InZOI director Kjun published two detailed community posts this week: a Wednesday response to over 240 player comments from the build mode diary, and a Friday developer diary walking through technical improvements already in progress. Together, they paint a clear picture of where the December update is headed.
The headline from Wednesday's post is a DLC policy correction. After Kjun's earlier mention that pricing was "still under internal discussion" sparked worry, he clarified: all DLC released during Early Access will remain free, including the upcoming December DLC. Any DLC you download during Early Access stays in your library after launch at no extra cost. Only DLC released after the full launch may carry a price tag, and that pricing has not been finalized yet.
What the December update targets
Friday's developer diary focused on technical and quality-of-life changes, many of which are already functional in internal builds. Here is what was shown:
- Recipe UI overhaul. The cooking interface now highlights which ingredients you are missing for a given recipe, rather than leaving you to cross-reference on your own.
- Hunger behavior rework. Hungry Zois will interrupt their current activity to find food. This applies even while walking between locations, and Zois can now pull food from their backpack and eat on the go instead of waiting to arrive.
- Backpack drag-and-drop. Backpack items can be dragged and placed freely. Kjun noted that drag-and-drop development is nearly complete and should ship in the update.
- Business object permissions. A small hover popup now shows permission settings for business objects at a glance.
- Create-A-Zoi switching. You can press Space Bar to switch between Zois in the character creator.
- Custom texture transparency. Uploaded textures now support transparent backgrounds through a "Use Pattern" toggle, letting you tile or isolate a graphic on clothing and objects.
- Individual eye editing. Each eye can now be edited separately for color, pattern, and iris position, opening the door for heterochromia and asymmetric designs.
- Clothing fix. Leg warmers can no longer clip under tight-fitting jeans.
Animation work was a major focus as well. The diary showed improved facial expressions tied to emotions, walking animations that reflect a Zoi's mood (angry stride, sad shuffle), corrections for unnatural turning mid-walk, and faster animation cancelling when you interrupt an action.
Build mode and Zoi behavior on the roadmap
Several fixes acknowledged in Wednesday's community response are confirmed as in-progress but do not yet have firm delivery dates:
- Lot searching and sorting. Kjun agreed there is no excuse for the lack of a "recently downloaded" sort and said the team is looking into search by lot size, bedroom/bathroom count, download order, and name.
- Wall painting drag. After a player described clicking wall tiles one at a time while building a mall, the team is working on single-drag painting for walls.
- Curved walls. Confirmed as in development, with a video to follow.
- Devoted trait fix. The bug causing Zois in relationships to flirt with others is being prioritized.
- Item disposal logic. Zois currently throw away treasured items like handmade sculptures and photos. The criteria are being reworked so they only discard things like spoiled food.
- Smart Zoi improvements. Inner thoughts and the daily summary, both missed by players since their removal, will see improvements in the next update. Repeated thoughts and behaviors are also being addressed.
- NPC city life. December's update will focus on how NPCs react in public spaces, addressing complaints about empty beaches and lifeless streets.
A slower pace, and a nod to modders
Kjun was unusually candid about the team's development rhythm. "I feel like we may need to stop developing new things for a while and focus entirely on fixing bugs and awkward parts of the game," he wrote. He also reflected on whether the team should slow its update cadence to deliver more polished releases.
On the modding side, Kjun said the team is discussing whether quality-of-life features created by modders could be officially folded into the base game, calling the wave of mods since the script mod update "really exciting."
A few community requests were acknowledged without timelines: height and body shape adjustments, home businesses, grocery stores, a nostalgia-themed DLC, and a Classic UI option. Direct city entry when starting a new game is planned to enter development, and a feature called "Bubbly" is currently being built, though no details were shared.
InZOI's PS5 version, delayed earlier this year to the first half of 2027, was not mentioned in this week's posts.
The December update does not have a confirmed release date yet. Kjun said the schedule and contents will be shared once finalized.
Source: Sims Community