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MarteziaKing's avatar
MarteziaKing
11 months ago

The Cancelled The Sims Film And Other Projects 🚫 🎮 🚫

I figured that I'll start a discussion about this.

Did anyone else knew that back in 2007, a live-action movie based on The Sims was announced, only for it to remain in development hell and ultimately, cancelled? The rights to create The Sims film was purchased by 20th Century Studios (then known as 20th Century Fox) that same year and it was to be directed by Brian Lynch and produced by John Davis. However, no more information about the film was released and it remained in development hell...until 2019. In 2019, the film, alongside some others that were also based on video games, were cancelled following Disney's acquisition of 21st Century Fox. Here's the IMDb page for the cancelled film - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1482462/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

Another cancelled The Sims project that I'm interested in is SimsVille, a game that was suppose to be a crossover between The Sims and SimCity. SimsVille was going to be released back in 2002, only for it to be cancelled by Maxis so they can focus more on The Sims (1) after it became extremely popular.

https://youtu.be/bCshVvzD4QY
https://youtu.be/O8WZImWpgVc
https://youtu.be/rYN96ctWwvk

Of course, although not exactly "cancelled" (more of a rework) in the traditional sense, there's also Project Olympus, the infamous multiplayer prototype of The Sims 4. There's also another prototype (not related to Project Olympus) created by Chi Chan (a studio Art Director for Maxis) that was developed in the Unity engine. Considering that we're getting multiplayer in Project Rene, I thought that I should give this a mention.

https://youtu.be/h2IPZDJ-pt0
https://youtu.be/tU7Ws2L5G_Q
https://youtu.be/chU3kH_tbgY
https://youtu.be/T8XX2g0u2kw

I can't help but wonder about how these projects will turn out to be if they weren't cancelled (or reworked, in the case of The Sims 4 prototypes). What do you guys think? Any thoughts or opinions that would you like to share? 🤔
  • i_love_frogs_11's avatar
    i_love_frogs_11
    Seasoned Adventurer
    11 months ago
    Wow! I never saw like actual video footage with the Project Olympus UI and stuff, I had only seen photos. Never knew about this supposed film till just now :D My only thoughts really are that from time to time I think about what would've happened if EA kept The Sims 4 as an online game as they originally intended. I for one, know I wouldn't have played it, but idk about others.

    Would it also fail like Sims City 2013? Even though I love that game, the launch was terrible with the server issues and then like a year(?) later it was completely abandoned.

    I think it makes me wonder if them scrapping the online game and making a new one, even rushed with leftover remnants of project Olympus, was their best outcome. Who knows what would've happened to The Sims franchise if they had stuck with an online game instead. It could have possibly ruined The Sims for eternity lol. So while I have my disappointments with the lack of depth/gameplay in TS4, It does make me stop to appreciate that this could have possibly been the best outcome given the situation. If any of that makes sense haha.
  • MarteziaKing's avatar
    MarteziaKing
    11 months ago
    "Coconut27;c-18329300" wrote:
    Wow! I never saw like actual video footage with the Project Olympus UI and stuff, I had only seen photos. Never knew about this supposed film till just now :D My only thoughts really are that from time to time I think about what would've happened if EA kept The Sims 4 as an online game as they originally intended. I for one, know I wouldn't have played it, but idk about others.

    Would it also fail like Sims City 2013? Even though I love that game, the launch was terrible with the server issues and then like a year(?) later it was completely abandoned.

    I think it makes me wonder if them scrapping the online game and making a new one, even rushed with leftover remnants of project Olympus, was their best outcome. Who knows what would've happened to The Sims franchise if they had stuck with an online game instead. It could have possibly ruined The Sims for eternity lol. So while I have my disappointments with the lack of depth/gameplay in TS4, It does make me stop to appreciate that this could have possibly been the best outcome given the situation. If any of that makes sense haha.


    I only found out about the cancelled film maybe a year ago, so I was quite surprised when I did. I have a feeling that given the time (2007) it was announced, it was most likely going to be a retelling of the events that happened in The Sims 2, especially when it comes to Bella Goth's disappearance.

    As for Project Olympus, the main theory on why it was reworked into The Sims 4 that we know today is because of the fail of SimCity (2013). Not wanting to repeat the same mistake with SimCity (2013), Maxis decided to rework Olympus real late in its development (a year before its release), resulting in it becoming The Sims 4. Why else would you think that The Sims 4 was missing so many important and iconic features when it was released back in 2014. I think that if The Sims 4 was released as Olympus, it was most likely going to fail just like SimCity (2013) before it. Project Rene is going to have multiplayer too, but it's going to be similar to the multiplayer in Animal Crossing and not the virtual world approach that Olympus had. ?
  • i_love_frogs_11's avatar
    i_love_frogs_11
    Seasoned Adventurer
    11 months ago
    Yeah exactly, TS4 was an empty shell (much like the decor world buildings :D) at launch. I agree it probably would've failed if it stayed as the original game idea. Especially because the last game we had was TS3!

    I listened to that podcast segment and i actually have less worry about "multiplayer" now for Project Rene :) it seems like the team wants to make new experiences available, but also want to stick to The Sims core purpose. I the art style and the building design/lot type prototypes seem cool, so I hope they get the time and resources to really make this a more fleshed out game! I haven't lost all hope for TS5 <3
  • MarteziaKing's avatar
    MarteziaKing
    11 months ago
    "Coconut27;c-18329485" wrote:
    Yeah exactly, TS4 was an empty shell (much like the decor world buildings :D) at launch. I agree it probably would've failed if it stayed as the original game idea. Especially because the last game we had was TS3!

    I listened to that podcast segment and i actually have less worry about "multiplayer" now for Project Rene :) it seems like the team wants to make new experiences available, but also want to stick to The Sims core purpose. I the art style and the building design/lot type prototypes seem cool, so I hope they get the time and resources to really make this a more fleshed out game! I haven't lots all hope for TS5 <3


    Me too! I can't wait to play Project Rene/The Sims 5 once it gets released. ?
  • EnkiSchmidt's avatar
    EnkiSchmidt
    Hero
    11 months ago
    I remember how sad I was when Simville got canceled. I don't even play simulation games other than the first Zoo Tycoon and Civilisation 2+3, but I greatly enjoy shaping my neighborhoods via NAPS (yes, even the annoying ones) and sometimes hold elections.

    I think there's potential for a mix of protagonist mode and city planner mode in The Sims, would like to get more tools along this way. Medieval for example had the foreign relations, that would be neat in Sims 4, too. Depending on what foreign (existing off screen) city your sims world entered into a partnership, different goods could unlock and tourists from that country might appear occasionally, that sort of thing.
  • MarteziaKing's avatar
    MarteziaKing
    11 months ago
    "EnkiSchmidt;c-18329505" wrote:
    I remember how sad I was when Simville got canceled. I don't even play simulation games other than the first Zoo Tycoon and Civilisation 2+3, but I greatly enjoy shaping my neighborhoods via NAPS (yes, even the annoying ones) and sometimes hold elections.

    I think there's potential for a mix of protagonist mode and city planner mode in The Sims, would like to get more tools along this way. Medieval for example had the foreign relations, that would be neat in Sims 4, too. Depending on what foreign (existing off screen) city your sims world entered into a partnership, different goods could unlock and tourists from that country might appear occasionally, that sort of thing.


    I think this would be a fantastic idea. ?

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Discuss The Sims Medieval, the original The Sims, and speculate on the future of the franchise, including Project Rene.1,016 PostsLatest Activity: 41 minutes ago