When the first trailer for Dine Out released, there was a teddy bear hanging from the new restaurant chef station. It caused some brief speculation, but we didn’t get our hopes up and just brushed it off. The Sims team can get quite quirky with their jokes and teases so it probably was nothing more than a misplaced object just for funsies. At most, the devs were just teasing for the upcoming Kids Stuff pack.
But now that Dine Out is live, there are more future content clues to be found. On a quest to figure out any and all cryptic messages sent by The Sims team, one Simmer named Wesley came across something only babies or toddlers would carry around: a bottle. Of all places, this bottle sits right next to the condiments on the same chef station where the teddy bear mysteriously hangs.
The Sims team is fully aware the lack of toddlers is something almost all players ABSOLUTELY LOATHE about TS4 . Very few times has a producer actually addressed these qualms, but here are the two most recent times they have (courtesy of the Sims Community ):
Maxis Producer SimGuruRachel briefly caught up with Kotaku last year to give reasoning for the absence of toddler Sims.
“With The Sims 4 , we made the decision to focus on fundamental changes to the Sim behaviors such as multitasking, emotions, traits and interactions, and we focused first on the later life states. Toddlers are not simply small Sims, they are a completely separate Sim type, deserving of the same level of investment. We want to do it well. It is something we’re exploring but we don’t currently have more information to share around when or how other than to say our fans will be the first to know.”
Toddlers were also mentioned again just a few months ago when Community Manager SimGuruDrake stickied a thread called “Ideas at a glance for Toddlers” in the official Sims forums. She even told off Simmers who were trolling the page:
“Please do not comment in there with ‘I don’t want toddlers’” or anything of the sort. This is an ideas thread for those players who do and what they would like to see from this life state, and it should remain as such.” Lead Producer SimGuruLyndsay also commented in the thread, thanking SimGuruDrake for telling her to check it out.
So we’re holding you to this SimGuruRachel . Is the teddy bear and baby bottle a hint that The Sims 4 is seriously working on toddlers? If TS4 doesn't get walking baby Sims between the ages of 1-4 in some capacity, it’s going to be a long three years until The Sims 5. Let us know what you think in the comments below!
