The Sims 4's next update adds sexual orientation options to make the game even more inclusive, EA has announced.
The folks at EA and Maxis have been charting a long road toward a more inclusive Sims experience, with May's customizable pronoun update being the latest positive change, and the option to choose your Sims' sexual preferences is yet big leap in that direction. Crucially, it won't be paywalled behind the upcoming High School Years expansion pack, but rather it'll be added to the base game as a free update for everyone.
Starting July 28, when you create a Sim you'll be presented with a few new options: which gender(s) they're attracted to, whether they're still figuring out their sexual orientation and thereby might change throughout the course of the game, and which gender(s) they're interested in getting down to business - ahem, "WooHooing" - with.
It's very much worth pointing out that, at this point, there are only two genders available in the sexual orientation options: men and women. EA says this is due to "technical limitations" relating to the fact that you still need to make a binary gender selection when you make your Sims, regardless of their pronouns. However, "proper mechanical systems to fully support non binary Sims is another step" in EA's plans.
Without getting into specifics, The Sims 4 High School Years design lead SimGuruJessica acknowledges that there's still plenty of work to do in better respresneting LGBTQIA+ folks.
"It is important to acknowledge that these are steps in a journey that we are still mapping out," SimGuruJessica says. "There is much further to go, and while I can’t get into the details of where exactly we go next, please know that we are committed to continuing to improve our representation of the LGBTQIA+ community."
EA recently confirmed that you'll be able to "WooHoo" on the Ferris wheel in The Sims 4's High School Years expansion.
