‘Life By You’ director says modders can “monetise all you want”

Life By You, the upcoming life simulator game set to rival The Sims, looks like a modder’s dream, and the game’s director has just made it even more so by saying creators can “monetise all you want.”

Speaking to PC Gamer, Life By You creative director Rod Humble said, “if you make a YouTube series made using Life By You, I want you to know: You monetise all you want. You don’t owe us a dime – go for it.”

Furthering his stance on people making money off the game, he added, “Likewise, if you make a mod and it’s downloaded by millions of people and you’re like, ‘actually I’m going to take my mod to my website and I’m going to start monetizing it,’ perhaps on Patreon like a whole bunch of modders do, I want creators to know: Go for it. You don’t need our permission.”

Humble is a former producer on The Sims, and his take to monetisation is quite different from EA’s. EA’s official Sims 4 mod policy states “Mods must be non-commercial and distributed free-of-charge. Mods cannot be sold, licensed, or rented for a fee, nor can Mods contain features that would support monetary transactions of any type.”

Instead, the company does allow creators to offer paid early-access periods to mods, but those mods must become free and available to all eventually. Creators can also run ads and ask for donations on the mod site, but not within the mod itself.

For those of you waiting to get your hands on Life By You and its mods, you’re going to have to wait longer; the game’s early-access launch was delayed by three months back in February. It’s now due to be released June 4, 2024.