Today, EA announced a major shakeup that included the layoffs of 400 employees and the closure of BioWare. Sims fans were especially quick to share worries about their beloved EA-owned life-sim franchise, which has already been mired in confusion amid constant downgrades and rumors that The Sims 5 might never happen. On Wednesday, via an internal email shared with Kotaku, EA executives Cam Weber and David Tinson announced that work on an in-development game codenamed Project Lotus would be paused.
“In Lifestyle, we’re focusing on the long-term potential of The Sims and skate. We’re going to prioritize our efforts on ‘Project Evergreen’ for The Sims to give the team more time to reach the full potential and vision for the game, and to help make this possible, we’re pausing development on ‘Project Lotus.'”
Fans were quick to react, with some celebrating the death of the controversial installment, while others expressed concern for the longevity of the series under EA’s ownership. “sims 4 not making it out 2026 THE END IS NIGH,” one fan commented.
Project Lotus was heavily rumored to be an alternate codename for the already-codenamed Project Rene, which was initially announced as an apparent successor to The Sims 4 (and seemed like it would become The Sims 5 despite EA’s hesitation to use that name). Early looks at the project saw a fleshed-out customization system and multiplayer gameplay. However, the project was seemingly downgraded to a mobile game around 2024 , when screenshots showing a game that looked eerily similar to previous mobile installments in the Sims franchise circulated.
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