game's performance and reduce issues with save-data corruption. Per a recent blog post announcing the July 21 patch, EA also revealed that the game's next patch, which focuses on improving Sim autonomy, will arrive in September. This is really encouraging news, and I'm starting to think EA might finally be realizing that players want a functional, bug-free game more than they want additional DLC packs. But I'm also slightly concerned. Sim autonomy is only the tip of the iceberg, and it's not clear if fixing it will fix one of the biggest issues currently facing the game: the fact that Sims absolutely suck at performing tasks in a timely manner, with or without Sim autonomy turned on.

If you've played The Sims 4 even once, you're probably familiar with the following sequence of events: You give your Sim a few tasks--use the toilet, then empty the trash, then work on improving their Knowledge skill with a game of chess. Your Sim stands in the middle of the room for several Sim-minutes before finally beginning the trek to the bathroom. They use the facilities. They stand there for a few more seconds before the task to wash their hands automatically appears ahead of anything else in their task queue. They wash their hands. They stand around for a minute. They remove the trash from the kitchen and either take it to the trash bins outside, or drop it on the floor in a random spot. Then the "play chess" task either evaporates from their last queue entirely, or they spend another five Sim-minutes standing around doing nothing before finally heading to the chessboard.

My Sims almost always have their autonomy turned off. Not because I am a vengeful, controlling god who doesn't want them to have freedom, but because they are genuinely too dumb to handle that freedom. They can barely manage changing between tasks I've chosen for them. When left to their own devices, they're prone to accidentally setting themselves on fire (because Sims are drawn to fireplaces like moths to a flame) or literally laughing themselves to death. 

Unlike the Miis of Tomodachi Life: Living The Dream--who I often find autonomously gathering in groups of six or more, playing games with their friends, and sharing adorable moments with their romantic partners--Sims cannot be trusted. 

Now, credit where credit is due: EA has put a lot of work into fixing The Sims 4. Is it a decade too late? Yes, but better late than never. My Sims no longer leave their infant children lying on the linoleum floor and ignore my requests to feed them. I can (mostly) conduct a wedding without guests standing in the middle of the aisle instead of taking their assigned seats. My Sims' friends with housekeys no longer break into my Sims' home in the middle of the night to half-bake 10 servings of White Cake (costing my Sims' household Simoleons each time they open the refrigerator). 

But my Sims still stand there like Barbie and Ken, staring blankly for multiple in-game minutes between nearly every task--and that's for the stuff I'm telling them to do, not the stuff they're deciding to do on their own. 

I'm thrilled EA is optimizing the game's performance and Sim-behavior. I'm just praying September's planned fix for free-willed Sims also includes improvements for non-autonomous behavior. Because sometimes, it's the small things that really burn you out on a game. Small things like waiting 10 in-game minutes for your Sim to take out the trash, only for them to dump it on the floor and then promptly forget what they were doing, or spend the next 10 in-game minutes picking up the same pile of trash and putting it on the floor in a new spot until the player finally intervenes.

Free will is only half of the problem. Here's hoping EA's planned updates improve Sim-behavior when it comes to the things I actually tell them to do, too.