Last week EA announced that it wouldn't release an add-on for The Sims 4 in Russia due to same-sex contents. Now, EA says it will release the add-on there after all.
EA, what's going on? Last week, everyone's favorite video game company announced that they wouldn't release the latest expansion for The Sims 4 in Russia. And why? Because My Wedding Stories features same-sex content. And EA was afraid of Mother Russia, so they were like "nah... won't even bother". Well, someone finally woke up at EA and did something, for a change...
The Sims 4: My Wedding Stories Is Coming To Russia After All
If you want to know more about the initial controversy, we already covered all of that extensively. What followed after EA's decision was a week full of outcry. Especially the LGBTQI+ community was infuriated of EA after their decision, not to release the game in Russia. And apparently EA listened? EA? Listening? It happened? Well, maybe it just crunched the numbers or whatever people in suits do but whatever the case... The Sims 4: My Wedding Stories is coming out in Russia after all, being slated for a worldwide release on February 23.
I don't want to be too unfair to EA, because it did actually publish an official statement on their change of hearts. This is how they explained all this back-and-forth:
Last week, we shared the below update about our upcoming game pack “My Wedding Stories.” At the time, we believed that our team could not freely share the storytelling of same-sex couple Cam and Dom in Russia and decided the best way to uphold our commitment to sharing their story was to not release this pack there.Since then, we’ve been listening to the outpouring of feelings from our community including both support for our decision and concern for their fellow community members. It’s equally important for us to stand by our values, including standing against homophobia, and to share stories like this with those who want and need it most.
So EA was being cowardly for no reason, realized it was really for no reason and reverted back on its decision. Ok, whatever it might have been really about, it's just good that the sheer fear of censorship or hate didn't end up stopping the game's release after all and it will be available for people in Russia as well.