EA Goes Private, The Sims Gets Freebies, and Paralives Buries Its Weird Babies

Becca HartwellHey everyone, welcome back to the Plumbob Report.

Danny ReyesBecca, we've got a stacked one today.

Becca HartwellOh, for sure. First up, EA's fifty-five billion dollar sale to that Saudi-led group just closed. Official done.

Danny ReyesWait, it's actually final? I've been waiting for that shoe to drop for months.

Becca HartwellIt dropped, and Jared Kushner's fund is in the mix, so we've got a lot to say.

Danny ReyesOh, we do. So much to say.

Becca HartwellRight? We'll get into what that means for Maxis and what actually stays the same.

Danny ReyesThen there's The Sims 4 side, a new patch, a new hairstyle pack, and Maxis is teasing some mystery free content.

Becca HartwellOoh, and modders are already-- Danny, don't even start.

Danny ReyesI didn't say a word. I'm just saying the timing is interesting.

Becca HartwellUgh, here we go.

Danny ReyesAlso, Paralives dropped a massive update. They tossed the homunculi babies completely.

Becca HartwellWait, they got rid of the creepy little babies?

Danny ReyesGone. And apparently, bodies don't pile up in the street either.

Becca HartwellThat's giving Sims 2 in the best way, honestly.

Danny ReyesSay less. Oh, and Fields of Mistria have finally hit its one point o full launch after two years in early access.

Becca HartwellPeople are already calling it the next Stardew. We'll see if that holds up.

Danny ReyesOkay, but EA first. Becca, walk me through what's actually changing here.

Becca HartwellAll right. So picture this, the ink's barely dry and already the community's got questions. We wanna hear from you. Submit questions via the web form in the description or give us a call at seven four seven six seven seven one zero three seven and leave your question. Don't be shy. Our AI assistant makes it super easy.

Danny ReyesFifty-five billion dollars. That's the number. EA is just gone, off the stock market completely.

Becca HartwellI know. I read it and just sat there staring at my phone.

Danny ReyesOfficially closed this week. The AP reported in the Ottumwa Courier Tuesday, sold to a group led by Saudi Arabia's PIF, plus Silver Lake and Affinity Partners.

Becca HartwellAnd Affinity Partners is Jared Kushner's firm. Riley Hoffman flagged that over at AOL.

Danny ReyesSecond biggest buyout in gaming history, right behind Microsoft grabbing Activision Blizzard. Yulia Pobegailova made that comparison on i24NEWS.

Becca HartwellQazinform broke down the details. Shareholders get two hundred and ten dollars cash per share. First announced back in September, shareholders signed off in December.

Danny ReyesSo this thing's been cooking for basically a year, and now, poof, EA is private.

Becca HartwellWhich changes less than people think day one. No more quarterly earnings calls breathing down Maxis' neck every three months.

Danny ReyesSure, but also no public shareholders to answer to means new owners can do whatever they want behind closed doors.

Becca HartwellTrue, but Sims has survived a lot of ownership turbulence already. Studio shuffles, EA restructurings, the whole mess.

Danny ReyesHas it ever been owned by a sovereign wealth fund with actual geopolitical stakes attached, though?

Becca HartwellOkay, fair point. I24NEWS raised real questions there. Debt load, jobs, whether franchises like ours get squeezed for cash down the line.

Danny ReyesThe community reaction's been all over the place. Half of Reddit's shrugging, the other half's convinced the next pack's getting monetized into oblivion.

Becca HartwellI get the worry, but responding like the sky's falling before a single decision has actually been made under new ownership feels premature.

Danny ReyesI mean, that Sim is not okay energy is very real in the comments right now.

Becca HartwellFair. Nobodys saying this isn't nothing. Its the second-biggest deal in gaming history. That matters.

Danny ReyesRight. And Maxis never had full control over its own future anyway, regardless of whos signing the checks.

Becca HartwellExactly. New owners just means new priorities we havent seen play out yet.

Danny ReyesSo what actually changes for us staring at Build Mode at eleven PM tonight?

Becca HartwellNothing, actually, this week. Thats the weirdly boring part of a fifty-five billion dollar story.

Danny ReyesWait, seriously? All that money moves and my game looks exactly the same?

Becca HartwellPretty much. While the boardroom stuff finalized, the actual game kept getting patched like nothing happened.

Danny ReyesOkay, now thats the part I want to poke at. What actually landed on our machines while all this was going down?

