The Sims 4 My Wedding Stories heads to Russia queer and proud

EA reverses an earlier decision which would have omitted the pack from local markets.

The Sims 4 My Wedding Stories Russian release will be offered “unaltered and unchanged” after EA has reversed a decision that would have omitted the content for that local market.

EA’s decision means the pack will be delayed worldwide; instead of 17 February, it’s now expected on 23 February.

EA first made the call to edit out content from the pack as it revolved around the queer, interracial couple of Camille and Dominique. In Russia, a gay propaganda law targets content “causing minors to form non-traditional sexual predispositions, notions of attractiveness of non-traditional sexual relationships, distorted ideas about the equal social value of traditional and non-traditional sexual relationships, or imposing information about non-traditional sexual relationships which raises interest in such relationships” (via Article 19).

Explaining its initial decision, EA said that “we believed that our team could not freely share the storytelling of same-sex couple Cam and Dom in Russia and decided the best way to uphold our commitment to sharing their story was to not release this pack there.”

Now, EA has a different tune.

“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,” the publisher advised.

“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 statement continued. “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.”

The Sims 4 is currently available on Windows PC, Mac, PS4 and Xbox One.