Electronic Arts has been on a short roll lately with trying to desperately turn around how people view the company. Just as they were about to head back into the “hated” territory, they pulled out a couple of quick moves to satiate the audience, one of which includes giving away The Sims 2: Ultimate Collection... for free.
That's right, you didn't read it wrong. The Sims 2: Ultimate Collection will be given away for free as the company looks to shutdown support for the title and set their sights on the upcoming release of The Sims 4.
Blues spotted a posting on EA's official Origin website, where the company is following up on a promotion where they originally enabled anyone who purchased The Sims 2 to automatically get upgraded to the Ultimate Collection. Now, the company is taking that promotion a step further by enabling all Origin users to get a free copy of The Sims 2: Ultimate Collection. Again, this was being done as they make the transition into prepping for the latest sequel in the long-running Sims franchise.
If you don't believe that this is real, here is a quote taken directly from the site...
“Because you’re a passionate The Sims 2 player, we’re making The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection available free of charge to download to your Origin library. “
Now for the part you've been waiting for. The instructions for retrieving a free copy of the Ultimate Collection from Origin are as follows:
1. Start by downloading and installing Origin. If you already have Origin you can skip to step 3.
2. Not an Origin member? Create a free Origin Account to get in the game.
3. Launch Origin and log into your Origin Account.
4. From the ‘Games’ tab in the Origin menu, select ‘Redeem Product Code’ and enter the code
5. I-LOVE-THE-SIMS
Seems easy enough right?
Well, it's even easier for registered members of Origin. If you already have an account all you have to do is head to the Origin code redemption page right here, and in the “Product Code” field simply type in: I-LOVE-THE-SIMS.
That's it.
The site does note that there are some reported issues of people having problem logging in and playing The Sims 2: Ultimate Collection after having redeemed the code. Of course, the support lines have quickly become overburdened, so if you run into the same problem just wait it out and talk over the issue with the support staff when you finally get a chance. And remember, it's completely free, so there's nothing really lost even if it doesn't work.
You may want to work fast, however, as the free code for The Sims 2: Ultimate Collection has an expiration date on it. The promotional code will no longer be available beginning July 31st, 2014 at 10AM PDT.
This is probably EA's way to help mitigate some of the heat they've acquired over the toddler and pool situation for The Sims 4. That's not to mention some worrying community reactions over the game's supposed subscription model. We'll see how well it all turns out when The Sims 4 launches this fall.
