The first game of the series, The Sims 1, was released on February 4, 2000. Since then there have been up to ten different expansions for this game, as well as three different base games (if you count Unleashed). There was also a spin-off holiday-themed version known as Seasons.
In 2002, another sequel was released called The Sims 2. This one had two main expansions: University and Nightlife, and five stuff packs: Family Fun Stuff, Glamour Life Stuff, Happy Holiday Stuff, Celebration! Stuff and H&M Fashion Stuff. In addition to those twelve releases, there were six more expansion/stuff packs: Pets, Open For Business, Seasons, Bon Voyage, Free Time and Apartment Life.
The most recent release in the series is The Sims 3. It was released on June 2, 2009, and it has had ten expansions: World Adventures, Ambitions, Late Night, Generations, Pets, Showtime, Supernatural, Seasons, Island Paradise and University Life. There have also been nine stuff packs: High-End Loft Stuff (January 21, 2010), Fast Lane Stuff (February 25, 2010), Outdoor Living Stuff (April 28, 2010), Town Life Stuff (July 22, 2010), Master Suite Stuff (November 17th, 2010), Katy Perry’s Sweet Treats (December 6th, 2011) Diesel (March 13th 2012) 70’s 80’s 90’s Stuff (June 26th, 2012) and Movie Stuff (September 4th, 2012). There’s a lot of fun involved in the stuff packs – you can do things that weren’t available earlier like going to a pub, casino, club, have fun with your friends on the beach and so on.
The latest game in the series is The Sims 4. It was released on September 2nd, 2014. There are three main expansions for this game: Get to Work, Get Together and City Living. One of the most interesting things about this instalment of the series is that it only has two stuff packs: Cool kitchen Stuff (November 3rd, 2015) and Spooky Stuff (October 19th 2016). This raised a lot of complaints from players because of how little content they felt like there was in these releases.
On top of all this information, there have been numerous other things released such as console versions of the games, spin-offs like The Sims Medieval and The Sims Social, various add-ons for the PC such as patches and custom content (CC), and a lot more.
As for the future of the franchise, there has been no official word from Maxis or Electronic Arts (EA) on any other upcoming instalments in the series. However, Patrick J. Barrett III (one of two lead producers at Maxis Emeryville) confirmed via Twitter that they will be working on The Sims 5. He also mentioned that he thought it would be “awesome” if they could make it take place in space. So while we currently have nothing confirmed about what kind of expansions or stuff packs will come out for The Sims 4, we do know that there will definitely be more to come.
The Sims games have evolved a lot since the first instalment came out in February 2000. This franchise has gotten bigger and better with each new release, making players want to keep playing it because of all the possibilities they are given to do whatever they want within the game. The Sims 4 does not seem like it is going anywhere any time soon, so everyone can expect many more hours of endless gameplay in this extremely addicting world.