Sims update curbs flirty autonomy, adds console Marketplace and UI fixes

The Sims 4 just got a patch that changes how everyday saves feel, not just how menus look. The biggest live-mode shift is a curb on the over-flirty autonomy players have been complaining about, the kind that used to send Sims into romance mode with friends, strangers, and even service Sims at the worst possible moments.

EA had already signaled this direction in its 2026 quality-of-life roadmap, where Sim autonomy sat alongside eyelid animations, infant improvements, crashes, and data loss as a core focus. The March patch then pushed that tuning further, targeting Sims socializing with strangers, excessive flirting, and obsessive use of certain objects. For players, that means fewer households spiraling into unearned romantic chaos and more control over the stories they actually meant to tell, whether that is a Legacy save, a tense neighborhood drama, or a carefully staged family dinner that no longer turns into a full flirt fest before dessert.

The April 16 update also brought the Marketplace to PlayStation and Xbox, marking the console rollout after the feature had already landed on PC and Mac. EA tied the system to the Sims Maker Program, its creator pipeline for accepted makers to publish content directly into the in-game Marketplace. EA Help says Maker Packs can range from three to fifty items, and the Marketplace is separate from The Sims 4 Gallery. Console players will have to deal with platform-specific storage limits, and Xbox Cloud users will need to re-download owned Maker Pack content at the start of a new session.

Just as important for day-to-day play are the interface fixes tucked into the same update. Pack content should no longer show up as deactivated after installation, the Gallery now has a Maker Pack filter, and the Uses Items from These Packs and Show used items sections should correctly identify which Maker Pack is involved. Newly purchased content now carries a golden star icon in Create-a-Sim and Build Mode, while other fixes address deactivated pack status in Load Game, the Moola Wallet failing to update, repeated-purchase connection errors, incorrect maker names, filter reset behavior, and Marketplace images that would not load from the Gallery.

EA’s eye-blinking explainer also makes clear that some of these quality-of-life changes are not simple toggles. The eyelid fix required work across QA, Tech Art, Animation, and Create a Sim, a reminder that even the smallest-looking Sims tweak can touch nearly every part of the game. For players, the result is a patch that should make households behave more believably, and make the Marketplace feel a lot less like a puzzle box.