I purchased the Sims 4 in the United Kingdom, and I have been disappointed to find out that the only language I can play in is English. After being told that it must be a technical error, that the Sims 4 comes in 18 different languages, and that I should uninstall and reinstall the game to get all the options available, an EA chat agent has confirmed that this only applies to US customers, and that UK customers only may choose English, and that I should post here on the forums if I am not happy about this since I am unable to be refunded and purchase it again in another country.To me, this restriction makes no sense. The cost of the base game and the expansion packs costs more to UK customers than it does to US customers, due to the conversion rate that EA has chosen. Despite this, our version is far more restricted, given the 17 fewer language choices. Why has this decision been made? The UK also has a large international community. I feel like we would also benefit from being able to choose other languages. Please reconsider this decision.

Hey @JustBee4,I indeed have some more information for you regarding the language lock of The Sims 4 in the UK. This is indeed mentioned on the Origin Store page of The Sims 4 in the UK, in the Overview section: https://www.origin.com/gbr/en-us/store/the-sims/the-sims-4#store-page-section-overviewUnfortunately, this indeed means that it is indeed language locked to English when you purchase the game while being in the UK.When you go to the German site for example, https://www.origin.com/deu/de-de/store/the-sims/the-sims-4#store-page-section-overview, you get more available languages. But it is sadly not possible to access/purchase items from other Origin Store fronts if you are not located in that specific country.

@JustBee4 Steam allows returns if the player has purchased within the last 14 days and has played for less than 2 hours. So you could buy a Steam copy of Sims 4, uninstall your Origin copy and install the Steam one, and test it out. Once the Steam version is installed, you'll be able to download your packs from Origin. If it doesn't work how you want, just get a refund. Packs normally follow the language of the base game, as in, they're not language-locked on their own. But I've never heard what happens when someone has a language-locked version in Origin but not in Steam. As far as language restrictions go, the U.K. receives an English-only version, and a number of countries in Eastern Europe get a version that only includes Russian, Polish, and Czech. Everyone else gets the global version. This is common for EA games, but the specific distribution and options of language-locked versions can vary from one game to the next.

I now have an update to the situation.I mentioned earlier in the thread that all languages are listed as supported on the UK Steam version of the Sims 4. I decided to take advantage of the sale that's currently on and purchase the Sims 4 base game on Steam for £4.19.I then installed it on Steam, changed the game language to German in game properties on Steam, and everything is working as intended. All my DLC (including the recognising that I own the Deluxe edition on Origin, despite owning the normal version on Steam) are correctly recognised, and I can play the game in German (or any other language) now.I still believe that EA should do better and add all languages to the Origin UK version of the Sims 4. I see absolutely no reason for this difference between languages options on Origin and Steam here in the UK.

@JustBee4 I haven't seen any official explanation for the various language-locked versions, and it doesn't seem useful to speculate. And yes, obviously a couple of Central European countries receive language-locked versions, but what I was getting at is that many countries in Eastern Europe receive that version too. I haven't checked with every country but believe that most in Central Europe receive the global version, aside from Poland and the Czech Republic. I understand that you'd rather see how this plays out, but it will likely take a very long time for anything to change, if it does at all. People have been requesting that the language locks be lifted pretty much since the game was released in 2014, and EA employees have promised to pass that feedback on for almost as long. If player feedback were enough to convince anyone, that would have happened a long time ago. I'm not trying to be dismissive here, just suggesting that when you decide how to proceed, it's worth considering that your wait might be years long, or that perhaps nothing will ever change.

@JustBee4, I truly understand the frustration this might cause you, but unfortunately it is the way it is. It is indeed the case that when you purchase the game while bing in the UK (via the UK Origin Store front), you purchase a language-locked (region-locked) version of the game, locked to English only.Regarding that some other countries have more languages available: yes, this can indeed be the case. I have collected the feedback and I have passed it on to the teams.Regarding purchasing another version of the game via Steam: I sadly can not answer that, because I unfortunately do not know if it will override the version that you already have, since you have to link your EA account and Steam account in order to play EA games via Steam.

Please add all 18 languages to the UK version of the Sims 4

18 Replies

EA_Leeuw
Community Manager
4 years ago
Hey @JustBee4,

Thanks for your visit to the forums and sorry to hear that you're unhappy with The Sims 4 available languages.

I just took a quick look at your screenshot and I can see that your Origin is in German, while you mention to live in the UK?

