Well, itâs finally happening. Nested underneath an announcement about the gameâs first paid DLC, The Sims 4 developers confirmed today that a Mac version will be arriving very soon. As in, next month. I know, I know: Took them long enough!
There isnât a specific release date yet, other than the fact that EA said itâs coming out in February 2015.
The Mac version will be the same price as the PC version.
Current PC owners of the game will get a copy of the Mac version for free. Future customers will also get the same deal, EA told me in an emailed statement after our original interview: âthe game will be dual-entitled no matter when you buy it. All PC owners will also be entitled to Mac and vise-versa.â
They also werenât able to confirm for me if youâll be able to sync up different versions of the game the way gamers can when playing cross-platform games on, say, Steam. I have no idea why they wouldnât let you share households, Sims, and general game progress across different versions of the game, since doing so would be the main reason current PC players (like me) would probably bother to pick up the Mac version. But EA also doesnât make it easy to share your Sims 4 progress between multiple PCs at the moment, so while thatâd be disappointing, I guess it wouldnât be all that surprising.
UPDATE: EA got back to me today (Wednesday) with answers to two additional questions about the Mac version that readers have been asking about:
The Mac version of The Sims 4 is going to be digital-only. So: no discs. From EAâs email: âPC customers will get full access to a Mac digital download. There is not a Mac disc version.â
The EA rep also confirmed that yes, âyou will be able to pull your save files from PC to MAC and vice-versa without a loss of progress.â
Judging by the sheer amount of emails and comments asking when the hell The Sims 4 is coming to Mac that Iâve received, Iâd say that a lot of people will be delighted to hear that theyâll finally be able to get their hands on the new gameâand so soon at that. Having a larger player base is exciting for all Sims 4 players too, though, since this is the kind of game that lives and dies by the nature of the communities that pop up in and around it.
As for the âOutdoor Retreatâ Game Pack? Well, that comes out today for $19.99. You can find more specific info about it in my original write-up of its announcement. I plan to start playing around with the thing once I can get my hands on it today, and will have detailed impressions on it later this week. In the meantime, hereâs a snazzy new trailer EA released today:
Some more some more info about the Game Pack, which brings a new area into The Sims 4âs map along with a bunch of camping-themed activities, in the studioâs blog post. As is always the case with The Sims, stuff gets much more interesting once players get their hands on the game though, so Iâll be on the lookout for that as I prepare my impressions on the Outdoor Retreat. If you see (or do) anything cool in the game, make sure to send it my way!
UPDATE (6:30 pm): This post did not properly attribute the lead image, which comes from a SimsVIP post. My sincerest apologies to the author of that post for this error.
UPDATE #2 (1/14/15 4:20 pm): EA clarified a few points about the Mac version for me. Iâve updated the post to add this additional information.
To contact the author of this post, write to [email protected] or find him on Twitter at @YannickLeJacq
