While some in the community doubted the reliability of that response, the uncertainty led some modders to remove their early-access Patreon content out of an abundance of caution. AdvertisementĮnlarge / Ever wanted to turn your Sim into a sorcerer? Mods can do that. That can be a pretty lucrative arrangement, too the biggest Sims modders can have thousands of patrons who pay up to $10 or $20 a month each, in part to gain early access to new custom content. Patrons get priority access to mods-in-development in exchange for monthly Patreon donations, then the finalized mods are posted for free to all players weeks later.

In the years since, dozens of Sims modders have made use of that exception. Folks who have a Patreon page are welcome to provide folks with 'early access' incentives for their content but it should be made available to the general public within 2-3 weeks of it being given to folks early. In late 2017, former EA Community Manager Amanda Drake wrote on the game's forums that mod creators 'cannot lock content they make using our game behind a paywall.' But that post also carved out a specific loophole for creators who wanted to offer an incentive to encourage donations via sites like Patreon:Īs long as the content is still made available FOR FREE we do not mind these types of pages. Last month, EA published an update formalizing its policy that mods for The Sims 4 'cannot be sold, licensed, or rented for a fee.' But the publisher tells Ars that there is still one important exception that should ensure many Sims modders can continue to make significant income from their game-expanding creations.ĮA's new modding policy, first published July 21, is pretty direct in saying that Sims 4 mods 'must be non-commercial and distributed free-of-charge' and that they can't 'contain features that would support monetary transactions of any type.' According to the published policy, those who want to monetize their Sims modding work are limited to indirect methods like 'passive advertisements and requests for donations' on their own websites (but not within the mods themselves).ĭespite this recent formalization, this policy isn't entirely new.

The sims 4 free content