The Sims 4's Newest Policy Update Is Causing Tension And Panic Among Mod Users

gamespot.com:

On July 21, EA published an update to The Sims 4's policy regarding modding and content creation. While the post stated that EA understands mods are an «important part» of the player experience and outlined how players can re-enable mods following them being automatically disabled after The Sims 4's newest update, it also established a new set of rules for content creators and modders--and not everyone is happy about them.

Per EA's new guidelines, The Sims 4 custom content creators are no longer allowed to promote mods «in a way that suggests they are endorsed by or affiliated with The Sims, Maxis, or Electronic Arts.» As such, creators are prohibited from using «any game logos or trademarks, including versions of the plumbob, or key art designs» to promote their creations.

While this might be an inconvenience for modders, the second set of terms is proving far more controversial. According to the post, all content created by modders must now be distributed to the public free-of-charge. Mods can no longer be «sold, licensed, or rented for a fee,» nor can they contain features that support «monetary transactions of any type.» EA added that creators are free to «recoup their development costs» by running ads on their websites to generate revenue and donations--just so long as whatever in-game content they create is not behind a paywall.

Shortly after the announcement was made, content creators began to speculate on whether this would impact the community's popular early access pay model, in which creators offer mods and custom content on sites such as Patreon to paying subscribers for a set period of time before opening them up for public access. Earlier today, Twitter user MarlynSims96 shared a conversation they had with