The Sims 2 is being retired, EA to give owners a free Ultimate Collection upgrade

The Sims 2 has lived a long and productive life. It was born, it made lots of friends, it worked at H&M for a period , and now it's ready to retire. In an email sent out to Sims 2 owners, EA claim that the game will "lose technical support" next week, on 22 July. As a concession to the game's owners, all copies registered digitally through Origin will be upgraded to the Ultimate Collection—a complete edition containing every expansion pack and "stuff pack" released for almost 10-year-old game.

EA provide more info in a new FAQ page on their site. "The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection is going out to gamers right now," they write. "Everyone who had a digital copy of The Sims 2 will find the Ultimate Collection in their library within the next 5 days."

Hopefully the move will also prompt EA to actually sell the Ultimate Collection, too. The Sims 2 is, of course, a classic—despite its long and bizarre history of expansions—and it seems strange that it's not available for digital purchase.

Phil has been writing for PC Gamer for nearly a decade, starting out as a freelance writer covering everything from free games to MMOs. He eventually joined full-time as a news writer, before moving to the magazine to review immersive sims, RPGs and Hitman games. Now he leads PC Gamer's UK team, but still sometimes finds the time to write about his ongoing obsessions with Destiny 2, GTA Online and Apex Legends. When he's not levelling up battle passes, he's checking out the latest tactics game or dipping back into Guild Wars 2. He's largely responsible for the whole Tub Geralt thing, but still isn't sorry.