The Sims 4 Wedding Stories Launching In Russia Without LGBT Censorship

Despite EA stating that My Wedding Stories, the latest Game Pack to come to The Sims 4, would not be coming to Russia, it now appears that it will. 

Yesterday, February 16, EA seemingly reversed course on its decision to not release the latest Sims 4 pack in Russia. Last week the company announced that due to local federal laws, My Wedding Stories won’t be released in Russia.

The federal law it refers to is likely the “gay propaganda law” the country has, which prevents private individuals, schools and businesses from “promoting homosexual behaviour” among minors. Now, in a new post, The Sims Team has announced the pack will be released in Russia.

YouTube video

“Last week, we shared the below update about our upcoming game pack “My Wedding Stories,”” wrote EA in the post. “At the time, we believed that our team could not freely share the storytelling of same-sex couple Cam and Dom in Russia and decided the best way to uphold our commitment to sharing their story was to not release this pack there.

“Since then, we’ve been listening to the outpouring of feelings from our community including both support for our decision and concern for their fellow community members. It’s equally important for us to stand by our values, including standing against homophobia, and to share stories like this with those who want and need it most.

“With this in mind, we’ve reassessed our options and realized we can do more than we initially believed and we will now release The Sims 4 “My Wedding Stories” Game Pack to our community in Russia, unaltered and unchanged, featuring Dom and Cam.”

what does this mean?

As part of this announcement, My Wedding Stories has now been delayed to February 23. It’s likely that The Sims Team has decided to release the pack in Russia due to fan backlash. Sims content creators like Lilsimsie and Plumbella both said they would not be covering the new pack.

Why the decision was reversed is unclear, however. The laws are still in place, and EA could still face fines for releasing the pack. The Sims 4 is 18+ in Russia, and this pack is likely to be as well. But the age rating does not mean they don’t have to worry about fines. This is great news for Russian Sims fans, however, as many were unhappy at the original announcement. 

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Featured Image Credit: EA/ Maxis