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EA admitted it fell short in representing its diverse fanbase during the recently held “Behind ‘The Sims’ Summit.” The publisher promised creators and players it “will do better” following the incident.
The 31-minute digital event was broadcast last week and included a “The Simmers Make ‘The Sims’” segment, where EA featured several streamers as a way to thank its fans. However, well-known “The Sims” creator Ebonix took to Twitter an important observation that the segment barely featured a Black content creator.
EA responded a few days later, first, in reply to Ebonix’s post and said that the creator was right to be frustrated. A few minutes later, the publisher made a separate post to address the matter.
The company quote-retweeted one of Ebonix’s posts, where the creator implied that the segment sidelined “the impact Black Simmers have had” in the game. EA said, “Our creator segments during the Behind The Sims Summit did not fairly represent our vast community of players. Black Simmers deserve to feel seen in all that we do at The Sims, so we're holding ourselves accountable to this mistake and will do better moving forward.”
Ebonix responded, saying accountability is the first step but continued to call for “genuine, meaningful action.” Meanwhile, several fans have also chimed in to recognize the contributions Black creators made to “The Sims” community.
One Twitter user pointed out that gaming streamer Xmiramira’s years of custom content work to make darker skin tones more widely available in “The Sims” allowed them “to see ourselves in the game.” A petitioner on Change.org also pointed out that they would not have gone back to playing “The Sims 4” if not for the content made by Black Simmers, including Xmiramira and Ebonix.
EA and Maxis’ latest slip up have led to a new online petition, where fans are calling for the companies to “improve Black representation and acknowledge Black culture in ‘The Sims 4.’” Aside from improving in-game support for Black custom content, the petition also calls for the companies to hire more Black employees “to avoid cultural bias and acknowledge/celebrate Black culture within the gaming community year round.”
