The Sims 4 is adding a new in-game Marketplace where modders can sell their custom content–which includes items like clothing and furniture–a move that will allow console players to officially use any sort of modded content for the first time. But there’s a pretty big catch: There will be no free items on the Marketplace, only paid packs that must be purchased with a new currency called Moola. The PC and Mac version of the Marketplace will launch on March 17, with the consoles versions coming “in the next couple of months,” according to the announcement.
The idea here appears to be to leverage modders to ramp up production on The Sims 4’s kits, which are bundles of create-a-Sim and build mode items that usually cost about $5. Maxis has already roped in modders to help with these in the past with its “creator kits.” But with the Marketplace, creators will be able to publish their own kits on their own time without Maxis commissioning them for the job. The Marketplace will only have custom content, not mods that alter gameplay.
On the creator side of this, there’s another catch: Items sold on the Marketplace must be exclusive. That means that modders can’t offer their Marketplace content anywhere outside the Marketplace–for free or otherwise. There’s also no indication that it will be possible to offer free items on the Marketplace. But Maxis emphasized repeatedly in the Marketplace announcement that it will otherwise be business as usual for modders who want to keep operating on modding sites or Patreon, and that the Gallery won’t be affected.
Console players have been waiting more than a decade for any sort of official mod support, but paid custom content isn’t quite what folks were hoping for. In contrast with the Bethesda Creation Club, which allows plenty of free mods and content for Fallout 4, Starfield, Skyrim, and other games on consoles, the Sims 4 Marketplace is more of a mixed bag, since it won’t include gameplay mods and nothing in it will be free.