Alongside the new Crystal Creations DLC pack this week, The Sims 4 got a pretty standard game update with bug fixes—but it also brought a new interface icon that caused a bit of an “everyone disliked that” moment in the community. The Sims 4 now has a store icon visible at all times in its main toolbar, which players dislike so unanimously that someone’s already made a mod to get rid of it.
“This cart emblazoned button has many uses ranging from sharing pack offers and sales information to recommending packs you might be interested in,” says EA in the patch notes. “All accessible without leaving the comfort of your Sims’ homes.”
The initial issue was that the icon itself had a bug that was causing it to pulse continuously, which is an annoying distraction. That’s already been fixed in a subsequent patch, but players are still pretty pissed. One modder, SimMattically, was annoyed enough to make a mod removing the cart button from the interface.
It’s no surprise that The Sims 4 continues to push new DLC. That’s how the series has always lengthened the lifespan of each game, and it’s the whole monetization strategy now that The Sims 4 base game is free. But it does feel like we’re being hit up to buy DLCs in increasingly intrusive ways.
The EA App and the Sims 4 main menu are beginning to feel like a pair of suburban mall skincare product hawkers who just won’t let you walk away with a polite “no thanks!” When starting up the game, I already often get full screen popups cheerfully saying “remember me?” attempting to sling me any of the DLC I don’t already own.
(Image credit: Maxis, Electronic Arts)
Now when I load in to actually play or build on a lot, the new shopping cart icon pops out a tooltip of a similar variety like “earn cash and feed the town” which I can wait a few seconds to fade or dismiss by clicking the cart to view the pitch for the Home Chef Hustle stuff pack. It’s not egregious, but it’s another straw on top of an already large stack of straws.
I know how much Sims 4 DLC there is; I tend to load up on the stuff any time a sale happens. But even I’m starting to feel a bit drowned in all the call to action prompts.
It’s rare to see the Sims subreddit unilaterally agree on anything, but this is one of the rare cases. Responses range from mild annoyance to exhaustion to mentions of upcoming competitor Paralives, and the same is true of the responses on X. Even the more moderate voices are mostly lamenting that The Sims 3 has an equally annoying in-game shop, though it can be turned off in the settings menu and our new Sims 4 shopping cart cannot, as far as I’ve found.
