It's been a couple of days since The Sims 4 had its next game pack, the Star Wars-themed Journey to Batuu, announced during day 1 of Gamescom 2020. Fans have had a little time to react to the news now, and their reaction was something fierce: The Sims 4 players are not happy about a Star Wars expansion being added to their game.
The Sims 4 first released in 2014, and over the past several years, Electronic Arts has made many an expansion for the game; those expansions include pets, seasons, college life, parenthood, magic, and more. However, something as specific and brand-driven as the Journey to Batuu expansion pack is unusual for The Sims, and fans are making sure that EA knows they don't appreciate the change.
In a way, it makes sense for EA to make something like Journey to Batuu; the company does have a Star Wars game license, and clearly wants to make use of that wherever possible. Still, the fact remains that of all the things The Sims 4 fans wanted to see added to the game, Star Wars was pretty much at the bottom of the list - that much is clear just from looking at the likes and dislikes on the Journey to Batuu video's YouTube page.
Currently, the video has 35,000 likes and 80,000 dislikes, with many comments venting player frustration with EA. Players have been requesting things like more diverse skin tones, cars, improved mechanics for babies, and expanded supernatural options for some time now, so for EA to turn around and give them Star Wars has frustrated fans considerably.
At the very least, Journey to Batuu is a standalone game pack, meaning that players can basically take it or leave it with no real effect on gameplay if players decide not to buy (aside from the obvious lack of in-game Star Wars props). It looks like a lot of players have already decided not to bother with the upcoming game pack, and it's not hard to see why: The Sims 4 is all about carefully managed roleplaying, and tossing a whole other franchise - especially one as massively and inescapably popular as Star Wars - into the mix just isn't something that players are looking for to improve their gameplay experience. The Sims 4 players are feeling slighted and ignored, and it's easy to see why.
There are tons of things that players want to see added to their Sims games, and if they remain as vocal as they are now, perhaps they'll start to see some change. Hopefully, EA will begin listening to fans a little more seriously in the future: to continue ignoring them would not bode well for the future of The Sims 4.
The Sims 4 is available for PC, PS4, iOS, and Xbox One.