

That's essentially how Sims players already view the current Sims 4 base game and its fundamental DLCs like Seasons and Pets though-tomato, tomahto. It could also imply that EA plans to offer a free pared-down version of the base game but sell the complete version.

Though that change was made after nine years, it's not a big leap to imagine The Sims 5 starting out free to download and relying on EA's consistent schedule of DLC for revenue. The Sims 4 base game has been free since last year. For this reason, developers have had to develop new features, skins, and designs within the game to keep the public interested in purchasing it. The Sims 4 has over 60 traits you can choose from when creating your sims. Neither of those details are too surprising. (A Mod - SNOOTYSIMS 100 Traits to Make Your Sims More Unique (A Mod JNicole Tired of giving your sims the same traits over and over again Looking for new characteristics to give them more unique identities You’re going to love this mod. EA is expecting some "ugc" (user-generated content) to be paid for, meaning they are likely planning to let modders and CC creators sell creations to others and take a cut of profit.The base game will likely be free to own, meaning continued reliance on DLC like expansions, game packs, and kits. Asian skin 3.0 Found in TSR Category Sims 4 Skintones Find this Pin and more on Sims by Hailey Kim.Two of the role's primary responsibilities were listed as "Own Project Rene's in-game marketplace of content and UGC (free and paid)" and also "Own pricing of all content in this free-to-enter game." From those two bullets, we can draw a couple of reasonable conclusions for The Sims 5:

The Head of Marketplace and Monetization job posting has since been pulled from EA's job portal but was specific to the next major Sims game, currently codenamed Project Rene.
