A former Maxis Studios employee has hinted that at least one version of The Sims 5 may have been canceled, leaving the overall fate of the sequel to The Sims 4 uncertain. The next entry in The Sims franchise, initially teased as Project Rene in October 2022, was described by Electronic Arts as "the next generation" of the series. EA also emphasized that Project Rene wasn't meant to replace The Sims 4 but to offer a different kind of experience across PC, consoles, and mobile devices. However, the publisher hasn't confirmed if Project Rene and The Sims 5 are the same project.
Recent information from the LinkedIn profile of a former Maxis lead character artist suggests that one aspect of The Sims 5 has been canceled. Discovered by Twitter user SimmerBerkay, the profile indicates that the employee worked on the PS5 version of The Sims 5, which is listed as canceled. A follow-up investigation identified Thomas Sincich as the profile owner, noting that the canceled game was being developed using Unreal Engine 5, the same engine believed to be used for Project Rene. This connection offers some evidence that Project Rene and The Sims 5 might be the same.
The exact timing of the cancellation is unclear, but Sincich left Maxis in April 2024, suggesting it happened before then. Neither EA nor Maxis has provided an official update on the game's status since 2023. In January 2024, Grant Rodiek, a key figure in The Sims development team, also left Maxis and EA. The fate of The Sims 5 remains uncertain, with one possibility being that only the PS5 version was canceled while other platform versions are still in development. Maxis is also reportedly working on another project, code-named Project Dolores, as indicated by recent job listings.