Maybe the "new Sims experience" could be optional multiplayer a la Stardew Valley.

"Writin_Reg;c-16468368" wrote:

"CoteDAzur;c-16468329" wrote:
I think multiplayer Sims would be a game breaker for me, and hopefully most of us. I play enough multiplayer games to know that I don't like playing with other people. 'Nuff said. I already have enough Sims knocking my door down already.. Would the private dwelling trait still work? Haha.

Fences with locked gates work. I use them all the time in past sims games - in Sims 4 my sim keeps the doors locked and ignores anyone who knocks on the door unless she/he invited them over. My experience with past Sims online - nothing works. Other players who are in different time zones just show up when ever they want and wakes the sim up. Another reason online rots.

Chatting on forums is where they need to keep the chat. Not in my game. Online sims they also took your stuff - that cost real money - not sims money and you could not do a thing about it. You had to use more real money to get another one. It rots when it's your only toilet, shower, or bed.

There are dozens of ways to make games into multiplayer. But ingame options to chat is very rare in such games = even in games where you join a league to fight competitions against other leagues. So I strongly doubt that EA will make it possible in a game like this one.

Exactly how EA would make it i can’t guess though because it isn’t done in the same way for the Sims Freeplay and for the Sims Mobile either and I doubt that EA will use any of those ways anyway for the PC game.

An interesting way could maybe be inspired by the way it usually is done in farming games where you can buy needed things from other players or request things that you need. In such games this is usually done without chatting such that it works also between gamers who don’t speak the same language. In the Sims games there are even more options for EA to add ways to request help for different things from other simmers.