Yeah, this seems an issue with the new patch. You need to start the game through Origin now. The shortcut only starts Origin.
I have the same problem, i have sims 3 via disc and origin. Usually if i click on the sims 3 icon, the launcher will show, and if i click on it through origin, again the launcher will show. But now the origin site just flashes when i click play. When i click the icon now, it just loads for a second then stops.
@cheemonga2003 You can try repairing TS3 in Origin—right-click on the game icon in your library. You can also clear Origin's cache, and if that doesn't help, uninstall and reinstall Origin itself. This would not affect your installed games.
https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/origin/origin/manually-uninstalling-origin/
It might also be worth trying the clean folder test. Drag your existing TS3 folder out of Documents and onto your desktop. When (and if) the game loads again, it will spawn a clean folder. If you can play in this folder, you can move your existing saves and other content into it from your old folder.
