EA has put its long-in-development Sims spinoff on ice. In an internal memo published on the company's website on October 21, the publisher confirmed it is pausing development on Project Lotus, the multiplayer and mobile-focused Sims project previously known to the community as Project Rene. In its place, EA says it will prioritize Project Evergreen, an upcoming single-player Sims title that insiders have tracked under the codename TS42.
The announcement came alongside far grimmer news: the closure of BioWare and the cancellation of the next Mass Effect game. Against that backdrop, shelving one Sims project to focus on another reads less like a cut and more like a rare strategic pivot in favor of what players have been asking for.
What Project Lotus was, and why few will miss it
Project Lotus (or Rene, depending on which leak you followed) appeared to be another attempt at turning The Sims into a multiplayer, mobile-first experience. EA has gone down this road before. The Sims 4 itself was originally conceived as an online game before a last-minute pivot less than a year before its 2014 launch left the final product stripped of features and riddled with issues that persisted for years.
As GameSpot's reporting notes, EA has repeatedly tried to recreate The Sims Online in various forms, and the community has consistently pushed back. According to an insider cited by Sims Community, Lotus was reportedly close to being ready to ship, but EA lacked confidence that the game aligned closely enough with the existing Sims brand. The official EA memo uses the word "paused" rather than "cancelled," though the practical difference may be slim.
What we know about Project Evergreen
Details remain thin, but several points have emerged from insiders and EA's own language:
- Evergreen is internally referenced as TS42, suggesting it is an evolution of The Sims 4 rather than a clean-slate sequel.
- It is described as single-player focused, a sharp contrast to Lotus.
- The reported go-gold target is September 1, 2027, and Maxis is said to believe it can hit that date.
- There is a strong emphasis on portable device support, including Steam Deck and ROG Ally compatibility.
- DLC is expected to be sold through a dedicated marketplace with encryption-based anti-piracy measures.
- EA is reportedly experimenting with AI-powered mod conflict detection that could flag or block broken mods for players.
GameSpot describes Evergreen as a "sort of remaster of The Sims 4, with all (or most) DLC packs included," but the Sims Community source that claim links to does not actually confirm bundled DLC. That particular detail remains unverified. What does seem clear is that Evergreen is meant to be a more polished, stable take on The Sims 4 formula rather than a radical departure.
The DLC elephant in the room
The Sims 4 has accumulated over 100 paid add-ons since 2014, spanning expansion packs, game packs, stuff packs, and kits. Purchasing everything individually outside of sales runs to a staggering sum. EA has layered on daily login rewards, events, challenges, and a paid mod marketplace that drew widespread criticism. The publisher is also still running flash sales on that DLC catalog right now.
Whether Evergreen addresses this fragmentation or simply carries it forward will be one of the biggest factors in how the community receives the project. Players have been vocal that a new Sims game should not require hundreds of dollars in add-ons to feel complete.
The franchise is not out of danger
EA's memo reaffirmed its commitment to The Sims, Apex Legends, and Skate. But the same company just shuttered BioWare and killed a Mass Effect game that had reportedly been shaping up well. Battlefield and EA Sports titles generate far more reliable revenue. If Evergreen underperforms, there is no guarantee EA's new leadership will keep investing in the franchise.
There is also the question of what "paused" means in practice. EA used that word carefully in its memo, leaving the door open for Lotus to return. But paused projects at major publishers have a habit of staying paused indefinitely.
For now, though, the shift from a mobile-first multiplayer experiment toward a single-player Sims game built on familiar foundations is what most of the community has wanted. Whether Evergreen lives up to that promise is a question for 2027.
Source: GameSpot via Google News - The Sims