‘inZOI’ challenges ‘The Sims’ with a fresh take on life simulation

Countless hours, days—perhaps even weeks—of my life have been spent creating Sims characters, building them houses, marrying them off, and making babies. Now, there’s a new life-simulation game on the block hoping to expand beyond the American market.

inZOI debuted on March 28 at $40 and quickly climbed to the top of Steam’s most wishlisted and bestseller charts. The game’s appeal lies in its hyper-detailed character customization, free expansions, and immersive, realism-focused world. Unlike The Sims, which embraces cartoonish characters and lightheartedness, inZOI opts for lifelike graphics and a slower-paced gameplay experience centered on everyday interactions.

Designed with a broader audience in mind, inZOI stands out through subtle cultural details. For example, players’ digital humans are prompted to remove their shoes upon entering a home, and the game’s cities draw inspiration from Seoul and Santa Monica. The fridge is stocked with tteokbokki, a beloved Korean rice cake snack, and characters often wear trendy Korean streetwear.

“I felt a lot of cultural barriers” playing The Sims, Hyungjun “Kjun” Kim, chief executive officer of game publisher Krafton’s inZOI Studio, told Bloomberg in a recent interview. Kim spent years developing online role-playing games, only to come home and play The Sims with his son. One day, his son asked why there aren’t other games like The Sims. That question stuck with Kim and eventually led to the creation of inZOI.

Once the prototype was ready, Krafton sought input from The Sims’ large and dedicated fanbase. They sent PCs to Sims YouTubers, encouraging them to livestream the game, while fans joined a Discord channel to request features they felt The Sims was lacking—such as more inclusive hairstyles.

The Sims franchise has been a cash cow for Electronic Arts, generating over $5 billion in revenue and attracting more than 15 million new players in 2024, despite being more than a decade old. But with no Sims 5 in sight, EA has relied on expansion packs to keep players engaged, opening up a gap in the market that inZOI is eager to fill.

Still, if inZOI was banking on its competitor fading into obscurity, it may be disappointed. The Sims 4 recently hit its highest-ever average player count on Steam in February 2025, according to The Gamer. The anticipation surrounding inZOI perhaps sparked a wave of players to revisit their old favorite. Either way, The Sims franchise has shown it still has plenty of life in it.

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