Multi-BuyThe Sims 4 Businesses & Hobbies is built around a much-needed (but controversial) featureMore and better interactivity between expansion packs needs to be the future of The Sims, but not if the price is interdependence.Image credit: Maxis / Electronic Arts Article by Rebecca Jones Guides Writer Published on Feb. 28, 2025 When The Sims 4's dev team talk about the upcoming Businesses & Hobbies expansion pack, it's clear that for all the overhauled tattoo system and introduction of a new pottery skill are clearly the centrepieces in terms of "what's new" they know that cross-pack compatibility will be the big talking point for a lot of long-time players. It's been over a decade now since the TS4's original release, and even if you're overall a fan of the game, likelihood is that your wish-list has long included a desire to see DLCs that feel less siloed-off and more like holistic, meaningful additions to the game world as a whole. To see this content please enable targeting cookies.Businesses & Hobbies isn't really the first pack to try to make this a reality in some way. 2022's Werewolves game pack won many hearts and minds when it went out of its way to unify its lore with that of the previous two supernatural-themed GPs, Vampires and Realm of Magic; while last Halloween's Life & Death expansion was so all-encompassing as to be truly game-changing no matter what other add-ons you owned (or indeed didn't). But with Businesses & Hobbies, it seems that cross-pack compatibility is finally ready to run where those others walked, with new variations on its central gameplay additions of small businesses and hobby classes unlocked by almost every other piece or prior DLC. Admittedly tattoos and pottery don't feel particularly thematically connected when viewed in juxtaposition, but they're more of a jumping-off point for the business-slash-hobby gameplay. | Image credit: Maxis / Electronic ArtsIt's unfortunate but not at all unexpected for this news to come as a bit of a double-edged sword as far as the fandom goes. Any announcement related to The Sims at this point is guaranteed to generate controversy, and for every Simmer who's pleased to finally tick "robust pack interactivity" off their wish-list, another will be unhappy at the concept of features from one DLC being in any way gated behind another.Which is not an inherently unreasonable complaint, but this really is a binary choice: either each Sims 4 DLC is entirely self-contained and stand-alone, or they include some unique interactions depending on what other add-ons you have installed. Both have their merits but on balance I'm on the side of the second team, although for what it's worth, I understand where the mistrust comes from. Everyone who was there surely remembers the extremely contentious release of the My First Pet Stuff pack, which launched only a few months behind the Cats & Dogs expansion and was pretty transparently "a DLC for a DLC" even including a handful of items that you needed to own both to unlock.The debacle around My First Pet Stuff was indeed a low moment for TS4, and the fact that the two packs concerned haven't simply been re-bundled as a single add-on even seven years later feels like a missed opportunity to regain some goodwill on EA's part. But while it might be reasonable on the part of consumers to approach Businesses & Hobbies with some trepidation based on that experience, that doesn't make it accurate to assume that B&H will repeat all past mistakes, either. Even if nothing else in this pack catches your eye at first, the new ability to free-draw tattoos on your Sims is sure to lead to some extremely creative troublemaking. | Image credit: Maxis / Electronic ArtsOne of the selling points EA are keen to point out is that a brand-new player could download The Sims 4 base game, purchase Businesses & Hobbies as their first and only paid add-on, and already have access to 76 different, well, business and hobby options so even though almost every other DLC over the course of TS4's 10-year history that's introduced a new skill or craft has some level of interactivity with the pack, the idea is that there's still plenty to enjoy even if you only have access to the bare minimum.That number sounds pretty good and all, but it's kind of hard to visualise without some context. Well, having played a base-game-and-B&H-only preview build provided by EA, I can tell you that while it does undeniably feel limiting to go from playing with every single major DLC to having just one pack available I never felt like I was short on things to do. Within 10 minutes of starting the game I was running the world's dodgiest cake shop out of my Sim's bare concrete garage, in what was honestly one of the quicker-paced starts I've ever experienced when beginning a new TS4 save from scratch.There's no denying that there were a few oddities. Naturally as an aspiring bakery owner, I spent a couple of nonplussed minutes looking for the "baking" sub-menu on the oven before remembering that separating it out as its own skill was something that came with the Get to Work expansion pack, and thus my Sim would have to simply "cook" her cakes like some kind of 2014 luddite. Similarly, I had to define my home business as a bar, since the caf lot assignment came with Get Together and surprisingly still hasn't made it into the base game.But in the end, not only could I still make and sell the cakes I wanted to, I could even customise them in new ways thanks to B&H's new "family recipe" creation feature, which is honestly very diverting in its simplicity. A moment later I was happily defining my Sim's secret recipe for birthday cake (base recipe) with cherries (secret ingredient) that includes an inherent mood-boost (bonus effect), my disappointment over the lack of technical accuracy in terms of baked goods and business terminology largely forgotten, if not entirely forgiven. For those wondering where exactly the titular hobbies figure in to Businesses & Hobbies, it's all about skill classes, which can now be hosted as goaled events at a small business venue. | Image credit: Maxis / Electronic ArtsSo some older packs particularly the aforementioned Get to Work and Get Together, which were in fact the two first-ever expansions to be released for TS4 way back in 2015 certainly feel like they'll flesh out Businesses & Hobbies significantly, even if they're not really required. Indeed, parts of B&H do almost feel like an overhaul of and refinement on Get to Work's fairly forgettable and underwhelming retail business ownership system. While I won't go so far as to say that this should have been a free update, I do think it supports the idea that some older TS4 packs really should be permanently dropping in price, now that the cycle's been running for so long we're starting to see the sort of spiritual follow-ups to old EPs that used to come at the start of a new generation of the franchise.But to be honest, at least in my opinion, the most fun to be had out of pack interactivity with B&H comes from the more niche edge-cases. Businesses & Hobbies is obviously going to pair well with Get to Work, but I'm more excited about some of the examples drawn from packs that don't immediately scream "home business" until you get creative with it. Supernaturally-inclined Simmers will be able to open up vampire plasma bars with the Vampires GP installed, or run elixir shops with Realm of Magic. Cat cafs are on the table if you own both Get Together and Cats & Dogs, that is. Part of the appeal here is pouring all your simulated LEGOs out onto the table and seeing what you can come up with.Hopefully this doesn't leave Simmers who perfectly reasonably either can't afford to or simply don't want to be a TS4 completionist feeling left out. The Sims franchise recently turned 25, which means we're also coming up on a quarter-century of asking ourselves whether the series' DLC practices are the reason this concept has been able to stay afloat for so long or a shameless exploitation of a captive audience. There isn't an easy answer for me to give to that (although I suspect it can easily be both), but I do favour the notion that if EA are going to release two 40 expansion packs every year until the heat death of the universe, then while I don't want those DLCs to rely on each other, I do really prefer them to be able to talk to each other in this way especially if that conversation leads to some inventive new possibilities for Simmers to explore.The Sims 4 Businesses & Hobbies releases on March 6th for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, and costs 35 / $40 / 40. As is now standard for new expansion packs, there's also a three-item digital bonus set exclusively for players who purchase the game before April 18th.