Last week, Electronic Arts announced that it would not release the upcoming Sims 4 expansion My Wedding Stories in Russia because it would violate the country's laws forbidding materials that promote "non-traditional sexual relationships." Today, however, it reversed that decision, saying that the expansion will be made available, unedited, to Russian gamers.
"We’ve been listening to the outpouring of feelings from our community including both support for our decision and concern for their fellow community members," the Sims team wrote. "It’s equally important for us to stand by our values, including standing against homophobia, and to share stories like this with those who want and need it most.
"With this in mind, we’ve reassessed our options and realized we can do more than we initially believed and we will now release The Sims 4: My Wedding Stories Game Pack to our community in Russia, unaltered and unchanged, featuring Dom and Cam."
Camille and Dominique—Cam and Dom for short—are the couple at the center of My Wedding Stories' promotional materials. EA said last week that putting a same-sex couple in the marketing spotlight meant that the expansion "would not be something we could freely share around the world," but insisted that it wasn't willing to make changes to accommodate countries with anti-LGBTQ laws.
The turnaround presumably means My Wedding Stories will have to be rated Adults Only in Russia, which will keep it out of the hands of minors, but that seems like an academic point: The Sims 4 itself is rated AO there anyway because it already allows players to engage in same-sex relationships in the game. I've reached out to EA for clarification on that point and will update if I receive a reply.
Unfortunately, to ensure the entire Sims community is "able to celebrate together," the launch of My Wedding Stories has been delayed slightly, and is now set to arrive on February 23.
