Game won't start after pressing Play

This usually happens when the EA App fails to hand off the launch from Steam. Try closing both Steam and the EA App completely, then open Steam first and launch the game from there so it reconnects the launcher properly. Also check in the EA App under Help → App Recovery → Clear Cache, then sign in again. If the game still won’t start, run a file verification in Steam because a missing or corrupted file can cause the Play button to open the EA App but never actually start The Sims 4.

I'm having the same issue and I did all of that and even uninstalled and reinstalled The Sims 4 AND the EA app, and the game still isn't working.   

animevomit93​  Are you seeing an error code of any kind?  Some of them have unhelpful phrasing but do point to a specific category of issue.  The common ones are listed here:

🗂️[INDEX] List of Common Errors | EA Forums - 12697290

If you're not getting an error, please try playing in a clean user folder.  Move the entire Sims 4 folder out of Documents > Electronic Arts and onto your desktop.  When you launch the game, if it launches, a clean folder will spawn with no content.  (Your saves and other content will be intact in the folder you've moved but temporarily unread by the game.)  Don't add anything to the new folder yet; just start a new save and see how it runs.

If you still can't play, please provide a dxdiag.  Click Windows key-R, enter dxdiag in the run box, wait for the scan to finish, click "Save all information," and save the file to your desktop.  From there, you can attach it to a reply using the paper clip (Attachment) icon included with the other formatting buttons.

nwjnsbnns​  The same applies to you if you still need help.

So, I'm having the same problem except I'm launching directly from the EA app. I click play, it says "launching game", and then it goes right back to the EA app. I just moved my Sims 4 folder to the desktop as directed and the game launched fine. Does this mean something is corrupt in my Sims 4 folder?

I have been having this same issue since yesterday. I get the title screen and then it moves to the loading screen, the sound starts to glitch and it crashes to my desktop and asks me to log into the EA app even though I already was prior to the crash. 

I have thus far:

1. Cleared the EA app cache multiple times
2. Uninstalled the EA app and reinstalled it about 3 times
3. Uninstalled and reinstalled the entire game twice
4. Removed my entire Sims 4 folder to my desktop and regenerated a new folder 6 times
5. I unlinked Steam from my EA account thinking it was the problem because when the game would crash Steam would show it as running but there was no Sims 4 icon in my system tray nor did the game show in my task manager to close it there.
6. I did close all EA related tasks in my task manager so many times I've lost count
7. I tried running Sims 4, EA app, and Steam as administrator
8. I have repaired the game in the EA app
9. I have verified the files in Steam (prior to unlinking)
10. Nvidia dropped a new GPU driver update on March 10, 2026 and I updated that same day
11. I have verified that TS4 is allowed through the firewall as is Steam and EA's app
12. I also deleted the localthumbcache.package file many times
13. All mods were removed when I moved my original TS4 folder to desktop and have not been replaced
14. Turned off all game overlays...Nvidia, Discord, Steam, and EA
15. Turned off OneDrive cloud sync

I am absolutely at my wits end, I have a lot of money tied up into a game I can no longer play and I can see I'm not alone, and it looks to me like this is entirely an EA issue at this point and needs to be addressed asap. Edit to add: no error codes are given when the game crashes, just the dialog box to sign into EA again.

Thank you! That really helped! My game worked! I found out it was one of the items I downloaded recently. It wasn't any of my script mods, so it was definitely a hairstyle, clothing item, or skin detail I downloaded recently. I can't pinpoint specifically which one since I downloaded quite a bit so I just decided to get rid of all the ones I downloaded recently since it wasn't worth keeping all of them if I couldn't play my other saves! I had a feeling it was something I downloaded but that's never happened before so it really through me off. So thank you! I really appreciate it!

thedisciple76​  Yes, that means something in the old folder is stopping the game from launching.  The first suspect would be one or more mods, so test those first; you can test the entire Mods folder if you want, then split it from there if necessary.  The other common source of error is a file in ConfigOverride.  Saves and Tray files are unlikely to cause problems, although a mod-related folder in saves certainly could.

JanuaryGarnet08​  I already replied to another one of your posts.

animevomit93​  Glad to hear it, and thanks for the update.

I'm aware and I replied linking my post on this thread listing everything I have tried to get the game to launch and none of it has worked.

Found the culprit! Thank you for your help!