The Sims FreePlay gets festive with first ever update for Chinese New Year

The Sims FreePlay has just received its first ever specialist update for Asia, themed around Chinese New Year. It lets players do Chinese New Year-related stuff like spring cleaning, giving out cash-stuffed red envelopes, lion dances, and cooking a reunion dinner as part of a quest line. You’ll also be able to deck your halls with red Chinese lanterns, as well as create Sims with feature sets based off Japanese, Korean, and Chinese facial profiles.

The Sims FreePlay was previously developed by EA Mobile before the EA studio Firemonkeys became responsible for the mobile game. Amanda Schofield, speaking for Firemonkeys, says the decision to make a Lunar New Year quest came up when the team was talking about re-launching in China.

“Real-life culture and traditions are always really well received, such as Thanksgiving and Halloween, so we wanted to give our players in Asia something extra special to experience this time around,” she says.

The Chinese New Year update for The Sims FreePlay is a worldwide one, and Schofield adds that the questline will explain what it’s about and what tasks it will involve doing. Unlike the premium The Sims games for the PC, FreePlay runs in real time and your character in game does not have a will of its own – making it perfect for players to explore this culturalized update on their own.

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