The Sims 4 becoming free for all new players. However, even with news like Expansion Packs and the announcement of a new title operating under the codename Project Rene, the most exciting takeaway for many players was undoubtedly about the future of babies in The Sims 4.
The Sims 4 was released in the most unfinished state of any mainline Sims game to date, with an absolutely embarrassing amount of features mison release in 2014. Basic building features like pools - perhaps the most iconic Sims death location - and terrain paint weren't included yet, Create A Sim lacked any body hair options, there was no Sims 4 Wants and Fears system until this past summer, and the toddler life stage didn't exist. The last item on that list is particularly hard to believe - the fact that aging Sims would immediately change from appearing as an infant to the form of a child is patently ridiculous and extremely immersion breaking for players.
Younger Sims as a whole have not fared very well in of the attention paid to them by Sims 4 developers. Toddlers do thankfully now exist in The Sims 4, and players who wish to purchase the Parenthood Game Pack can actually play with fairly well-developed toddlers. However, activities for children in The Sims 4 are still severely lacking, and babies might as well not exist in The Sims 4, as they are little more than pieces of furniture, quite literally - debug cheats will reveal babies in their bassinets in Build & Buy mode. Currently, babies can be picked up for a small list of brief interactions like feeding, but can never be removed from the direct vicinity of their bed.
The Sims 4 Babies Update Needs To Be Huge To Be Worthwhile
Currently, very little is known about what the Sims 4 baby update will contain. The only footage shown during the Behind The Sims Summit was of a baby briefly crawling along the ground and then sneezing, which doesn't reveal much - although it does confirm babies can finally be taken away from their bassinet. However, a fix for babies in The Sims 4 needs to be truly substantial if EA has any hope of impressing fans eight years into the game's lifespan.
Considering the speed at which The Sims 4 has received other basic features, it makes sense that an improvement for infants took so long to be introduced to the game - after all, it took over two years to add toddlers to the game. After so many years of waiting and resenting the babies of The Sims 4 for their lack of depth, many players are fed up and will need to be truly wowed in order for this update to be a success. In the past, large additions like a Sims 4 update this past July that added long-requested features like curved walls and Wants & Fears still fell somewhat flat within the game's community, as it was seen as too little too late.
It's going to be a long time until the next main entry in the Sims franchise, and it would perhaps behoove fans to give Sims 4 developers the benefit of the doubt when it comes to the baby changes, but they shouldn't raise their hopes too high either. Speakers at the Behind The Sims Summit emphasized a renewed commitment to the series from developers, which could mean the new features coming in 2023 may actually be something to look forward to. Only time will tell whether the update will incorporate enough of the missing Sims 4 features for fans to be satisfied.