Is Sims 4 still free on Mac?
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For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsThe creator of the hugely popular Sims video game franchise has just made The Sims 4 free to download for anyone with a PC or Mac computer. The game will be free to download via the Origin platform, which is free to download and requires an account to log in. It will only be available until 28 May, however, at which point it will revert to its usual price of $40. The game has been made freely available for the limited time as part of Electronic Arts' Origin Access subscription programme. The deluxe version of the simulation game has not been included in the offer, with players having to pay $50 to download it.
Gadget and tech news: In picturesShow all 25The game allows to players to take control of humans and guide them through their virtual life - from getting a job, to finding a home and starting a family. Not everybody is happy with the free promotion, with some voicing their regret at having paid for the game. "The Sims 4 really decided to be free after I paid for it... a clown," one person posted on Twitter. After running the odd free weekend here and there for years, EA has opted to make The Sims 4 base game fully free for all new players on PC, Mac, and console starting October 18. Originally released in 2014, The Sims 4 boasts a playerbase of millions already, and has received no small amount of paid add-ons and free updates over the years. Notably, the game has a vast library of paid expansions which, at full price, now amounts to somewhere over $900 worth of
content altogether. By dropping the $20 pricetag from the base game, EA stands to make it that much easier for new players to join The Sims 4 ecosystem, and potentially purchase some of that downloadable content down the line. "Our community has continued to inspire us with the billions of unique Sims they’ve created, the countless stories they’ve told, and the remarkable builds they've designed," reads a blog from The Sims 4 team. "We’re excited to continue to welcome in more players than ever to create new stories, and explore without boundaries. The Sims has always been about celebrating new ways to play and offers so many possibilities to discover." For reference, The Sims 4 has been steadily gaining new players since that
somewhat rocky 2014 release, and is routinely credited by EA as one of the franchises helping to drive its live services portfolio, along with the likes of Apex Legends and FIFA Ultimate Team. While it has made fewer appearances in the company's financial reports and earnings calls over the last year, back in May 2021 the game celebrated 6 consecutive years of growth and a
playerbase of 36 million players. More The Sims 4 content on the horizonWhile the latest game has nearly doubled the lifespan of other numbered games in the series, EA doesn't seem keen to retire The Sims 4 just quite yet. Along with news of the free-to-play drop, EA and developer Maxis have lightly confirmed that the duo will continue to create content for the current iteration of the long-running series, continuing The Sims 4's near decade-long reign. "With The Sims 4 going free to play, our team is more dedicated than ever to developing new and meaningful The Sims 4 experiences for our players," reads a blog post from the team. "We will continue to develop and release packs, kits and Sims Delivery Express drops into the foreseeable future."
While not everyone’s cup of tea, it is undeniable how popular The Sims franchise is. Hell, I’ll go ahead and admit there was a brief period in my life when all I played was The Sims. Create a Sim, build a house, get a job, make friends, and find love, all in the comfort of your computer. But a lot has changed since the heady days of the 2000s, and after 3 main entries and countless expansions, developer Maxis has now delivered The Sims 4, one of the most addictive simulation games for Mac. But it gets better. Starting October 18, 2022, The Sims 4 is available for free. Can you play The Sims 4 on Mac?You can absolutely play The Sims 4 on your Mac, and that includes Intel and Apple Silicon Models. Even if the official system requirements don’t mention M1 or M2 Macs, our benchmarks confirm the game runs great on Apple Silicon Macs. The Sims 4 is not a particularly demanding game, but that shouldn’t take merit away from Maxis, a studio that, in spite of being on the receiving end of a lot of criticism, has always ensured that The Sims 4 is fully supported on macOS, even during the debacle that was moving from 32-bit to 64-bit with macOS Catalina.
