The Sims: Project Rene has allegedly already been pirated and leaked

In keeping up with the theme of today’s video game landscape, another leak has seemingly occurred — this time for the recently announced entry to the beloved Maxis and EA franchise, The Sims: Project Rene.

The hacker, who has decided to remain anonymous because of the likely consequences they may face, was allegedly able to gain access to the current version of The Sims: Project Rene through the use of a Denuvo playtest token. The token, which the hacker generated, allowed them to essentially ransack EA’s files even while offline and without needing their approval.

Project Rene alpha build hacking was also made easier since it was unencrypted and was being run on Unreal Engine.

The Sims: Project Rene playtesting that was being conducted for the current build to get feedback from players might have contributed to the leak. Playtests for Project Rene supposedly started on October 25, a week after the Maxis team sent out an email to potential playtesters inviting them to “test out a pre-Alpha experience for Project Rene.”

The developers also stated in the email that the playtest would mainly focus on the new in-game object customization tool called “Workshop.” Based on the preview given during the Behind the Sims Summit stream event in October 2022, improved customization options for in-game objects and the addition of a multiplayer feature during the buy-and-build phase will be the main selling points for this upcoming Sims title, which is essentially The Sims 5.

The Sims: Project Rene is still “years out” from being fully released, but this hack is still a significant setback for the game’s development process. The current plans for playtesting may have to be put on hold until stricter security measures are implemented.