The Sims 4 Listens to Players, Finally, Sort Of

Two months following a Change.org petition requesting a color wheel for skin tones in The Sims 4 reached 87,604 signatures, Executive Producer Lyndsay Pearson posted a roughly two-minute-long video to her Twitter account. The recorded statement — and transcript subsequently posted to the Sims forums by the Sims’ Global Community Manager — acknowledges that The Sims 4 team “[has] not done enough to address the variety of skin tones and hairstyles that you expect to find in The Sims 4.”

Pearson states that while some “additions and improvements and fixes” have been made previously, they have not been sufficient. Those that do exist within the game have often been affected by “blotchy artifacts and ashy tones”. She expresses a commitment to releasing more options this year as well as addressing the “visual issues” with current skin tones in the game and assures players that her team is “doing a deep dive into our full pipeline to trace our assets through every step and compare the before and afters to assess any loss in quality.”

This work, she continues to explain, is not being done alone. It involves “feedback from a number of places that inform the work and hold us accountable in our execution,” and she promises to maintain transparency and update lines of communication with players about this ongoing process, the first steps of which will be seen this fall.

Pearson then proceeds to express her gratitude to the active and engaged Sims 4 community, especially its modders, and stresses that the “incredible craftsmanship” contributed by the mod community “does not absolve [the team] from continuing to grow and improve as well.” She affirms that they will continue to work toward improving representation and inclusivity in the game in the long term, and thanks The Sims 4’s players for “being part of [their] continued evolution.”

It’s clear from the video and its accompanying transcript that Pearson is following a script, but this is a fairly common practice for this kind of announcement for the sake of thoroughness. Overall it’s been met very positively, with many fans of the game tweeting support, happiness, reassurance, and relief in response.

However, it cannot (and should not) be overlooked that — indeed, as several tweeted comments point out — black Simmers have been asking for these changes for anywhere between four and six years. When these requests seemed to fall on at best un-hearing and at worst indifferent ears, efforts to create mods for more varied and realistic black skin tones and hairstyles ramped up.

Reactions to this announcement also point out that, while the commitment to finally make these changes is very welcome, it’s also long overdue. Equally, if not more concerning, is the fact that these commitments seem to have largely come about after white Simmers spoke up en masse on social media. Black Simmers have previously been overlooked or ignored for saying the exact same things.

Yes, this change is long overdue. Yes, the timing of it seems to be tied to The Sims 4 team being more willing to listen to its white audience than anyone else. Yes, there’s a lot more to do, as Pearson herself affirms. Pivotally, as several Twitter comments show, there’s a concern about this new content being cordoned off and paywalled behind packs. The official Sims twitter account has stressed that they do intend to make sure this content is incorporated into the base game. However, to say the least, the presence of this concern from more than one player speaks to the importance of holding The Sims 4 accountable for their commitments.

None of this means, of course, that this isn’t a very necessary set of changes and none of this means it isn’t worth being excited about. Most of the responses, indeed, are heartened, encouraged, and greatly looking forward to seeing the new updates come the fall. Reactions to this announcement though have also included multiple calls for The Sims 4 to consult with and credit the black modders that have been doing this work for years already, particularly @EbonixSims, @Xmiramira, and @savvvysweeet.

The official Sims Twitter account did acknowledge the need to complement their in-game work with diverse hiring behind the curtain after a Twitter user pointed out a lack of black developers working on the game. However, they deferred any discussion of specific changes to hiring practices for a future announcement.

The Sims gaming community is a vocal and communicative one. It’s no secret that this concerted focus of energy and drive has contributed directly to new commitments for bringing more varied black skin tones and hairstyles into the game and repairing those that have been ashy, blotchy, comprised of implausibly dense curls, or otherwise programmed with less care than white skin tones and hairstyles.

Even so, this is the beginning of a process, not the end of it. The specific timeline of how and when The Sims 4 will come forward with verifiable results remains unclear outside of stating these first changes will be made “this fall.” So does their intention to meaningfully and productively work with modders who have been doing this work already.