The Sims 4 collabs with Dark & Lovely to spotlight authentic representation

EA and Maxis has today revealed their The Sims 4 collaboration with multi-award winning gaming content creator and DE&I advocate, Danielle “Ebonix” Udogaranya and legendary beauty brand, Dark & Lovely.

The partnership kicks off with the ‘Play in Colour’ campaign from Dark & Lovely. This campaign works to shine a spotlight on the importance of authentic representation in gaming, something which has often gone underappreciated and underutilized for marginalized people within and outside of the gaming industry.

For example, authentic representation and features of people of colour have often been underrepresented, or in some cases, represented in a way that is dangerous and stereotypical. As Maxis’ news blog states, “These groups have made up a substantial segment of the gaming community from the very beginning, but games have often dramatically underrepresented Black hairstyles in particular.”

The Sims 4 has always prided itself on inclusivity. In previous years, it has added the option for players to choose their Townies pronouns, and updated Townies looks to better incorporate diversity with different backgrounds, cultures, and regional features. The Sims 4 has even included surrogacy for same-sex relationships, and Vitiligo skin options. To say that Maxis have been putting in the work is an understatement, but as they themselves admit, “there is so much more room to grow.”

The Dark & Lovely ‘Play in Colour’ campaign is further punctuated by a documentary showcasing the voices of Ebonix, The Sims 4 teammates Senior Creative Director Anna Huerta and Assistant Producer Kaelah Smallwood, and Taireek Simms from the Dark & Lovely team who are helping to drive this progress. You can watch the full video below.

The collabration will continue to expand inclusive content in The Sims 4 through free base game updates delivering new hairstyles and colour variations, which will be available for PC and consoles.

The base game update will introduce 24 new colour combinations across two existing hairstyles in April 2024, inspired by Dark & Lovely’s newest Immersive Bolds collection. Then, in a free content drop, there will be a later update featuring a new locs hairstyle that’s also developed in collaboration with Dark & Lovely and available to players in July 2024, furthering The Sims’ commitment to releasing content that authentically and respectfully mirrors the diversity of its millions of players.