The life simulation game that has been topping the charts of the most popular PC games for 23 years has updated its latest version, Sims 4, and introduced the option for transgender characters. The game creator, EA, described this update as a significant step forward in creating a game that is ‘more diverse, inclusive, and better represents the global community’.
In addition to transgender characters, players can also choose characters with disabilities, allowing them to have visible scars, wear bandages, or use medical aids. These options will be available for creating adult and teenage characters, which EA believes will enable players to design characters in the simulation of real life that are more similar to themselves in reality.
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Judging by comments on Twitter, users are thrilled with the new update and believe it will help ‘real’ people, especially younger generations, to embrace diversity.
Although launched in the ‘distant’ year 2000, the Sims franchise is considered one of the most successful in adapting to market trends and generating revenue. The fourth version generated nearly half a billion dollars in revenue annually until last year, and by 2019, total revenues from the Sims had risen to five billion dollars.
Currently, there are 10 million active players of Sims 4, and a total of 80 million users have played it on PC, consoles, and mobile devices. About 38 percent of players (the largest share) fall into the age group of 18 to 24 years, and there are slightly more women than men playing the game. At the end of last year, EA made Sims 4 a permanently free game, and the Sims 5 version has been announced.
