The Sims 4 it may be a bit of a start, having launched over a decade ago now, but that doesn’t seem to have dampened interest in the long-running life sim series; EA has just announced that The Sims 4 has managed to attract over 15 million new players this year alone.

To put that into perspective, it took The Sims 4 six years to amass 20 million players after its launch in 2014 – a figure which then skyrocketed following EA’s decision to turning the old premium title into a free game in October 2022. This change in business model has more than quadrupled the audience for The Sims 4, with EA touting 85 million players in May of this year, and we now know that the last 12 months have brought a total of 15 million new players.

This most recent figure was revealed as part of the EA study. second quarter 2025 financial results report (“Increased engagement led to higher-than-expected net bookings for the franchise in the second quarter,” the publisher noted), and helps provide additional context to its announced earlier this year that, despite its age, The Sims 4 will remain “a foundational Sims experience” as the series moves “beyond linear and sequential Sims versions”.

The rise in popularity of The Sims 4 also explains EA’s renewed interest in the decade-old game, with the publisher promising more bug fixes more often next May as it seeks to resolve years of “frustrating” technical issues. This comes on top of a series of new initiatives in the game, such as the new live service-style Reaper’s Rewards event, and a continuing avalanche of new DLC.

Next on the list of expansions is the hugely promising and wonderfully macabre Sims 4. Life and Death Extensionwhich comes out this Thursday, October 31. Its launch follows a free update to the base game last week, significantly expanding The Sims’ ghost gameplay (and making it possible to kill), and precedes a new series of creator-designed DLC packs.

Things have certainly come a long way from Swimmingpoolgate.