EA has lost out on a minimum of 37,140 players for The Sims 4 due to Piracy.

EA’s new game The Sims 4 has now been cracked and downloaded 37,140 times (and continuing). 

Those who pre-ordered The Sims 4 could get a pre-downloaded version which was thought to have been secure from pirates. Missing file assets and an Origin check-in requirement before playing ensured that the pre-download would not benefit pirates to crack the game early.

In fact, EA’s security had originally baffled popular pirating accounts such as 3DM and SkidrowCrack. Whilst The Sims 4 was released earlier in Korea (September 1st 2014), the game could not be decoded in time to create a functional crack for the Western release.

Since then, 3DM has uploaded a temporary crack for the new PC simulation game and SkidrowCrack has also redirected 3DMs crack too.

Originally the crack amplified bugs in the game. The Day One patch was not supported, a clothed sims would be censored and the game constantly crashed compared to the legitimate game.

Now, online pirates have figured out re-routes to make the game functional by tweaking file names. It is advised that the game is still buggy and anyone considering of playing The Sims 4 SHOULD purchase the game for the full experience which EA desired such as the online gallery, less bugs, and supporting the developers hard work on the series.

The game has now reached 37,140 on only one SkidrowCrack torrent on one torrent site. Therefore there are several other torrents which will also be downloaded and cracked meaning even more than 37,140 players will be bypassing the Origin.

It’s to be expected with any game (especially PC games) that Piracy will snatch away many possible customers, yet The Sims 4 hasn’t received the best reception – hence more gamers will find torrenting the game appealing.

Negative early reviews and criticisms claim that EA has basically released a half-empty game reliant on future extension packs for the games success.

Having scarcely played the (legitimate copy) of the game for a few hours, I disagree with many of the critics online. The animations in this game are amazing, facial expressions and gestures add a whole new depth to the series.

Build mode is absolutely fantastic to play with the game being a breeze to control. No more are you controlling a clunky system, but instead you can literally build a fantastic new house in minutes!

One big criticism is reducing the open-world which was introduced in The Sims 3. The decision was to support lower-end machines, resulting in small neighbourhoods and loading screens. Yet the quick loading screens and detailed lots justified this.

Honestly, my short gameplay has left me impressed and I can hope to enjoy even more of the game as I progress my Sims storyline.

However the lack of diverse jobs, cars and certain features which appeared in previous games is mildly disappointing. But there are indications that free updates and extension packs will eventually resolve these issues.

These torrents will not be linked in this article. While the game is limited, it’s also a very quick and functional version of the series. I can only hope existing pirate downloaders can do the moral thing and support EA by purchasing an actual copy of the game instead.