Sims 4 Fans Are Not Happy About the SpongeBob Packs

The Sims 4‘s new SpongeBob collaboration is facing backlash from fans following its recent shadow drop. The ongoing barrage of criticism is centered on everything from asset quality to value proposition, with some The Sims 4 fans also focusing on its brand fit, or lack thereof.

Electronic Arts released two SpongeBob SquarePants-themed The Sims 4 kits—SpongeBob Kid’s Room and SpongeBob’s House—on December 4. The packs debuted at $6.99 a piece, with EA also offering them as a $9.99 bundle that includes a few exclusive bonus items.

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Sims 4 Fans Criticize SpongeBob Build Kits

The Sims 4‘s SpongeBob collaboration has sparked largely negative reactions from a vocal section of the player base. Taking to social media, some fans argued that the kits look “cheap,” are overly reliant on flat recolors that seem lazy, and are clashing with the established The Sims 4 aesthetic. “I wouldn’t get it even if it was free,” one of the fans said of the recently launched two-kit bundle on Reddit, while another took aim at the pineapple house roof texture included in SpongeBob’s House Kit, describing it as “tragic.” The remark echoes more widespread complaints that some items feel like basic recolors or low-effort custom content rather than paid DLC.

The Sims 4 SpongeBob Clothes Face Similar Complaints

Clothing items from the SpongeBob crossover received similar criticism, drawing complaints and ridicule for “recolor-level” execution. “The clothes are especially tragic, it looks like someone who just learned how to recolor stuff made it,” one frustrated fan wrote on the r/TheSims subreddit. Voicing a similar sentiment, another player likened the SpongeBob clothing items to custom content their 14-year-old self would have made for The Sims 2 by just slapping images onto everything.

Adding to the ongoing complaints, some fans have also taken aim at how much the SpongeBob content clashes with the rest of the game. While The Sims 4‘s exaggerated art style was controversial at launch, the Stuff Packs and expansions Maxis put out over the years have mostly been consistent with it. Conversely, the SpongeBob kits largely consist of items that fans feel stick out like a sore thumb. “There’s just something so jarring about seeing real-life art and things in Sims,” one player wrote on the series’ largest subreddit, with another one adding: “when I first saw the images, I thought they were AI fan mock-ups.”

lilsimsie Bashes Sims 4 SpongeBob Packs, Stirring Some Drama

Popular Sims 4 YouTuber Kayla “lilsimsie” Sims has also criticized the new DLC in a recent video titled “I bought the SpongeBob packs so you don’t have to.” The 25-minute video posted on December 5 largely reiterates the aforementioned complaints that fans have already been voicing since the packs were shadow dropped. However, the move ended up stirring some drama in the process, resulting in a wave of YouTube comments criticizing her for buying the packs in the first place. The backlash gained enough traction that lilsimsie penned an elaborate response pinned to the controversial video. “I believed that making a negative video about these packs was the ‘best’ thing I could do with my platform,” the content creator said. “I understand if you disagree and feel that I shouldn’t have talked about them at all, but my intention was to openly encourage people to not buy either of these packs.”

The Sims 4‘s SpongeBob kits have seemingly gained little early commercial momentum. According to SteamDB data, SpongeBob Kid’s Room Kit is the 792nd top seller on Valve’s storefront as of December 6, whereas SpongeBob’s House Kit ranks even worse, at number 807. They have 15 Steam user reviews combined, suggesting their sales may be in the hundreds at most. There are currently no concrete signs of the DLC packs performing better on consoles.