The Sims 4 Businesses & Hobbies Expansion Pack: Is it worth it?

The Sims 4’s Businesses & Hobbies Expansion Pack was revealed to a bit of a collective ‘ho-hum’ from the Simming community, with online rumblings (myself included) expressing resignations over its content and even being dubbed under its gameplay trailer as something that should have been a ‘Get To Work refresh’.

But with the promise of both ‘businesses’ and ‘hobbies’ in the DLC’s title and hot off the heels of the well-received Life & Death Expansion, just how well does the game’s 18th Expansion Pack live up to its name – and does it escape feeling overpriced?

Well, sort of, but it ultimately depends on what kind of Simmer you are.

A canal in The Sims 4's NordhavenInterior showing Businesses & Hobbies Build catalogChurch in the world of Nordhaven in The Sims 4Shady moodlet in The Sims 4Tattoo request in The Sims 4Image of a Sim using the tattoo table in The Sims 4 Businesses & HobbiesImage showing earnings and more from a day of business in The Sims 4

The Sims 4

Price: $39.99 / £34.99

Developer: EA / Maxis

Release date: March 6, 2025

Platforms: PC, PlayStation, Xbox

Small) businesses abound

So let’s start with the first part of the expansion’s name: Businesses. 2015’s Get To Work was released almost a decade ago, and while you can have retail lots in that pack, there is some great functionality when opening your small business in Businesses & Hobbies – and that’s the key differentiator from Get To Work: small businesses.

The new Tattoo and Pottery skills feed directly into this feature, letting you set up shop and have Sims come in to ask for a bespoke tat, or purchase the finely crafted pottery that you’ve created and then glazed in the new kiln.

What’s great about the small business feature is how versatile it is for storytelling. In the version of the game that I played, I only had access to this expansion and the base game, and there were still plenty of different choices for the sorts of things you could do.

It’s a little annoying that only one Sim can own the small business (though this can be transferred or sold), but one of the things I love most here is how you can customize what it is that your Sim, their employees, and potential customers get up to.

You’re able to set what type of Sim you want to swing by, based on age, career, Occult type, and traits (to name a few) and can also set whether customers have to pay an entry fee, if that’s an hourly rate, and price markups on items for sale.

You’re able to fine-tune what each particular employee at the business does, so one Sim can focus on ‘Being Friendly’, and another can focus on ‘Care For Little Ones’ – an option that opens up creating a daycare center for Simmers who love family gameplay.

Because of this functionality, one of the small businesses that ships with Nordhaven, Koffieboon, is an actual cafe where Sims can come in, buy a drink, listen to lectures, and read a book. With the crosspack functionality from other DLCs, this could allow for some really creative options – and even from playing with my own Pottery business, it’s a genuinely great time.

Are small businesses somewhat similar to retail lots, and am I truthfully still left a little befuddled about why this system wasn’t a pack refresh at times? Absolutely, but what I do know is that I’d reach for this DLC over Get To Work’s content any day, as all of the different possibilities culminate in plenty of creative potential – something I never really felt in GTW.

Perk features from the likes of Occults and Get Famous make their way into small businesses too, with Dreamer, Neutral, and Schemer rewards providing different benefits (like an Ultrasonic Whistle that causes all current customers to leave and new ones to arrive) depending on what you choose – with your Sim’s actions at the business also affecting which way the pendulum swings.

This feeds nicely into the two new traits, Idealist and Shady, with the latter having some great interactions that help in pushing your alignment that way. My favorites have to be ‘Fake Apologize’ and ‘Pickpocket’ (yes, really), with a moodlet for the former playing into that Shady personality trait.

As the alignment of your business changes, different effects will trigger. Moodlets and random events – like an anonymous phone call and a new Fear appearing for my Sim who headed down the Schemer alignment – popped up, adding weight to picking one path over the other. Little boosts to relationships with particular types of Sims mean there’s a reason to utilize these to aid in growing your business in your chosen direction.

zoning a lot in the sims 4 businesses & hobbies

For Rent’s zoning feature makes its way over into Businesses & Hobbies too, letting you set areas to residential, employees only, or public.

