“Is The “Hobbies” In The Room With Us?”: The Sims 4 Business & Hobbies Trailer Has Fans Confused

The Sims 4 has revealed further details of its upcoming Businesses & Hobbies expansion pack in a new trailer, but many fans noticed that something was missing. Businesses & Hobbies was announced earlier this month, as part of a wider celebration of the series’ 25th anniversary that also included The Sims Legacy Collection. More recently, The Sims‘ official YouTube channel put out a seven-minute deep dive into the features included in the upcoming expansion, which is due out on March 6. It features footage of Sims building custom stores, hiring and firing employees, and mastering new skills.

But many fans pointed out that one thing appeared to be missing: the hobbies. In the entirety of the seven-minute deep dive, only a single activity that could be called a “hobby” was shown – a couple of Sims engage in a little pottery at the very beginning. The rest is decidedly focused on the business aspect of things, with nary another new hobby mentioned. The confusion prompted user Steven Chippss to comment, “Is the ‘Hobbies’ in the room with us?“

In truth, the business aspect of it all looks pretty in-depth. Players can purchase property and design it however they want before opening shop. Presumably, this expansion may also allow them to run businesses from home. They can name their businesses, choose logos, and set the types of activities that are available there: things like Get Tattooed, Watch Live Entertainment, or Browse and Buy Items. They can set their employees’ pay and target customers. There’s even a pretty in-depth system of perks that allows players to level up their businesses over time.

Besides that, there are two new skills – Pottery and Tattooing – and a new mentorship feature for Sims to teach and learn different abilities from one another. But notably missing are any other hobbies besides pottery, which could arguably be called a business in certain cases. While there are some hobbies already in The Sims 4, the new expansion doesn’t include very many new ones. This has caused a bit of controversy in the Sims community, with many fans feeling misled by the expansion’s title.

Some have called out the lack of long-requested options, like more in-depth artistic hobbies and careers, in the upcoming Sims 4 expansion. Pottery’s a nice addition, but many hoped The Sims would expand on the hobbies it already has first.

Frankly, if pottery is the only new hobby it’s got, I don’t think Businesses & Hobbies will live up to fan expectations. The problem is the title – if it didn’t contain “Hobbies,” this would amount to a pretty impressive pack for creating custom businesses. It might have been better off named just Businesses, or even Get to Work 2.

That said, the expansion does introduce new ways to develop and learn hobbies. The mentor/lecture/class system will allow Sims to pick up new skills from their friends, or share interests with their neighbors. And it seems like the major change here is that the new expansion will let you turn your hobbies into small businesses. Sims are seen, in the trailer, starting small stands to sell their baked goods, or turning their love of animals into pet grooming businesses. That seems to be the main focus here: instead of new hobbies, it gives you new ways to play with them.

So it ultimately amounts to unclear marketing more than anything else. Businesses & Hobbies looks decent, but it seems to deliver a lot more on the Businesses front. Including Hobbies seems to promise something that it may not actually be able to deliver, so you can’t really fault The Sims 4 fans for being confused that there aren’t many hobbies in the new expansion pack.

Source: The Sims/YouTube, Steven Chippss/YouTube