The Sims 4was released nearly a decade ago, and The Sims Studio has likely learned many things from its time working on it. With that in mind,The Sims 5could come up with an entirely new business model to help alleviate its previous issues. One of its changes to it could be in the form of a battle pass.
Battle passes are nothing new to the gaming scene, having been mostly popularized by games likeFortnite. In games where they have been employed effectively, they have done well at generating hype and success overall.The Sims 5could see a similar feature, which would go a long way in fixingThe Sims 4’s most dire issue.
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Why a Battle Pass for The Sims 5 Could Be Good
The biggest reason a battle pass could be justifiable is simply due to an excessive amount ofDLCs forThe Sims 4. Unlike other games that stop receiving DLCs a few years after their release,The Sims 4continues to get DLCs all the way up to this day. As of this moment, purchasing everyThe Sims 4DLC while not on discount would cost over $1,000 USD. Not to understate it, but this makes obtaining the full experience a somewhat difficult task. For that reason, players may see a different approach toThe Sims 5’s DLC, mostly in the form of an aforementioned battle pass.
A battle pass would be great because it solves the issue of monetization that The Sims Studio would face without the constant release of DLCs. Content DLCs that aren’t big enough to be considered expansions could become free updates as a result, so players wouldn’t have to worry about an excessive amount of DLCs in the future.
This kind of approach toThe Sims 5is similar to a live-servicemodel, but that could ultimately be what the game needs. Not to mention, the use of a battle pass keeps players enjoying the game for longer in order to fulfill the requirements for rewards like cosmetics or housing items.
One issue that could arise during all of this is how exactly this model would be applied to a franchise likeThe Sims. It makes sense for games likeFortniteandOverwatch 2because those games have very specific goals.The Simsis a much more freeform franchise, however, so applying this model would be a bit difficult. One method that could be used is having players fulfill random goals inThe Sims' world in order to progress. For example, making a certain amount of money or making friends with a certain amount of NPCs could be part of that. This would reward the players with items or in-game currency to use inThe Sim’s character creation.
Overall, this could prove to be a more successful business model than the oneThe Sims 4currently has going for it. Many games employ the free-to-play model accompanied by a battle pass, and it has seemingly come with great success when done well. ConsideringThe Simsfranchise’s popularity, it has the potential to do this just as well. This would also be a more future-proof business model than releasing a monstrous amount of DLCs over the course of nearly a decade. A battle pass would go a long way in preventing futuremonetization issues forThe Sims 5.
That said, fans will have to wait forThe Sims 5’s official releaseto see what the developer has in store for it. Considering how long it supportedThe Sims 4, players could seeThe Sims 5stick around for quite a long time.
The Sims 5is currently in development.
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