Over on The Sims Resource they’ve put in the hard work of testing out some business ideas in the recently released The Sims 4 expansion, Businesses & Hobbies, to see exactly how much money you can make with five, quick to set up businesses. But, what are the top money-makers and how can you get down to swimming in Simoleons?
The Profit Motive
Now, I’m not about to shamelessly regurgitate the entire (very informative) article here. But suffice it to say it’s well worth checking out; TSR’s Jezi does a great job of not only giving an overview of each business, but also providing info like how they charged customers and the difficulty involved.
The bottom line is that, of these businesses, the most effective services was teaching, at least in terms of pure profit. But, this was also extremely demanding not only in terms of your Sims needing existing skillsets but also in that you would need to directly interact with it rather than simply letting things take their course.
Comparatively easier businesses, a laundromat for example, would bring in less profit but required much less interaction. Which perhaps points to the only possible weakness with Business & Hobbies, which that its ability to scale businesses beyond small, neighbourhood-style local ones is (by design) limited.
Business ventures
Unfortunately, as Jezi’s experiment demonstrates, Businesses & Hobbies isn’t made to do much more than let you craft a small homegrown business. And while some of their creations really surprised me (making a movie theatre for example!) I think it also made clear that if you’re approaching this new mechanic with the hope that you’ll be pulling in the big bucks (or Simoleons) you’ll be sorely disappointed.
But at the same time, a glance at the new activities and interactions made available show exactly how you can create a myriad of small businesses. So personally, unless you’re very much invested in seeing your Sim live out the dream of opening their own acting school, I’d just stick with the coin-op laundry to keep them afloat (and in the green when it comes to flat-screen TVs, what with that devious burglar about).
So, there you go. If you’re interested in learning all about the five different businesses that they set up and tested (Laundromat, Candy Shop, Tattooist, Movie Theatre, Art School) then head on over to The Sims Resource and read it now.
