After plenty of rumours and speculation, The Sims 5 is official.

It is being developed under the codename "Project Rene" and is still some way off from release, but the team behind it confirmed some details during The Sims Summit streamed online back in October 2022.

There was even a "very early" behind-the-scenes look at some of the new in-game tools that could be available to Sims fans.

Perhaps the most exciting piece of news so far is that the new game will work across platforms, including phones and tablets. That and the fact that EA has made The Sims 4 completely free to play across PC, Mac and consoles.

Here's everything we know about it so far.

The Sims 5 release date

Project Rene, AKA The Sims 5, is so early in development that there's no release date yet. We wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't hit stores until 2025, to be honest, given how the presentation was keen to stress there are still years of development to come.

The Sims 5 platforms

We don't know the exact platforms for The Sims 5 yet, but during The Sims Summit in October 2022, it was revealed that Project Rene is being developed to be a cross-platform game.

The Sims 5 screens photo 8

We saw it running on mobile as well as a tablet/PC.

The Sims 5 features

From the very early footage so far, and the explanation from the vice president of franchise creative for The Sims, Lyndsey Pearson, we know that there will be much more customisation of objects available in The Sims 5.

"[You'll have] the ability to change not only patterns and colours but also the shapes of the objects that you’ll be using when you build and decorate in-game," she said.

There will also be the functionality to not only share creations with friends but collaborate on items and rooms.

More features will be revealed over the coming months.

The Sims 5 trailer

While there's no trailer as yet, The Sims Summit contained a minute-long segment with very early development footage of the next Sims game.

The Project Rene section starts at 26:48.

The Sims 5 screens

We've captured several screens from the original Summit presentation, which you can check out below.

What about The Sims 4?

The Sims 4 is now completely free to download and play on PC, Mac, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One.