@BingoBobo
There is no Mac version of the game in Steam. Mac users can only play using Origin.
To play on a Mac, either unlink your Origin and Steam account and purchase DLC or create a new EA account, download the Sims 4 base game, which is now free, and purchase DLC for Origin.
(Edited with updated info)
It was so hard to click that "Accept as Solution" button. I don't want to accept it... but deep down I know you're right. I think in someways I always knew, it just took someone else to say it.
For posterity and future readers.
This is my interpretation of the answer and may not actually be true, but it helps me wrap my brain around it.
The Sims base game is one product with two "licenses".
The first "license" allows you to play the game on both PC and Mac.
The second "license" allows you to only play the game on PC, and only if authorized by Steam.
If you purchase the product through Origin you get the first "license".
If you purchase the product through Steam you get the second "license".
A single Origin account can only own one copy of the product. So once you've purchased one of the "licenses" you cannot purchase the other one.
(And let's just not talk about the CD)
@BingoBobo I would put things a bit differently. The important point here is that if you own Sims 4 through Steam, you still need to install through Steam, not Origin. And Steam only supports installing into Windows. So it's not that players receive a Steam "license" that only works in Windows, it's that Steam itself will only install Sims 4 into Windows, and Origin won't install the game if you own it through Steam.
Origin generally does not allow players to buy a second copy of content they already own. This particular scenario is sort of an edge case that the features designers probably didn't anticipate. There are ways around it, but that's kind of beside the point, and even so, you'd still be in the same position of not being able to install your Steam-owned packs either.
If you're interested though, you could always buy a product key from an authorized third-party seller like Amazon or Best Buy and register it to your account. From the (many) complaints I've seen, nothing stops people from registering multiple identical copies of a game to one Origin account.
There are very, very, few Mac games on Steam (in fact, there were so few, that the Mac Steam app is now legacy). Here’s a thought: if you’ve enough space on your MacBook Pro, either install Windows via Boot Camp or, as I prefer to do use Parallels (I prefer the latter because you can move files and text from MacOS to Windows). When I still played TS3, I did so using Windows 10 via Parallels and I don’t recall ever having a problem (bought most of those via Steam).
This is why I prefer Macs to PCs; an-off-the-shelf Mac can run Windows and Linux (which I also use occasionally), but an off-the-shell PC can’t run MacOS. I’ve been using Macs since the early ‘90s and I was really resistant to the change from PPC to Intel at first because I thought Intel took something away from it, and now it was just a different kind of PC (I mean, Macs are PCs).
The one thing I do have a problem with is iCloud, I don’t like the ‘delete from one device and it’s gone everywhere’, it catches many people out (it did my parents). People don’t understand that when they delete photos from their iPad/iPhone, if it’s connected to iCloud, they’re also deleting those photos from their Macs. I don’t understand why, after 15 versions of iOS and probably a similar number of MacOS, Apple hasn’t made iCloud either/or and offered the option of keeping photos and files on other devices and only deleting them from the one you don’t need them on (and if you did decide you wanted a specific file back on your iPad or Mac, having the option to only copy the file you needed back across). Sometimes, you don’t want or need it to ‘just work’. iCloud isn’t true cloud storage (as many people believe it to be).
Okay, enough of my ramblings (I don’t want to get my knuckles rapped for taking this off-topic).
I want to know if there totally no other way to play the sims 4 on mac pro other than buying it again through origin because I bought the game and DLC from steam, and I have a mac pro M1
Today, I unlinked my steam account from origin. And then I bought new game from origin. After linking steam account game running with all packs.
I have the same issue..
I just found a way so basically u can download window on ur Mac(it called Parallels) and play it that way but this process was so mad long.
1) download Parallels
(There more step with this easy)
2) download steam and ea app
(it gonna act like u have a non Mac computer so u have to download the ea and steam from window web)
3)sign in to everything then just download
(make sure to download the sims off steam first then download on ea ) if not ur gonna get error
disclaimer parallel is not free. You get a free trial though.
I found a way.
You can unlink "Steam" account on EA account, then go to origins and install for free and play on MAC.
Then can I continue playing Sims from the process in Steam ?
@wynvox You can't play Sims 4 through Steam on a Mac. If you're asking something different, please provide more details.
UPDATED ANSWER:
Ultimately you just have to buy all the content again if you want to play on your Mac. I ended up creating a brand new Origin account that wasn't linked to steam and repurchased everything.
Before I did that, I was able to purchase Sims 4 digital packs from Gamestop. Then I went into the Origin app and used the activation code with my Origin account that was linked to my Steam account. And it worked fine but it was a hassle.
However The products I purchased said they were for PC platform. And now Gamestop is only showing products for the "PC EA app". I know that windows got a new EA app that is very different from the Mac Origin app. So I don't know if those will work. Try at your own risk. I think making a new Origin account is the better option.
puzzlezaddict explained it best.
@puzzlezaddict wrote:@BingoBobo I would put things a bit differently. The important point here is that if you own Sims 4 through Steam, you still need to install through Steam, not Origin. And Steam only supports installing into Windows. So it's not that players receive a Steam "license" that only works in Windows, it's that Steam itself will only install Sims 4 into Windows, and Origin won't install the game if you own it through Steam.
Origin generally does not allow players to buy a second copy of content they already own. This particular scenario is sort of an edge case that the features designers probably didn't anticipate. There are ways around it, but that's kind of beside the point, and even so, you'd still be in the same position of not being able to install your Steam-owned packs either.
If you're interested though, you could always buy a product key from an authorized third-party seller like Amazon or Best Buy and register it to your account. From the (many) complaints I've seen, nothing stops people from registering multiple identical copies of a game to one Origin account.
@Bluebellflora Thank you for monitoring this thread. I keep getting notifications but I'm too lazy. I hope this helps to clarify the situation for people.
this is just *
