The Sims 4 Will Have Built-In Modding Tools, Offline Play

Hot on the heels of Will Wright's comments that SimCity's server issues were inexcusable, EA has announced ahead of any speculation that the upcoming game The Sims 4 will be an offline experience without an always-online requirement.

"The Sims franchise is fueled by the passion and creativity of its millions of fans around the world," wrote EA in their announcement of the game. "Their continued devotion to the franchise ignites the fire of creativity of the team at The Sims Studio, driving them to continually improve and innovate on one of the world’s most successful simulation game that has sold more than 150 million copies worldwide."

The publisher emphasized that players would experience The Sims 4 as an offline experience.

"The Sims 4 celebrates the heart and soul of the Sims themselves, giving players a deeper connection with the most expressive, surprising and charming Sims ever in this single-player offline experience," said the publisher, which took a lot of heat for forcing SimCity players to log onto the servers just to play what amounts to a single-player game.

That being said, players of The Sims 4 will be able to "effortlessly share their creativity with friends and fans" using the game's new tools, which will invite players to personalize and mod their world. Such features were previously unavailable to fans of the series, who were forced to resort to third-party tools to make the effort of modifying the game.

"The Sims 4 encourages players to personalize their world with new and intuitive tools while offering them the ability to effortlessly share their creativity with friends and fans."

The Sims 4 is set for release on the PC and Mac in 2014.