The Sims FreePlay was first launched for mobile devices way back in 2011. It’s rare for apps of this generation to persist but updates over a number of years have hauled the game into modernity, allowing players to maintain their homes and Sims over a 14-year period. As Adric Polkinghorne, game designer at EA’s Firemonkeys Studio, explained at GCAP 2025, maintaining The Sims FreePlay and its moreish meta gameplay loop has been a complex journey.
Over the past few years, the game has undergone several major updates, referred to by Polkinghorne as the ‘meta rework,’ in an effort to overhaul it and appeal to modern players. Change was necessary, not only to modernise the game but also improve its gameplay loop and better align it with the habits and behaviour of new players.
The Sims FreePlay: GCAP 2025 talk roundup
Recognising the need for change
As noted by Polkinghorne, the focus of the game is on town building and maintaining a flock of Sims but, prior to the meta rework, unclear design and gameplay guidance had provided an obstacle for players and developers.
The Sims FreePlay lacked the engagement that Firemonkeys Studio desired, with players not embracing certain features, impacting the whole daisy-chain of gameplay. As Polkinghorne explained, the game works well if players hit their Sim cap. But if they’re only playing with a few Sims, they’re making less in-game currency and are able to build less, leading to towns that aren’t populated enough.
Lower base game participation meant lower live event participation, causing greater friction with cost scalings as well as slow progression for players. The Sims FreePlay, as a free-to-play title, relies on player engagement to stay running and make money (a necessity for all free-to-play games).
After reflecting on this challenge, The Sims FreePlay team recognised the need for change and embarked on a quest to improve the meta game more than a decade after game launch.
Polkinghorne says it wasn’t a specific event or circumstance that inspired the decision to overhaul the game. Rather, the decision arrived naturally as the team began looking to the future, ruminating on the question of how to keep the game going for the another 14 years. While the meta game rework was significant, and required plenty of analysis before implementation, it was a necessary step to set up for longer-term success, and continued player engagement.
Analysing what wasn’t working in The Sims FreePlay
To analyse what needed to change, the Firemonkeys Studios team first had to break down exactly what the issue was and why players weren’t behaving as expected. Polkinghorne noted that for games like this, a clear understanding between players and developers is essential, particularly when players are encouraged to spend real-world currency on the game.
To ensure the meta rework best served players, the studio identified several core challenges: player goals conflicting with game goals; opaque progression pathways; player pitfalls that hurt progression; and a weak meta structure that didn’t feel unified. An additional challenge was that The Sims FreePlay couldn’t be taken offline for the changes – they had to be worked in via updates in a way that felt comfortable for players. Ideally, the changes also had to be gradual and fair.
‘We didn’t want everything handed to players on a silver platter,’ Polkinghorne said. ‘Player first is not player freedom.’ The team focused first on the need to rework structural progression and provide more incentive for players to complete quests, hit their Sim cap and better engage with the gameplay loop.
The daisy chain was described as actions > rewards > progression. The meta system surrounding it is all about how to tell players to advance.
How Firemonkeys implemented change
The first tweak in The Sims FreePlay‘s meta rework was small: asking players to complete an action to level up. Previously, levels arrived with no fanfare. Players could simply drink lots of water and they’d get XP that brought them over the line, gaining them a level. Post-update, players were asked to click a button, which then displayed a message revealing what they’d unlocked and encouraged them to undertake certain activities.
‘Add a Sim’ became a required function of this leveling up, to encourage players to max out their Sim level cap and engage with the overarching loop of gameplay. As Polkinghorne said, the new design wasn’t meant to specifically dictate what players should do in the game, but to guide them along a path and provide a more rewarding structure.
Quests were also reimagined, with these becoming more linear. With firm requirements, players must now follow the game’s direction in certain circumstances in order to achieve more freedom later in the loop. There is now also consideration that certain players won’t want to complete every quest – for example, the one involving death – so there are now more options in gameplay. If you don’t want your Sims to die, you can avoid this quest entirely.
It’s all up to player behaviour, as guided by the game’s bounds.
In its original structure, The Sims FreePlay encouraged unwanted behaviour, said Polkinghorne. After over a decade of serving players, there was a certain apprehension about change and how rigidity would impact players, but as this GCAP 2025 talk made clear, the game had to change to ensure a brighter future.
Read: EA announces quality of life roadmap for The Sims 4
In closing, Polkinghorne made clear that it’s never too late to change – or admit flaws that should be addressed. While the nature of The Sims FreePlay made significant changes and updates complex, as the game needed to stay online, the focus was on making sure players are rewarded for their engagement and that meta progression loops make sense.
With time and patience, the many issues facing The Sims FreePlay were effectively worked through, leading to a game with better and more consistent engagement, with clear communication about its gameplay and end goals. The journey of this particular mobile title will no doubt serve as a learning lesson for anyone looking to structure gameplay around player behaviour, understanding humans won’t always do exactly what’s expected of them.
