‘The Sims 5’ updates: Maxis Monthly for March 2020 cancellation spawns speculations that “TS5” might be arriving soon

Neither the game’s developer Maxis nor publisher Electronic Arts made any announcement for “The Sims 5” release date at the moment. But recent rumors seem to suggest that it may be arriving sooner than expected.

Players of the current game, “The Sims 4,” have been excitedly looking forward to the next batch of updates. The patches were supposed to arrive this month via the Maxis Monthly Stream for March 2020, according to Hiptoro.

But it looks like players won’t be getting the expected updates any time soon. For reasons still unknown, Electronic Arts will be canceling the Maxis Monthly Stream for March.

The announcement was made by the game’s global community manager @SimGuruFrost. “Just FYI, there will be no Maxis Monthly for March 2020,” @SimGuruFrost tweeted.

The announcement caught a few people by surprise. It also spawned speculations that it might have something to do with the upcoming title “The Sims 5.”

When someone tried to inquire when the next update might arrive, the community manager did not respond to the query. “It means that there might be no new patches for TS4 after all which implies ‘The Sims 5’ is almost ready to launch,” Hiptoro wrote. In a gist, some people are speculating that perhaps the updates for “TS4” are finally over and that the developer is finally gearing up for the sequel’s launch.

However, a recent post by EA might reveal the real reason why the there is no Maxi Monthly stream for March. Apparently, the coronavirus’ spread has been affecting the workflow processes of EA as well.

“We’ve been constantly assessing the risk of exposure in the regions where we have offices, guided by the recommendations from local and federal health authorities, and the information we’re getting from our own teams,” EA said in a blog post.

One of the decisions the company made in response to the coronavirus is to allow its workforce to work remotely. “We previously closed our locations in Shanghai, Singapore, and Seoul, as well as our Milan office, with teams working from home,” EA wrote. “As of today, we have transitioned to strongly recommending that all our employees in North America, Europe, and Australia work from home until April 1, to help limit potential exposure to coronavirus and minimize the social spread of the illness.”

“We’re also very focused on minimizing any potential for disruption to our players,” EA assures the continuity of its online games despite the new arrangements.

However, the publisher regrets to inform players that there might be no major changes or updates to the games in its stable at the moment in the meantime. “We don’t anticipate major changes in our games or services as a result of our teams working from home, but we’re learning through this process as well and patience will be key,” the publisher added.

This might be the reason why there is no Maxis Monthly for March 2020 and not because “The Sims 5” is about to be released. At the moment, there is no official word on when the upcoming title would arrive. Stay tuned for updates.