At first glance, this is a blatant example of shameless pandering. Roll my eyes in disgust and move on, right?

But then I actually thought about it for a bit, and decided to stir my ass into actually looking some shit up.

This game is 8 years old already. That's just about ancient in video game years, and the point where there's any significant profit to wrung from it is probably long gone for EA. Average daily player count (according to Steam) has consistently been between 20k and 40k for a pretty long time now, and those people probably have quite likely spent whatever they're going to spend on it. And the number of those players who are trans is probably small enough that it could disappear in a sampling error on most surveys.

Nobody is talking Sims 4 and it's not on anyone's "must get" lists. So, if you're EA and have a well-established reputation for trying to squeeze blood from a stone (so to speak), how do you drum up a measure of interest in your old-ass game? Well, reach into the special identity box and pull out something that appeals to that demographic. If it offends existing players? Well, and so what, EA already has their money. So fuck 'em, they can go and play ESO or something.

Wouldn't surprise me to see some of the game rags, especially the ones known to be troon supporters, covering this "stunning and brave" update that every genderspecial (and their allies, naturally) has to support.

If I'm right about any of this, then it's a smart move on EA's part to squeeze that stone just a little harder.