The Sims' latest patch has caused a pregnancy epidemic, even if they've never had 'woo-hoo'

Th Sims 4 - Bella Goth screams in dismay while covering her face with her hands
(Image credit: Electronic Arts)

The Sims 4's latest expansion, Enchanted By Nature, has stayed true-to-form by messing up unrelated parts of the game. In this case loads of Sims are now being marked as pregnant by the game, even if they're male and have never woo-hooed in their virtual lives.

The bug isn't affecting every player but is widespread, and looking into the various places Sims players discuss such things introduced me to an entire weird world of pregnancy questions. Such as: is the grim reaper actually something of a Casanova?

"The grim in my last save was… let’s just say I wouldn’t be surprised if he wound up with several baby mamas," says CuriousCatSleuth. "I caught him with multiple different women while they had whatever form of a relationship they could have.

Why do players want to have so-called "grim babies"? Answers on a postcard to EA tech support please.

When Sims are being erroneously marked as pregnant they are, oddly enough, unable to take a pregnancy test. They also don't grow older and are unable to woo-hoo even if they've never woo-hooed before. And yeah… it's not just age-appropriate and female Sims who are getting pregnant.

This has had some amusing consequences. Over on PCG's sister site GamesRadar+, Anna Koselke bemoans that her poor vampires are starving. Vampires aren't allowed to feed off pregnant Sims, you see, so a world full of them is like a buffet under lock-and-key.

The Sims 4 Life & Death

(Image credit: Maxis, Electronic Arts)

EA says it's aware of the issue and is "actively investigating issues related to Sim pregnancy, including missing pregnancy tests, baby bumps, & interactions." But there's no fix yet. Nor do many of these pregnancies seem to result in any actual babies: "the pregnancy just doesn't progress," says a shell-shocked Tofutits_McGee, adding that the "life simulator game decided to not simulate a core component of living." The Sims team continues to work on "resolutions for pregnant Sims."

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Rich Stanton
Senior Editor

Rich is a games journalist with 15 years' experience, beginning his career on Edge magazine before working for a wide range of outlets, including Ars Technica, Eurogamer, GamesRadar+, Gamespot, the Guardian, IGN, the New Statesman, Polygon, and Vice. He was the editor of Kotaku UK, the UK arm of Kotaku, for three years before joining PC Gamer. He is the author of a Brief History of Video Games, a full history of the medium, which the Midwest Book Review described as "[a] must-read for serious minded game historians and curious video game connoisseurs alike."

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