Publisher Electronic Arts officially announces the long-awaited arrival of toddlers to The Sims 4 by releasing a free update for the life simulation game.

Fans of The Sims 4 are evidently being spoiled this week, as only one day after Electronic Arts announced Vampire DLC for the game, the studio has already released the next free update. The new content is available to anyone who has the core game itself, and it's something fans have been asking for for some time. Today, Electronic Arts finally released the oft-requested return of toddlers, an age type from The Sims 3 which was suddenly absent from the inevitable sequel.

Electronic Arts originally explained the glaring omission by stating that that the studio chose to focus on features that "make the game come alive," which virtual representations of youth and life itself apparently didn't do at the time. Now, 2 years after The Sims 4's original release, gamers can once again enjoy the sight of toddlers crawling around the house, and give their young Sims a head start on several skills with toddler skill-building exercises, along with bonding moments with their family.

Gamers can take a "peek-a-boo" at the free Toddler DLC below:

[HTML1]

Executive Producer Lyndsay Pearson revealed that the producers had been talking about reintroducing the toddler aspect to The Sims for some time. However, it wasn't until 2 years after the game's release that everything was finally ready to come to fruition:

I'm not exaggerating when I say we've been talking about this particular update for years. We just had to find the right time, resources and design to allow us to start the heavy process of actually building and bringing Toddlers to life. And believe me when I say it has been really REALLY difficult to not talk about this as we worked to get it right.

Just like in old times, Sim-Parents can now take their toddlers and teach them the essentials of life: toilet training will help with the baby maintenance, and items like flash cards and dancing parties will help build on vital life skills. To help increase the bond between child and parent, toddlers can be carried around the house, read to sleep, or engaged in random toddler conversations about things like trucks.

Now that The Sims 4 finally has pools, genealogy, and toddlers, the most glaring omissions that never carried forward from previous titles have now been handled by The Sims Studio and Maxis – albeit 2 years after launch, and coming in behind several other expansions. Now, gamers can sit back and wait for the typical Sims generation must-have content, like the seemingly inevitable pets expansion. After all, what good is a toddler if it can't play with a puppy?

What do you think about toddlers finally crawling their way to The Sims 4, Ranters? Do you think this feature should have been there from the get-go, or are you happy enough to have it now?

The Sims 4 is available now for PC and Mac.