Becca HartwellOkay, but while boardrooms were on fire, Maxis just kept shipping. Walk me through what actually landed. Right. So August sixth, there's an official patch, and author release notes on Sims Community laid out three fixes. A memory crash that happens while your Sim's traveling, gone.

Danny ReyesOh, the one where loading screens just eat your RAM. Finally.

Becca HartwellExactly. Second thing, manual saves were overwriting the wrong slot. So if you had like five save files-

Danny ReyesWait, it could just delete a whole legacy save?

Becca HartwellOverwrite it, yeah. And third, stuck countdowns for school and careers-

Danny ReyesMm-hmm

Becca Hartwell... which is such a small fix, but it was driving people nuts.

Danny ReyesAnd Jovan reported there's also a hotfix riding along with that same August sixth window, right?

Becca HartwellYep. Separate statement, same day. Minimal impact on mods and CC, which is the phrase every modder holds their breath for.

Danny ReyesEvery single patch note ever.

Becca HartwellBut here's the actual news. Maxis dropped a surprise trailer this week teasing a free content update. Big one.

Danny ReyesI saw the trailer. What's actually in it?

Becca HartwellAshley Claudino on Polygon covered it. New CAS items for teens through elders, hairstyles, shirts, sweaters, plus random build objects specifically for kids.

Danny ReyesWait, kid-specific build objects? That's giving-

Becca HartwellDon't. Don't say it

Danny ReyesI wasn't going to. Okay, I was

Becca HartwellThe simscommunity.info write-up on that same teaser said it covers all sizes of adult-shaped Sims, so it's not just a CAS refresh. It's touching build mode too.

Danny ReyesFree stuff always gets me more excited than paid packs, honestly.

Becca HartwellSame. Speaking of paid, though, Jovan also covered a Maker Pack that dropped this week, the Musical Note Collection from a creator called Newsea.

Danny ReyesWait, isn't Maker Pack stuff usually a Thursday thing?

Becca HartwellThat's what's weird. This one skipped the usual window, which might mean they're testing two releases a week.

Danny ReyesInteresting. What's actually in it?

Becca HartwellA hairstyle, that same hairstyle with a head accessory, and a neck ribbon. Three bucks or 300 Simoleons if you're spending in-game.

Danny Reyes$3 for a ribbon is either a great deal or a crime, and I refuse to pick a side.

Becca HartwellIt's cute. I already put it on, like, four Sims.

Danny ReyesOf course you did. Meanwhile, some modder's gonna recreate the whole collection for free by Friday.

Becca HartwellProbably. That's kind of your whole personality at this point.

Danny ReyesI have receipts, Becca. It happens every single pack.

Becca HartwellI know, I know. But there's something about official CAS work, the shading, the way the hair actually moves during autonomy.

Danny ReyesVersus a Sim standing at a pool ladder for six hours because pathing forgot they existed.

Becca HartwellOkay, fair. The ladder thing is still not fixed, and it's been years.

Danny ReyesSome bugs are just permanent roommates at this point.

Becca HartwellHonestly, yeah.

Danny ReyesSpeaking of tools shipping fast, though, Paralives apparently got its own Command Center, like an actual mod for it. Wait, already?

Becca HartwellThat's wild for a game still in early access. I've got the whole rundown right here.

Danny ReyesSo quick update on that tease. Paralives dropped a lot more this week than just a mod. Please tell me this is about the babies.

Becca HartwellPlease tell me this is about the babies.

Danny ReyesThe babies are gone, Becca. Oisin Kuhnke wrote about it for Rock Paper Shotgun. The homunculi got redesigned right out of the August 10th update.

Becca HartwellWait, no. Those screaming blob babies were art.

Danny ReyesThey looked like sourdough starter with eyes.

Becca HartwellThey had charm.

Danny ReyesKuhnke's basically saying good riddance. And honestly, same.

Becca HartwellMm-hmm. Okay, but the bigger fix in that same patch, dead bodies were piling up in the streets permanently.

Danny ReyesWait, that's real?

Becca HartwellYeah. Kuhnke's piece flagged it. Corpses weren't clearing, so towns turned into outdoor morgues.

Danny ReyesThat is so much worse than a weird baby.

Becca HartwellRight? And the team fixed both in the same drop.

Danny ReyesOkay, but the real headline for me is MasterCore.

Becca HartwellOh, go on.

Danny ReyesSophie's guide on Sims Community walks through it. This mod from NeonJay is basically Paralives' answer to MC Command Center and UI cheats.

Becca HartwellFull control over the Parafolks and the world mechanics?

