First we wrote about career listings that hinted about the production of the next Sims game. Then we had some more clues adding up that the game is in development. And now, we have an official confirmation from Andrew Wilson, EA’s CEO about the plans for THE NEXT GENERATION SIMS GAME!

In the Third Quarter of FY2020 earnings call, Andrew Wilson was asked a question if Maxis has any plans of relaunching an online version of The Sims – like The Sims Online that was present from 2002 to 2008. Andrew Wilson gave an interesting answer, saying that Maxis is continuously thinking about The Sims for a new generation and that features from The Sims Online will become a part of that experience “in the years to come”.

Throughout his answer Andrew shared that, although they will always stay true to creation, escape, motivations and more (hinting at some of the keywords of an offline game), that they will also start to embrace a new social experience such as social interactions and competitions (as they were present in The Sims Online years ago) in a Sims experience in the years to come.

Check out our full transcript of the interview as well as the full audio recording:

Question: Any thoughts on relaunching an online version of the franchise given its large popularity? (referring to The Sims Online that was present up until 2008) Andrew Wilson (EA CEO): Great question on The Sims! The Sims will be 20 next week. That Maxis team and the team that’s been a part of Maxis over the years continue to deliver unbelieavably innovative and creative content for a constantly growing Sims community globally. As we think about The Sims – again, I reference the motivations of why we play the games – inspiration, escape, social interaction, creation, self improvement, competition. Typically what The Sims has done is really focus on fulfilling the motivations and inspiration, escape, creation, self-improvement and not necessarily focus as much as on social interaction and competition. But a few things are in fact true over the years. One is that the Sims community continues to grow and with the broad of social platforms continue to connect with each other and share what they do – in and around the game they play. And we’ve seen that manifest in The Sims Online which was a more social experience for us. And we’re also seeing that the competition nature of The Sims is also rising and we’re seeing people compare and contrast. Not competition in an original sport sense but how they create and what they create and how they use their imaginations and what they’re able to build inside of these Sims universes. As Maxis continues to think about The Sims for a new generation – cross-platforms and a cloud of a neighborhood world, you should imagine while we will always stay true to our inspiration, escape, creation, self-improvement, motivations – that this notion of social interactions and competition like the kind of things that were actually present in The Sims Online many many years ago – that they will start to become a part of The Sims experience in the years to come. We are very excited. This is a game that really doesn’t have any competition in its category for delivering and fulfilling these motivations for players and we think of the tremendous growth opportunities for us for many many years to come.

So, what are your thoughts on the next generation Sims game and what should be included? Let us know in the comments!