The Sims 3 gets an update after 10 years, your new PC is now good to go

With The Sims franchise moving away from linear game releases and into the future, it’s not unusual to think that EA has simply abandoned the previous titles in the series. But, to everyone’s surprise, fans could rejoice that a new update was released for The Sims 3, the game’s first patch in ten years.

The patch, version number 1.69.47.024017, was released on January 13, 2025, with no prior warning. It was released to fix the Alder Lake bug, where Windows players with newer Alder Lake processors wouldn’t be able to run the game at all through the EA app. The patch now allows players to enjoy the game on their newer PCs.

EA quietly updates The Sims 3 for the first time in years so you can play on newer CPUs

The patch was released with no accompanying patch notes from EA, leaving it a mystery as to why this issue was finally fixed after years of the bug preventing fans from playing the third installment. Furthermore, the patch was only released for EA App users. No Steam update was released for the problem.

With the 25^th Anniversary Behind The Sims airing the next day on January 14, many fans hoped the patch would signal that EA would be debuting exciting news about the series that could pertain to the older games, like The Sims 2 and The Sims 3. However, this wasn’t the case, as the patch wasn’t mentioned during the video. Instead, we heard more news for The Sims 4, including three new creator kits.

The last update for The Sims 3 happened over ten years ago, back in 2014. Since then, EA has essentially abandoned the game in favor of focusing on the most recent mainline title in the franchise, The Sims 4. The fourth game is still the top priority for EA, as it continues to get new expansions and updates regularly.

Even though it wasn’t mentioned during the latest Behind The Sims, there’s still a chance that there is hope for fans of the older Sims titles. Both The Sims 2 and the original The Sims are not available on the EA App, but if Electronic Arts is looking through their older games, it could also mean they’re working on making these two available or even making new content for Sims 3. While nothing is set in stone, it’s certainly exciting for fans of the life simulator series.

Whether or not more updates are made, The Sims is celebrating its 25^th Anniversary of the franchise this year, with plenty of new updates and packs to look forward to in celebration.