This is a bit of a weird one, because it’s basically a system we already have in another paid pack, but altered for a different function. It feels strange to see it make its way over into another DLC, but it gets a pass here because I’m unsure of how it could otherwise be implemented when it’s tied to two different styles of lot.

Plus, the zoning feature is essential if you’re creating a business – I forgot to set the different zones after opening up shop for the first time and had customers just chilling out in my Sims’ living room. Not ideal.

Hobbies for all!

Now we reach the hobbies side of the Expansion Pack. Let’s start with the ‘Sharing Is Caring Hobby Whiteboard’, as this is the item that straddles the line between both aspects of the pack. Its main functionality is that it can be used to hold free lectures or paid classes — the latter of which can only be done from a small business when your Sim is the owner, employee, and either level five in a major skill (or three in a minor one).

This also adds a new relationship type of Mentor/Mentee, and Sims will develop certain Sentiments from this too. It’s great to see this system has got some love in Businesses & Hobbies, and while I’m not blind to the fact there’s technically already a ‘Mentor’ reward trait available, it feels much more realized here with the relationship type, Sentiments, and the class feature.

a class taking place in the sims 4 businesses & hobbies

Speaking of classes – which you can lead or opt into as a student – they follow the standard event format where you’ll have to complete certain tasks like ‘Mentor for 30 Minutes’ and ‘Craft a Ceramic Object’. This works really well, and seeing Sims using different objects all while attending the venue was cool – it truly felt like they were attending a class, and takes it a step above something like High School Years.

The whiteboard also makes an appearance in Hobby Meetups. These are recurring festivals of sorts that Sims can attend that serve as other ways they can take part in different activities. Whiteboards aren’t in all of these, with different ones like the foodie-centered ‘Munch & Mingle’ event having a table for you to lay out any of your bakes on, and ‘Spotlight Stars’ laying out instruments for the more musically inclined.

Because of the type of Simmer I am, though, I’m not sure I’d ever reach for these meetups outside of my review. I hardly ever visit festivals in-game and they feel pretty lackluster to me – with meetups serving as a slightly more intimate version of those.

Meetup board in The Sims 4

This is where a lot of the ‘hobby’ functionality comes in outside of the Pottery skill, though – bringing in different ways that Sims can connect to spark new relationships and learn from others by using skills outside of building them solely for careers. Sims can also earn Mastery Perks by taking part in these lectures and even pass on their knowledge.

What’s initially most jarring about the ‘Hobbies’ side of the Expansion Pack from watching something like the trailer is that it doesn’t seem like it’s worthy of ‘Hobbies’, because Pottery seems like it’s the only new one that’s been added. From playing the Pack, though, that’s not the case.

Sure, I’d love to have more new skills we’ve yet to get outside of that one, but Businesses & Hobbies operates by adding more functionality to the existing ones and other ways you can utilize hobbies from other DLC. It’s not perfect, though, and it does leave something to be desired, but I’m all for tying packs together and bringing out new gameplay options for them – I’m just unsure if an Expansion Pack is the way to go about it.

It feels pretty similar to something like The Sims 2: FreeTime, but because that expansion added things we already have in The Sims 4 at this point, additional skills or new ways to collect items would have rounded things out here.

Take the hilariously named new ‘Kate & Berry Sweet Treats Fabricator 3000’ (if you know, you know), which adds candy creation for your Sims to sell if they so choose. This not including its own skill (it increases your cooking skill instead) is disappointing. I can cook alright in real life, for example, but I’d have no idea how to even approach making candy lollipops, so a new skill would have been great here.

What I do love and wanted to see more of here is something like the new Family Recipe feature. With it, you can take a standard recipe – say mac and cheese – and add something else to it, like pomegranate. Then you can add Special Touches which are unlocked through standard gameplay, providing boosts like Motivate-ing, which randomly freeze one of a Sim’s needs for a certain time.

