The Sims 4 Legacy Edition is now live

EA has withdrawn support for The Sims 4 on non-Metal macOS machines and 32-bit PCs, opting to launch The Sims 4 Legacy Edition in its stead.

The company first announced that the game would no longer be supported on older machines back in March 2019. The Sims 4 Legacy Edition exists so that people who can’t or don’t want to upgrade to Metal or 64-bit systems can keep playing the game for years to come. Naturally, these changes don’t effect console players.

The Legacy Edition is available for those who already own The Sims 4. You can find it by opening the Details page for The Sims 4 on Origin and navigating to the Extra content tab. The game is completely free for those who already own The Sims 4.

All of your current save files will still work in the Legacy Edition and will automatically transfer upon the game’s first launch. Just be aware that any saves made in a newer edition of the base game will be incompatible.

On the other hand, all saves made in The Sims 4 Legacy Edition will be compatible with future versions of The Sims 4. That means if you choose to upgrade your system in the future and want to get back into the base version of the game, you can simply copy your saves back over.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z00mK3Pxc8w

If you’re using a system that no longer supports The Sims 4, you’ll be prompted to download the Legacy Edition instead when trying to open the game. You can also pre-download it if you already know that your system is obsolete.

The Gallery, game banners, and social integrations will also be disabled. The Legacy Edition also won’t display or allow any purchases of content released after November 12th, 2019.

If you’ve yet to purchase all the currently released DLC for The Sims 4, you’ll still be able to purchase and play all Stuff, Game, and Expansion packs released between September 2nd, 2014, until November 12th, 2019. For the full list of what you can buy, you can check out the EA FAQ here.

Custom content may or may not work depending on whether the mod developer decides to update their content to work in the Legacy Edition. If you’re running a heavily modded game, it might be an idea to disable your custom content before launching the Legacy Edition.

The Legacy Edition also won’t be updated, meaning that players will only ever have access to the game in its current build.

For those still using the non-Legacy Edition of The Sims 4, the Discover University expansion launches on PC and macOS on November 15th. Console users will get the expansion on December 17th.