Danny ReyesThat's the pitch. Same energy as us maxing out Motherlode, except somebody built the whole toolkit before the game's even finished.

Becca HartwellThat's wild for something still in early access.

Danny ReyesAnd there's a features preview too. NuboFever covered it on Sims Community, teasing what's coming after this patch.

Becca HartwellCompare that pace to how long we wait on Sims 4 patches.

Danny ReyesA tiny indie team shipping this fast, mods matching them day one.

Becca HartwellUm, to be fair, it's still early access. Plenty rough edges left.

Danny ReyesBut it buried its cursed babies and its zombie streets in one patch.

Becca HartwellImpressive turnaround.

Danny ReyesSo while EA sorts out ownership paperwork-

Becca HartwellParalives is out here fixing haunted towns

Danny Reyes... Exactly. Speaking of life Sims doing their own thing-

Becca HartwellOoh, are we finally talking Paralives?

Danny ReyesWe are. That one just left early access completely after two years.

Becca HartwellOkay, I need details.

Danny ReyesYou're getting them right now.

Becca HartwellOkay, from cursed babies to actual wedding vows, Fields of Mistria just hit 1.0 today.

Danny ReyesA eulogy for the homunculi, then straight into marriage. Rough week for life Sims.

Becca HartwellRight? After two years in early access, the full launch adds marriage, kids, and this got me, cloud shadows. Jordan Gerblick reported that on GamesRadar.

Danny ReyesCloud shadows. Weirdly specific flex, but okay, I respect it.

Becca HartwellAnd Gerblick says it launched with 26,000 overwhelmingly positive reviews on Steam.

Danny ReyesWow.

Becca HartwellFor a farm sim, that's massive.

Danny ReyesWait, all Overwhelmingly Positive? Nothing mixed dragging the average down?

Becca HartwellThat's what the piece says. Lauren Morton at PC Gamer went further, calling it the best farm sim since Stardew.

Danny ReyesOkay, them's fighting words in cozy game circles.

Becca HartwellMorton's follow-up piece on the cast specifically says she's head over heels for these characters. First time she's felt that about a farm sim since Stardew.

Danny ReyesIt's never really about the farming, is it? It's who you're falling for at the general store.

Becca HartwellRight. And Morton's own review calls the writing and the character designs the real hook, way more than the farming loop.

Danny ReyesWhich, fair, I've fallen for three NPCs before I even upgraded my hoe.

Becca HartwellSame energy as my Sims, honestly. The writing and side quests are what keep people up till 2:00 AM for just one more day.

Danny ReyesMeanwhile, my Sims can't pick a bed with a whole existential crisis.

Becca HartwellFair. So where does this leave Sims players between updates?

Danny ReyesHonestly, Mistria is a solid detour. Scratch the life sim itch somewhere new while EA and Paralives sort themselves out.

Becca HartwellI'm booting it up this weekend just for the wedding stuff Morton mentioned.

Danny ReyesI might marry someone in Mistria before I marry anyone in my own game.

Becca HartwellHonestly, that's the nice part of this whole space right now. Sims, Paralives, Mistria, nobody has to pick just one.

Danny ReyesBig life sim era, a little chaotic, mostly good.

Becca HartwellAnd every one of these teams, big publisher or two people in early access, is just trying to make you care about tiny pixel people. That's worth celebrating.

Danny ReyesSo tell us, what are you playing this week? Building in Sims, messing with MasterCore, or eloping in Mistria?

Becca HartwellDrop it in the comments. We actually read those. Okay, so today EA's sale is officially done, the Musical Note Pack dropped, and somehow Paralives fixed dead bodies piling up. Chaotic day for life Sims.

Danny ReyesChaotic in the best way. $55 billion later, EA is under new ownership, and Sims is still standing.

Becca HartwellMm-hmm. Exactly. That patch on August 6th cleared the travel memory crash, so your Sims can actually leave the house now.

Danny ReyesLow bar, but we'll take it.

Becca HartwellBig takeaway, change is coming, but the community keeps building around whatever EA throws at us.

Danny ReyesAnd go play Fields of Mistria's 1.0 launch if cozy Sims are your thing. Get married, raise some kids, escape the drama for a bit.

Becca HartwellSolid advice.

Danny ReyesSul sul, Simmers. Subscribe, leave us a review, tell your friends.

Becca HartwellAnd hit us up on socials @PlumbobReport with your wildest builds and fails.

Danny ReyesThanks for hanging with us. See you next time.

Becca HartwellBye, everyone.