EA Shuts The Sims Mobile, Moves Ahead with Project Rene

• The Sims Mobile servers will shut down permanently on January 20, 2026, with all player data deleted.
• The final update on October 20, 2025, made the game fully free, removing real-money purchases.
• EA set to focus on “Project Rene”, while a live-action film of The Sims is also in production.

The sun is about to set fully on the popular Electronic Arts (EA) game, The Sims Mobile, on January 20, 2026, at 01:59 PM UTC, after running it for seven successful years. The mobile game was officially delisted from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store on October 21, 2025. This means that people won't be able to download The Sims Mobile anymore; however, existing players will still be able to re-download or play for the time being.

The Sims Mobile: How Long Will the Existing Players Able to Play?

The Sims Mobile had already rolled out its final update on October 20, 2025, where all its real-money purchases were disabled, granting unlimited energy, which means it will have no cooldown limits, for the remaining months. As stated earlier, the game has already been removed from the app stores since October 21, 2025. 

However, from January 6, 2026, every existing player can access features like Build Mode and Create A Sim (CAS) items, regardless of the level they are in. Players with currency (SimCash, Simoleons, Tickets) must seek to spend it before the said date, when the features will be accessible for everyone, as there will be no added advantage in keeping it.

After playing the game for the final time on January 20, 2026, the servers for The Sims Mobile will shut down permanently, with all saved data being removed.

Why is EA Shutting Down The Sims Mobile?

EA has yet to formally provide a detailed reason for abruptly ending its game. Nevertheless, people on social media platforms such as Reddit highlighted a number of factors, including probable revenue concerns regarding the shutdown.

Despite the fact that the mobile version is being phased out, The Sims franchise remains popular. It has sold hundreds of millions of units since its inception in 2000. For instance, The Sims 4 had crossed 70 million players worldwide in April 2023, which made it the most-widely played game in the 23-year history of the franchise. This number, as per the analysis from Statista, reached to near about 85M players by March 2024. 

The Sims 4 is the main PC and console life-simulation game in the franchise, having been released in 2014. It is distinct from The Sims smartphone, the simpler mobile phone version.

At the same time, EA is reportedly moving to a new phase with the franchise, says The Verge. EA's upcoming project, which is titled "Project Rene," is thought to be a multiplayer, cross-platform evolution of the Sims experience. This might explain why The Sims Mobile may no longer be fit for EA's future roadmap.

Cross-media Expansion and the Future

With tens of millions of players worldwide, The Sims is well-suited for an IP expansion to expand beyond gaming. Games like Minecraft and Mario Bros. have already successfully done so. In fact, a live-action film from Amazon, MGM Studios, and LuckyChap (Margot Robbie’s company) is already in production, as reported by GamesRadar+. 

Notably, director Kate Herron and writer Briony Redman are also allegedly roped in for this live-action film, which is described to be "…somewhere between both The Lego Movie and Barbie." This endeavor would serve as the next chapter for the franchise, indicating a wider media extension of The Sims universe, while also shifting resources to its next big project, “Project Rene.”