The Sims 4 Businesses & Hobbies Expansion Pack is set to launch on 6 March 2025. Ahead of this, EA and Maxis gave GamesHub the full rundown of what to expect – and as it turns out, while tattooing and pottery have been labelled the flagship features of the pack, it goes much deeper than expected.
Being able to run your own small business seems like a very robust new feature, with options to run pottery studios and tattoo parlours, as well as to create your own gym, nightclub, art gallery, shop, museum, bar, school for adults, or otherwise. There’s so many different business activities to choose from when establishing your home business.
That’s not to mention the other new features of the pack, including the introduction of possibly the best Sims NPC we’ve seen in years.
Here’s all the biggest features set to be introduced in The Sims 4 Businesses & Hobbies Expansion Pack.
Table of Contents
How to create your own small business in The Sims 4
The primary feature of The Sims 4 Businesses & Hobbies is the ability to create your own small business. This can be in a separate location, or it can be in a dedicated room of your house, with new zoning features allowing you to create public, employees only, or residential areas of your home lot. To create a business, you’ll enter a set up screen where you can select which activities will take place in your business.
There are some presets, including: Bar, Gym, Library, Lounge, Museum, Nightclub, Park, Pool, Pottery Studios, Shop, and Tattoo Parlour, with these having already-established activities (which you can also add to). If you’re choosing to start fresh, you’ll be able to select up to five activities from around 70+ options, with these including: Listen to Music, Dance, Drink Bar Drinks, Attend Classes and Lectures, Do Pottery, Browse and Buy Items, Play on Playground Equipment.
Placing a Ticket Kiosk on your lot allows you to set an entry fee for your business if you’re going for more experiential activities – like setting up a theme park for kids.
You’ll also need to select where the business will be, a Price Modifier (if you choose to offer discounts, or sell a premium service), and which customers you’re targeting. You can select up to five types of customers to target, with criteria set around Age, Traits, Career, Marital Status, Financial Status, Skill Level, Occult, or Supervised Customer (Toddler, Infant, Child). Certain criteria can be locked in as “essential” to ensure you’re only getting those customers in your business.
So if you only want vampire customers for a blood bar, then you can do so (and yes, one of the activities is Drink Plasma).
Once all this is sorted, you’ll be able to choose a logo and name for your business, hire employees if necessary, set which tasks you’d like them to do, and then you’re off to the races. There will be some lessons to learn as you continue your small business journey – like learning how to fend off disruptive customers – but over time, you’ll perfect the art, learn new skills and perks, and eventually become a household name in your town.
How Tattooing works in The Sims 4
Tattooing can be done with a new tattoo bench, either casually at home, or within a small business. You’ll need to learn to perfect this skill before you lean too heavily into making it your business, as you can “fail” a tattoo and end up permanently creating a botched image on your customer – which they won’t be too happy about.
Take time to practice the skill through research or other means, and eventually you’ll be ready for the big leagues. Once you’re comfortable, you’ll be able to select from a bunch of pre-made tattoos, or head into the game’s dedicated tattoo maker to create your own designs – either freeform or using stamps. “Paint Mode” is featured in many other expansion packs, so there’s a high chance you’ll be familiar with how it goes.
How Pottery works in The Sims 4
Pottery is a new skill that can be self-taught or learned from mentors. To learn pottery, you’ll need a pottery wheel, and then you’ll be able to start crafting basic ceramics. At first, you’ll be fairly terrible at it, and you won’t be able to create functional objects – but as you skill up, you’ll eventually unlock more functional items like a Candle Lantern, Planter Pot, Round Vase, Cake Stand, Candle Holder, and Oil Burner.
Read: The best Sims 4 expansion packs for beginners
Once these objects are complete, you’ll be able to glaze them in a kiln, choosing from ten different patterns. In addition, you’ll also be able to break your pottery, and then deploy the art of kintsugi to bring it back with some added flourish.
What to know about Nordhaven
Nordhaven is a new town introduced in Businesses & Hobbies, and it’s inspired by Scandinavia. In it, you’ll find a bunch of small businesses, and folks with a passion for sharing their knowledge. In Iverstad, the upper region of the map, you’ll find old industrial complexes and houses that have been repurposed for thrifty living. Gammelvik, the lower part of the town, is an historic area where locals like to “take it slow, travel to work on their vintage bikes, and take long strolls by the old canals at night.”
New mentoring opportunities and classes
The Sims 4 Businesses & Hobbies will introduce new relationship types to the game: mentor and mentee. A mentor is someone who is skilled in a particular area, and they are able to share these skills with their mentee. Notably, a mentee can also then become a mentor, sharing their skills with others.
As you travel through Nordhaven, you’ll be able to find a range of classes to attend (for a price), with these teaching you useful, transferrable skills or just connecting you with like-minded folks. Classes are goaled events, and require you to undertake particular abilities to “complete” them.
Trashley: Extremely good new NPC will sell you special “art”
If there’s one major feature from The Sims 4 Businesses & Hobbies I’m most looking forward to, it’s the introduction of a brand new NPC that might be the best introduced since the original game.
The NPC in question is “Trashley Reelpearson” a “Legitimate and Normal” Young Adult who is extremely tall, covered in a lengthy trenchcoat, and has no face. While their description suggests otherwise, Trashley is actually a group of raccoons who spend time in alleyways rooting through trash – and then they sell that trash to the player.
They are fantastic, and we love them.
It should also be worth noting Trashley has their own special “Certified Art Collection” players can discover, and one of the paintings in this collection is the very familiar “Gleeful Clown” painting. Place it in your home, if you dare.
New skills, perks, aspirations, and Family Recipes
As you run your small business, you’ll be able to earn new Small Business Perks. These function a lot like Occult Skill Trees, and allow you to purchase new skills that chart the good-to-evil spectrum of “Schemer, Neutral, or Dreamer.” Skills shown off so far include Sway to Buy (influencing Sims to purchase items) and Tip Jar (adding extra Simoleons to payments).
In addition to this new skill tree, Businesses & Hobbies will also introduce new Skill Mastery Perks. These are extra skills that can be earned by a Sim after reaching Level 10 of certain skills. Mastering cooking, for example, will give a “Secret Spice” perk.
Related to cooking, it appears Businesses & Hobbies will introduce a new “Family Recipe” feature that allows Sims to create their own special recipes with a base recipe, extra ingredient, and a Special Touch such as a Moodlet Booster, or a “Comfort Food” label. These will create new moods and may improve skills for those who eat the food.
One more thing to mention in this segment: there are two new Traits and two new Aspirations included with The Sims 4 Businesses & Hobbies. The new Traits are: Idealist (someone with high moral standards and values), and Shady (someone who likes bending the rules and doing what they want to get ahead.) The new Aspirations are Master Mentor (someone who wants to learn from talented mentors, and pass on their knowledge to mentees) and Esteemed Entrepreneur (someone who wants to build a small business and succeed).
New items for build/buy mode
As with most expansion packs, Businesses & Hobbies will introduce various new items to build and buy modes. For clothing and accessories, you can expect an array of outfits that range from artsy to professional in nature. New styles include chic French-inspired girlypop outfits, power suits, overalls, new sweater vests, and a very cool new two-toned leather jacket and matching skirt combination.
For furniture, you can expect very Scandinavian-style items, including minimalist wooden chairs, benches, and tables. There’s also new dining stools, tabletop counters, a planter that drapes off shelves, a giant Freezer Bunny art piece, new fireplaces, a racoon statue, and more.
You can look forward to all of this and more as we head closer to the release of the next major Sims 4 expansion pack.
