In the past, a new The Sims title has been released every five years, making The Sims 4's forthcoming 9th anniversary an unprecedented event for developer Maxis. Considering the series' ever-expanding push towards a live-service model and expansion packs, this kind of longevity makes sense--after all, any devoted Simmer will tell you the game is quite an investment and, if you're shelling out all your hard-earned simoleons on DLC, it's nice to know you have a fair bit of time left with the game before its shiny, new version hits shelves. However, as we draw closer to a decade of The Sims 4, many players have been asking the same question: Where is The Sims 5?

Thankfully, we now have some answers. Though Maxis has historically kept quiet about development on new The Sims games before release, only revealing upcoming projects well after the bulk of development was completed, all that has changed with the announcement of Project Rene.

Revealed during 2022's Behind the Sims Summit, Project Rene is the working title for the next generation of The Sims, presumably to be titled The Sims 5. According to Maxis, the studio behind the popular life-simulation franchise, Simmers have quite a long wait until they'll be able to play the series' next installment. However, this wait is for a good reason: Throughout now and launch, the developers at Maxis plan to share content and use player feedback to create a game more in line with fan expectations than ever before. Here's everything you need to know about the upcoming game ahead of its release.