For someone who’s been playing The Sims for as long as she can remember, March 28 is a huge deal: EA’s decades-long monopoly over the life sim is ending, as Krafton’s Inzoi enters the ring. It’s the first time The Sims is facing any real sort of competition—Inzoi seems to be gunning to match it in terms of size and scale, and could finally be the fire under EA’s ass it has so badly needed for several years.
But, listen. Put your anti-Sims pitchforks away, and those little party hats that read “Inzoi killed The Sims!” I mean, where did you even get those?
I can’t help but worry we’re getting a little ahead of ourselves, banking on Inzoi to be the David to EA’s Goliath—despite the fact Krafton is perhaps an even bigger Goliath here. I fear those looking for a Sims killer, a usurper to the throne, are going to come away sorely disappointed.
I mean, I get it
Sure, it would feel a little good to grave dance the teeniest, tiniest bit. The Sims has—rightly so, I should add—been getting a heavy dose of criticism in recent years, and there’s certainly been a sense of building resentment within the community.
Communication hasn’t always exactly been stellar on EA’s end, it basically went ahead and ignored Stuff Packs for two years in favour of pumping out a ridiculous number $5 Kits, and frequent game-breaking bugs have left simmers feeling pretty damn tired and frustrated. Hell, I’ve certainly not been silent on my own thoughts around the direction The Sims has been taking. That game is no saint, after all.
That buildup of feelings has made it all too easy to put all the life sim eggs in Inzoi’s basket. It’s a game that’s promising realistic graphics—something the Alpha CC players are going to eat up, and is sure to be a treat for those who aren’t keen on The Sims 4’s cartoonish look—as well as more gameplay options, an open world, and a more in-depth simulation than anything EA could offer up. Oh, and a ton of customization options that harken back to The Sims 3’s incredible and much-missed Create-a-Style system.
And yeah, that sounds pretty great. Personally I can take or leave the realism stuff, as someone who’s actually quite enamoured with The Sims 4’s style, but a smoother gameplay experience and a wider breadth of activities to do feels like an absolute dream. Importantly, right now, that stuff probably is a dream.
Let’s take a step back
Two things: Inzoi is in early access, and it’s also facing 25 years of knowledge that has enabled The Sims to maintain a monopoly for its entire existence. That isn’t something you just come along and topple that easily, even with Krafton’s resources and backing behind it.
Inzoi will be a fully-realised game, but it’s inevitably going to be missing the smaller details we’ve become accustomed to. Thinking back to the state The Sims 4 was in a decade ago compared to now, and all of its quality-of-life gubbins I couldn’t live without these days, I imagine there’ll be more than enough moments in Inzoi where I’ll be desperately wishing for some little tweak here or doodad there to make the whole thing feel better to play.
It’s probably going to take some time—and a whole heaping of community feedback—for Inzoi to find its feet. And that’s fine, that’s what an early access period is for. It’s not going to clobber The Sims over the head right out of the gate, as much as some of us may want it to. It’s an unrealistic ask we’re making of Inzoi, probably because we’ve never been in this situation before.
When have we, as simmers, ever had the opportunity to look at another game like The Sims, knowing the damn thing is actually releasing? We’re a group often running on heapings of cope, frustrations, and following an increasingly long-line of would-be successors getting flushed down the drain before they even get to see the light of day.
Besides, I’m really not fond of the narrative that Inzoi has to come along, pick The Sims up by its ankles and shake all the lunch money out of its pockets. Competition is good, and monopolies are bad, but director Hyungjun ‘Kjun’ Kim himself has said that he doesn’t envision his game to be a direct competitor, rather something that can stand alongside The Sims.
If Inozi came along, hip-bumped The Sims off the stage and stood by itself, all we’d be left with is another monopoly. Instead, I hope EA and Krafton can challenge each other, crib from each other, and branch out into their own individual things that make both worth playing for hitting different vibes.
So yeah, I think it’s best if we all take a breath, and brace ourselves for whatever Inzoi may shake out to be. Declarations of jumping ship and the death of The Sims helps nobody, certainly not a genre we’ve been so desperate to see expand for numerous years now. Instead, let’s see what the game has to offer first, and work from there. And if it really is The Sims killer from day one, then I’ll happily put on one of those party hats and declare I was wrong.