The Sims 4 on Mac: Everything you need to knowWith the enormous success of every Sims game ever released, The Sims 4 should have been flooded with pre-orders. But with the catastrophic launch of SimCity, fans were cautious. So did The Sims 4 delivered? Is it as good as its predecessors? Reviewers can’t seem to agree. The game has a 70/100 Metascore, which is good but not great. When looking at the user reviews on Metacritic, it doesn’t look good for The Sims 4. The game has a 4.1/10 average score of over 2500 users. Often, the criticism comes for the same reasons: the world is too small and there aren’t enough things to do…  The Sims 4 is now free_But that was a long time ago (2014). A lot of features and new content has been added to the game. And now that you can get it for free on Origin, there is no reason not to give it a shot. If you have, The Sims 4 should have enough depth and new features to be worth a shot, especially now that enough Expansions have been released that add more stuff to do. The Sims 4 Mac requirements
⚠️ Note that these requirements do not mention Apple Silicon Macs, but we can confirm that M1 machines are perfectly capable of running The Sims 4. Into Simulation games? These are our favorites:How to play The Sims 4 on MacAs mentioned before, The Sims 4 runs natively on Mac, and that includes Intel-based and M1 Macs. The game does require Rosetta 2 to run on Apple Silicon Macs. But Rosetta 2 works so seamlessly (it installs automatically the first time it detects an Intel-based app), and it integrates so well with macOS, that the experience is virtually the same as running a native Apple Silicon Mac. The Sims 4 running on an M1 Mac This means The Sims 4 can run on macOS without requiring any third-party software. Therefore, we won’t waste your time talking about Parallels, Crossover (both excellent tools, but only useful for Windows-exclusive games…), or Streaming services. Can your Mac run The Sims 4? Benchmarks!These are The Sims 4 M1 & M2 benchmarks we have gathered so far:
As a reminder, this is how we describe the different levels of performance:
Intel benchmarksWe tested the game on the following machine:
These are the settings we used to test The Sims 4 using our in-house FPS counter Count It for a fixed duration of 5 minutes:
Can my Mac run The Sims 4?If you own an M1 or M2 Mac, you can run The Sims 4 at high settings and resolution without a problem. If you still own an Intel Mac, then it will depend on the type of machine you have. If you have a high-end Mac with dedicated graphics, you will be fine. Case in point, my 2014 iMac’s results. While nowhere near as fast as the latest M2 Macs, it still ran the game at 60 FPS using the Medium settings defined for these tests. And it only did 60 FPS because the game locked frame rates at 60 FPS maximum. But what happens when we bump the graphics to make The Sims 4 shine? When increasing the settings to Ultra and raising the resolution to 2560×1440, the iMac still ran the game at 56.2 FPS. Can you play The Sims 4 on a MacBook Pro?In this case, The Sims 4 did great on my older Intel-based 13-inch MacBook Pro. The game ran at 54.9 FPS, which is almost double our 30 FPS target. These results mean you could slightly increase the graphics settings and still get a smooth experience out of The Sims 4. I did two more tests on high and ultra settings, and as expected, there was still some room (although ultra is a little too much):
Takeaway: The Sims 4 is properly optimized for macOS and not particularly demanding. Any recent Mac should be able to handle it, even those with integrated graphics. But what if you have an older Mac?According to our results, there is hope for you. Our test 2014 Mac Mini ran the game at 45.40 FPS, which is way above our target. If your Mac is even older than that, it will depend on your machine’s graphics. If you have dedicated graphics, like our 2012 15-inch MacBook Pro, you should be fine. And if you don’t and worry yours won’t be able to take it, you can always try Stardew Valley, an excellent, albeit different, simulation game that supports macOS. Bottom line: Turns out, The Sims 4 is a forgiving game that should run just fine on most Macs out there (unless you have a pre-2012 Mac with integrated graphics). Maxis did a good job optimizing the game, but this is an inherently simple game (graphics-wise) that is not meant to push your machine to the max. After all, there are plenty of other games out there for that! Download The Sims 4 for MacThe Sims 4 is available for download for free on EA’s Origin platform. [table “172” not found /] Is Sims 4 free on Mac?The Sims 4 has officially gone free-to-play, and indeed players can now download the base game on Mac, PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X without spending a dime.
Is Sims 4 not free anymore?The Sims 4 will go free-to-play on 18th October 2022, EA has confirmed. (Of course, all of its many expansions will continue to be sold separately). From that date onwards, the game will be freely available to download "to all new players" on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Mac and PC.
Does Sims 4 still work on Mac?Yes! The Sims 4 is available on Mac! Please note that The Sims 4 for Mac is a digital-only release. Click here to learn more.
Does Sims cost money on Mac?The Sims 4 is going free-to-play on PC, Mac, and console.
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