EA upgrades all The Sims 2 owners to Ultimate Edition

Electronic Arts (EA) has announced that it is upgrading all owners of The Sims 2 to the game's Ultimate Collection edition, ahead of its cessation of support for the title.

The follow-up to The Sims, the company's first in what has turned into a long-running and massively successful doll's house simulation franchise, The Sims 2 launched in 2004 and has had no fewer than eight expansion packs and a raft of 'Stuff Packs'. Those who had long abandoned the title may be surprised to hear that, despite the last of these add-ons being launched in 2008, The Sims 2 was still an officially-supported EA title receiving continuous updates to address flaws and bugs.

Its ten-year reign is now coming to an end: EA has confirmed that from this day forward no more patches will be released for The Sims 2. There is light at the end of the tunnel, however: those who would rather stick with what they know than upgrade to a later game in the franchise will be pleased to hear that they can receive a free upgrade to The Sims 2 Ultimate Edition, a new bundling of the title that includes all previously released downloadable content.

The offer is available to anyone who has The Sims 2 in their Origin library. Those who have physical editions of the game that are not registered in Origin are advised to contact EA's customer support as soon as possible to ensure that they too receive the free upgrade.

Details of the offer are available on the official EA website.