The Sims 5—Everything we know about Project Rene so far

The Sims 5 has finally been announced and, much to our surprise, Electronic Arts has already started rolling out small peeks at features for the next main Sims game.

Right after making the base game Sims 4 free-to-play and committing to continued gameplay updates and DLCs, Maxis also let on that it's actively developing the Sims 5, even though that may not be its final name.

Unlike development on past Sims games, Maxis is even committing to showing off some of its in-development features years in advance. So while we still have a lot of open questions about the next Sims game, we've actually had some of our speculation answered already. Here's everything we know so far about the next Sims game, including new (and returning) features, early gameplay footage, and the rumors about multiplayer.

So is Project Rene the name of The Sims 5? 

For now, yes, but likely not forever. As Maxis explained, Project Rene is essentially the codename for the next Sims game. Usually these are used internally to talk about a game before it's been announced, but occasionally developers will use these titles publicly too. Think of Riot's Project L, for instance. Presumably, the next Sims game won't be called either "Project Rene" or "The Sims 5" and will have a totally different name that communicates the way that Maxis has been referring to it as the "next generation" of Sims and a "creative platform."

Does The Sims 5 have a release date? 

Electronic Arts has not given a release date or year for the next Sims game yet. When it was first announced as Project Rene in October 2022, Maxis said it planned to share inside looks at development "over the next few years" so we can safely assume that The Sims 5 won't launch any time before at least 2024.

Another detail to know about The Sims 5 is that Maxis expects it to be around for a while when it does eventually launch. The Sims 4 launched in 2014 and it seems like Electronic Arts is expecting the "next generation" of The Sims to stick around at least as long. So far, creative VP Lyndsay Pearson said "I have the privilege to help usher the franchise into the next decade and beyond," during the Project Rene reveal. It was a lot of buzzword corporate speak, honestly, but it feels safe to assume that the next Sims game is going to have a lengthy lifetime. 

Check out a peek at some early Sims 5 gameplay 

As Maxis said, the clips it showed off during the Behind the Sims Summit in 2022 were early on in development, likely not reflective of final gameplay or visual style. But in a loose sense of the word, we did see a tiny bit of early gameplay footage.

Here are some of the features we've seen:

• The Create-A-Style tool from Sims 3 is back
• Cross-platform multiplayer build mode
• Uploading a custom selection furniture layout to the Gallery
• Modular furniture editing, including accent pieces
• Multiple axis rotation, at least for accent pieces

Create-A-Style making a return is definitely a win for Build Mode fans, especially with the addition of modular pieces. In the initial reveal, we saw how players will be able to swap pieces like the headboard and footboard of a bed separately and edit patterns and colors too. Another improvement on the style tool of old is the ability to add accents like throw pillows and blankets to a couch, which we also saw lots of in the initial Project Rene video.

Another bit of the first reveal that players are speculating on is whether apartment lot types will be a part of the next Sims base game. The first footage we saw did make the space it was editing look a bit like one unit connected to others.

Will the Sims 5 have multiplayer? 

The Sims 5 will have multiplayer in some capacity, yes, but Maxis hasn't yet been specific about the scope of what it's referred to so far as "collaboration". 

"With Project Rene, we want to make it easier to work together and share. You can choose to play and create by yourself or with your close friends," Pearson said during the Project Rene reveal. So we do know that you'll be able to choose how heavily you dig into online play.

In the Sims Summit from 2022, the developers did show off cross-platform play between a PC and a mobile phone. Both devices appeared to be editing the same room simultaneously by placing furniture. 

When it comes to Live Mode multiplayer, we don't know what Maxis is planning yet. What we've heard are the few comments from Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson during a financial call in 2020.

"As Maxis continues to think about The Sims for a new generation—cross-platforms and a cloud of a neighborhood world, you should imagine while we will always stay true to our inspiration, escape, creation, self-improvement, motivations—that this notion of social interactions and competition like the kind of things that were actually present in The Sims Online many many years ago—that they will start to become a part of The Sims experience in the years to come," Wilson said.

The interesting parts of Wilson's answer that we don't know more about yet are the "social interactions and competition" bit. Invoking the Sims Online name really makes us wonder if EA and Maxis are shooting for a true new MMO Sims game. That seems so unlikely, but there's no doubt that the next Sims game will feature some kind of online play.