This allows me to believe that it is possible that you might have an EA account that does not have the region UK, while being in the UK. In that case, it is very well possible that the store front of Origin redirected you to an English only store, because either the place where you're staying does not match your account region and/or your Origin settings, and therefore ended up with a region locked (language locked) version of the game.
JustBee4
4 years ago
Hello @EA_Leeuw,
Yes, I live in the UK and purchased the Sims 4 in the UK. I have tried a number of region/language settings on Origin, including United Kingdom - English, United Kingdom - German, Germany - English, and Germany - German. I have also tried these with and without a VPN with location in Germany. Absolutely nothing I try will give me the option to play the Sims 4 in German, or any other language for that matter. This region locking is apparently intentional and occurred at the time of purchase, and I should have looked at the languages before I bought it, according to the EA agent I spoke to earlier.
Here is the same screenshot in English. My settings on my EA account (https://myaccount.ea.com/cp-ui/aboutme/index?locale=en_GB) are now United Kingdom - English, my Origin Application language is now English, and I have no VPN on (so with a UK IP address). As you can see, I still can only select English, rather than the list of 18 languages that customers in the US have available to them.
The other games in my Origin library are not affected by this region locking. I am able to play the Sims 3 in German (and other languages), just not the Sims 4.
EA_Leeuw
Community Manager
4 years ago
@JustBee4, it is indeed the case that the possible region lock came into effect when you purchased the game. So if, at the time of purchase, something was not correct (either your current location in comparison to your EA account and Origin store front settings), it could indeed very well be the case that you got a region locked version as the EA agent mentioned. Therefore it is indeed also, unfortunately, not possible to change this later on. ☹️
JustBee4
4 years ago
@EA_Leeuw
I had my EA account as United Kingdom - English, my Origin language as English, and no VPN on at the time of purchase several years ago. I have tried these different store settings in the hope of playing in my desired language, to no success. I have searched online, and this is apparently intentional for UK customers, not just me. Here are some other people with the same issue, all of them also UK customers:
https://answers.ea.com/t5/General-Discussion-Feedback/The-Sims4-does-not-support-multiple-languages-on-UK-store/td-p/7739709
https://answers.ea.com/t5/General-Discussion-Feedback/Can-I-change-sim4-into-another-language-not-english-if-i-buy-it/m-p/10440726/
https://answers.ea.com/t5/General-Discussion-Feedback/my-sim4-game-only-has-english-to-choose-How-to-change-to-other/m-p/10481162/
https://answers.ea.com/t5/General-Discussion-Feedback/Can-t-change-language-on-multi-lingual-copy-of-Sims-4/m-p/6238740/
As you can see, none of these threads had a solution, with the general consensus being that it has been done intentionally by EA to UK customers. I do not understand this decision by EA and I hope for an update so I can play in other languages. I am very disappointed we are one of the only countries being geo-restricted.
EA_Leeuw
Community Manager
4 years ago
@JustBee4, I am more than happy to further look into this for you. However, when purchasing a region-locked/language-locked version, this unfortunately can not be changed afterwards.
JustBee4
4 years ago
@EA_Leeuw
I appreciate you looking further into this for me, I hope this is something EA will amend.
Is there a list of what regions have what language options? I cannot find any official information on this, other than unofficial sources claiming that the UK version is language-locked, and this one EA chat agent's word (when other EA chat agents said different things, assuming it is a technical issue, even though I said I bought the game in the UK to them). I had no idea at the time of purchase that I was purchasing an English-only copy (otherwise, I would have bought from another country's store).
If I were to buy the Sims 4 again from the Steam store (rather than Origin), and purchase it with my location set to Germany, would that work, since it's another copy? Would my DLC work, since it would be from another region? It's on sale right now for 75% off. As much as I would hate to give EA even more of my money, I would like to play the game in German.
For the original point, if the UK version is in fact restricted to one language, and EA doesn't consider amending this despite the UK having one of the world's largest foreign-born populations, I would also suggest editing this misleading page in the EN-GB localisation and changing it to reflect the truth so more people do not get misled:
https://www.ea.com/en-gb/games/the-sims/the-sims-4/faq-base-game-changing-languages
EA_Leeuw
Community Manager
4 years ago
Hey @JustBee4,

I indeed have some more information for you regarding the language lock of The Sims 4 in the UK.
This is indeed mentioned on the Origin Store page of The Sims 4 in the UK, in the Overview section: https://www.origin.com/gbr/en-us/store/the-sims/the-sims-4#store-page-section-overview
Unfortunately, this indeed means that it is indeed language locked to English when you purchase the game while being in the UK.

When you go to the German site for example, https://www.origin.com/deu/de-de/store/the-sims/the-sims-4#store-page-section-overview, you get more available languages. But it is sadly not possible to access/purchase items from other Origin Store fronts if you are not located in that specific country.
JustBee4
4 years ago
@EA_Leeuw
That is very frustrating to hear. I do not understand this conscious decision that EA has made to treat UK customers like this, is it possible that this will ever be reconsidered? If the US, Germany, and other countries have the full 18 languages available to them, why are customers in the UK being restricted to English?
>But it is sadly not possible to access/purchase items from other Origin Store fronts if you are not located in that specific country.
I can assure you that it is possible, which is why in some cases language-locking makes sense. I can very easily purchase the Sims 4 content from the German store on both Origin and Steam, and would have done this had I had known I was getting a restricted copy by deciding to buy the UK version.
So, as much as I think this is a ridiculous situation to even be in right now, and as much as I don't think EA should get another penny from me right now, if I were to buy the German base game from Steam, and then login to my Origin account, would I have access to the DLC I purchased from UK Origin on the German Steam copy, in the German language? Is it possible to mix and match like this?
EA_Leeuw
Community Manager
4 years ago
@JustBee4, I truly understand the frustration this might cause you, but unfortunately it is the way it is. It is indeed the case that when you purchase the game while bing in the UK (via the UK Origin Store front), you purchase a language-locked (region-locked) version of the game, locked to English only.

Regarding that some other countries have more languages available: yes, this can indeed be the case. I have collected the feedback and I have passed it on to the teams.

Regarding purchasing another version of the game via Steam: I sadly can not answer that, because I unfortunately do not know if it will override the version that you already have, since you have to link your EA account and Steam account in order to play EA games via Steam.
JustBee4
4 years ago
@EA_Leeuw
Many thanks for passing this feedback on, I hope that the teams are as reasonable as you.