The Sims 4 Getting 100+ New Skin Tones in December 2020

On September 23rd, The Sims 4 team came forward with an announcement pertaining to the next steps of their previous commitment to improving skin tones and hairstyles for Black sims in-game. This commitment came in the wake of years of critiques and requests from Black Simmers and Simmers of color, in many ways only gaining traction with EA and the Sim Gurus when white members of the Sims community began speaking up.

Recognizing that fact, it’s vital that community members and journalism outlets continue holding The Sims 4 team accountable for their promises as this process moves forward through its next stages. That said, the commitments made in the recent announcement are both significant and representative of a clearly actionable work plan, which — while sorely belated — offer greater improvements than many Sims community members were expecting.

By October 6th for Mac and PC players, and November 10th for console players, The Sims 4 team will have released a free update to the base game resolving the long-criticized issues with “blotchy artifacts and ashy appearance of darker skin tones.”

This update will also include improvements to “two of the base game hairstyles,” and while the announcement doesn’t specify which, we are presumably meant to assume these improvements will pertain to Black hairstyles as well. Given that the Sims 4 concept art for the afro was literally modeled from a cauliflower, the “failure of care” when it comes to the respectful depiction of Black skin and hair is significant, obvious, and must continue being taken seriously if the team is to keep its word.

In that light, it is worth noting that, by December of this year, The Sims 4 team has committed to “rolling out at least a hundred new skin tone swatches in cool, neutral, and warm tones with a particular emphasis on darker skin tones.” New and existing swatches will all be accompanied by a slider so that each tone can be modified to be lighter or darker.

Makeup sliders will also be introduced so that players can create Sims with makeup that truly complements their (hopefully) more authentically represented skin tone. December’s bigger update will, in addition, “include another two improved base game hairstyles.”

The actionable items and language used in the announcement speak to an increased awareness of the variety and undertones in Black skin colors. This recognition likely arises from the team “collaborating with external partners, including talented and diverse community members” as part of the update process.

However, it’s unclear at present how many of these community members and partners are Black, nor do we know to what extent they are being paid for their contributions. The announcement does mention that the team will be “sharing more details” about these working relationships, but keeping the pressure on in the meantime to ensure those contributors are remunerated fairly will be equally vital as work continues.

It’s also worth noting that, in its present iteration, this update seems to come at a fairly significant technical cost in a game already troubled by notable frame rate issues and questionable approaches to customer service. The announcement explains that the October update for PC “will, at this point, be visible only to those running the game with the “Uncompressed Sim Textures” graphics settings turned ON,” a setting known to cause significant lag or game crashes in some cases.

The language suggests that this too may be resolved with the December update, but in the meantime may be prohibitive to players with lower-spec computers or graphics cards. This is a fairly major concern when it comes to inclusivity and accessibility being more broadly understood. Marginalized members of a gaming community should not have to dip into their savings, in a deeply uncertain economic period, for a graphics update simply so they can make Sims that look like themselves.

Equally, it raises some questions about why and how it has taken the team six years to produce an update that is still beset with technical limitations. Not least when other games, including those developed by indie companies, have already demonstrated that the technology to create and light authentic skin tones for Black characters readily exists.

All the same, it is certainly encouraging to see The Sims 4 team responding with a clear plan of action for which they can be held accountable. Overall responses are positive and optimistic, looking forward to an updated version of the game that truly allows Black Simmers and Simmers of color to celebrate themselves and each other. The same energy that finally, at long last, led The Sims 4 team to take these criticisms seriously must now be maintained to ensure that those actionable items continue to translate into true and ongoing progress.