This fall, the next Sims game will be testing multiplayer only with invited players.

There hasn't been any news about The Sims 5 for about a year. While there is still no real news, there is a rumor that there will be some news soon...ish.

Maxis has released a blog post today that talks about the preparations being made for the 25th Anniversary of the series, which will be in February. It confirmed there is a Sims film in the works. It also talked about plans to co-develop small DLC kits with moders. And it mentioned that invite-only testing for the next Sims title, codenamed Project Rene will be happening this season.

Maxis explains that Project Rene, which is currently being developed alongside other exciting projects within The Sims, is aimed at creating ways for friends and family to connect, share, and play together in a brand new world. There will be a small, invite-only Rene playtest in Fall 2024. This will give an early look at the multiplayer experience that explores joining other players and friends at a shared place. Sign up for The Sims Labs to be considered for these playtests.

Maxis will host another Behind The Sims presentation in January of next year, as part of the celebrations for the 25th Anniversary. It's safe for us to assume that Project Rene will be discussed during the presentation, even though it does not explicitly state that it will.

It also says "We'll continue sharing more information about the game's progress and milestones along with the way."

We know very little about the next Sims, such as that it will bring back the Create-A-Style feature from The Sims 3 - and it will be completely free. We don't know if it should be called "The Sims 5" because Maxis is vague about its relationship with The Sims 4, aside from saying it would continue to support them both. I hope that the second point will be clarified in January.