Elements like that play right into what makes The Sims, well, The Sims, and I love that there are new ways to play around with passing things down in a family’s lineage. It’s also right up the alley of a ‘hobby’, adapting and tweaking certain recipes with outlandish ingredients to experiment.

Chic, stylish CAS & Build/Buy mode

Build/Buy in The Sims 4 Businesses & HobbiesFeminine CAS in The Sims 4 Businesses & HobbiesMasculine CAS in The Sims 4 Businesses & HobbiesTattoos layered in The Sims 4

If you’re anything like me and are always excited to see what new offerings are available in CAS and Build/Buy mode, Businesses & Hobbies has lots of great pieces on offer.

CAS has a more masculine-focused selection of items this time around, and clothes span a range of styles, with nods to bygone eras like the fashion of the 60s, 70s, and some everyday pieces that’ll fit right in with the other items already in your game. There’s even a new wolf-cut style and a bang-on-trend middle-part bun which I know I’ll be using in my game loads.

The new custom tattoo feature is the hallmark of CAS this time around, of course, with a creation system that’s very similar to the ones also found in Cats & Dogs and Horse Ranch, letting you create some ink your Sim would be proud of (the plumbob tattoo I gave Bob Pancakes is something he’d probably want lasered off right away, though – sorry, Bob) and share it to The Gallery for other Simmers to use.

Tattoo Paint tool in The Sims 4

I love the different poses you can have your Sims do here (as shown in the image above) as it really lets you see what you’re doing if you’re trying to add some ink to a more hidden location.

Build/Buy is full of minimalist Scandinavian furniture right out of an IKEA store. Simple but chic is the name of the game here, and while I was disappointed we didn’t get a new kitchen, the recently added base game one for the 25th Anniversary meshed pretty well with the neutral tones of this DLC.

I was a little underwhelmed with Build/Buy on the whole, though, as someone who loves cottages and more rustic-style furniture, so aside from a few great decor pieces like a fantastic gallery wall and a nice new rug, I don’t see myself reaching for these pieces often.

It’s beautiful in Nordhaven

Aerial shot of Gammelvik in NordhavenIverstad statue in The Sims 4 Businesses & Hobbies

Lastly, but certainly not least, we have Businesses & Hobbies’ new world: Nordhaven. I’ve been begging for a world in the same vein as Windenburg for ages now, and except for having 12 instead of 27 lots, this one is also chock full of gorgeous vistas.

Its two Neighborhoods, Gammelvik and Iverstad, have pretty different themes, with the former having an older more traditional style of architecture and the latter blending in some more modern, industrial elements. But its canals, train station, and church (despite being a rabbit hole) are just some of the things that make this world great to explore.

One of the things I love most here is that Sims can train spot at the station, and it’s not a rabbit hole interaction. They’ll head over to a bench that overlooks the tracks, and will get a ‘Choo Choo’ moodlet when one whizzes by. You can also use the station to get around the world or visit other ones, too. It adds a nice touch to the world and makes Sims feel like they exist in it instead of being surrounded by set dressing — though this, sadly, still a thing (as shown in the image below).

Pros Cons

• Great CAS & Build/Buy offering Candy creation isn’t tied to a new skill

• Paint tool for tattooing adds a new layer of customization

• Lacking more skills and objects focusing on different hobbies

• Plenty of player choice in creating and managing a small business

• Meetups add little value and feel similar to festivals

• New pottery and tattoo skills tie nicely into the small business system Feels similar to the retail system in Get To Work

Businesses & Hobbies is a conundrum of an Expansion Pack. While it offers some fantastic cross-pack functionality with other DLC, it’s let down in other areas by only featuring two new skills, an underbaked candy creation system, and a small world with interactable set dressing I’ve been speaking about since My Wedding Stories.

If you’re someone who loves Rags to Riches playthroughs, familial play, and legacies, this is the pack for you, but the sour aftertaste of something that feels all too familiar to Get To Work in some ways keeps it from being something truly great.