For example, take a recent Maxis job listing for a Senior Game Designer. A line in the listing’s introduction describes the game’s “very unique playerbase” and proudly proclaims that 60% of The Sims 4’s audience is women between the ages of 18 and 24. Of course, it mentions this for a reason, asking for applicants to have “deep insights” into creating the best experience for its unique playerbase. In other words, Maxis embraces and encourages this diverse playerbase even now.

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It has now been over seven years since The Sims 4 launched. For any other game, outside of live service titles and MMOs, that’s long enough that most gamers would have been moved on. Yet Electronic Arts continues to support The Sims 4 even now. In 2021, EA released the Cottage Living expansion pack for The Sims 4, as well as the Dream Home Detector game pack, and Paranormal Stuff stuff pack. The Sims 4 support remains alive and well.

It’s possible that it’s specifically due to The Sims 4’s unique and diverse playerbase that EA and Maxis aren’t ready to move on. Who’s to say if The Sims 4’s unique playerbase, a rare video game with a majority of women players, would carry over to a The Sims 5? Maxis would have to recreate the success of The Sims 4.

That’s great news for The Sims 4 players, of course. And this Maxis job listing reinforces this idea, as it seems written specifically for work on The Sims 4 and its community. There’s no hint that EA might be ready to move onto something new, at least in this limited look into what the team is thinking.

The number of women playing video games continues to grow, worldwide. Within the United States, around 48% of women have played a video game, though only 6% of them identify as a “gamer.” The Sims 4 isn’t the only game that’s capitalizing on a large number of women in its audience, either. A 2020 survey tagged games including Minecraft, Rust, and Fortnite as having audiences with a significant number of women. Who knows what the future will hold?

The Sims 4 is available on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

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