Last week, EA issued a statement announcing that The Sims 4 My Wedding Stories would not be available to players in Russia due to censorship issues. This move was very controversial among Simmers and resulted in many EA Gamechangers refusing to produce early access content and #weddingsforrussia trending on Twitter. Yesterday, an update was released that the expansion pack will be available everywhere, “unaltered and unchanged”.
The overwhelmingly negative response towards the decision not to release My Wedding Stories in Russia centred on two main points: there were actually no legal restrictions, and it made EA complicit with the censorship laws in Russia. The protests were so extreme that EA had to disable live chat during a stream promoting the new game because it was flooded with #weddingsforrussia.
Creators like Sims Community and LilSimsie announced that they would not be producing their usual EA Gamechangers early access content. This early access content generates a lot of excitement surrounding the release and encourages many people to purchase the pack. Similarly, many other players announced their solidarity on Twitter, that they would be boycotting the pack until it was available everywhere. This solidarity with Russian Simmers and a shared frustration was met by a prolonged silence from EA on the topic.
In the statement released on 16th February 2022, the game’s creators said they had been “listening to the outpouring of feelings from our community” and the implications of their decision. After much protest from Simmers, they decided they were in fact able to release The Sims 4 My Wedding Stories worldwide after all. This has caused a delay by a few days which is being shared worldwide, with all players being able to purchase the game on 23rd February 2022.
EA’s U-turn on their previous policy was certainly unexpected. Through this move, they are trying to reinforce their values and commitment to standing against homophobia. Many other countries that the game was originally being released to have anti-LGBTQ+ laws in place, leading to questions over why Russia was specifically targeted. Despite this ongoing discourse, the game will be available for all players next week.
The Sims 4 My Wedding Stories will be available worldwide on 23rd February 2022, on PC/Mac, Xbox, and PlayStation.
Words by Ella Gilbert
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