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EA Killed The Sims 5. The Monopoly Is OVER
EA Killed The Sims 5. The Monopoly Is OVER
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คำบรรยาย (181)
0:00
The Sims is dead… or is it. This is what happened
0:03
to the popular game and why there won’t be The Sims 5.
0:06
In 2022, EA officially teased the next Sims game - a mysterious project called “Project Rene,” widely
0:12
seen as The Sims 5. Players expected the usual sequel cycle - new graphics, new features, a fresh
0:18
start. But years later, there’s still no release date. And it’s not because The Sims 4 failed.
0:23
It’s because it was too successful. EA built the perfect money machine… and shutting it down would
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be like turning off a faucet that prints cash. For some players, Sims 4 isn’t just a game.
0:34
It’s a thousand dollar lifestyle. And once a game becomes that profitable, a sequel stops
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being ‘exciting’… and starts being dangerous. In 2000, The Sims arrived with a totally different
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idea: no bosses, no final mission - just building lives, telling stories, and experimenting. It was
0:50
simple, addictive, and unlike anything else on the market. Players made people, built homes,
0:55
and controlled their lives - wholesome or chaotic. Either way, it kept people coming back.
1:00
Today, The Sims is one of the most successful franchises in gaming history - selling over
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200 million copies. Between 2004 and 2014, it launched a string of follow-ups,
1:09
including The Sims 4 - the biggest hit yet, played by over 85 million people.
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While the game is technically free to play, it’s also packed with opportunities
1:18
to customize your Sims and your world - most of which are an additional fee and make the
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game extremely profitable for creator Maxis and parent company, Electronic Arts (EA).
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With this level of success, another sequel was inevitable. That’s usually
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how it works in video games. Even in those early teases,
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the focus wasn’t a new story or a new Sims generation. It was tools - especially building.
1:41
Players watched footage of furniture being taken apart and rebuilt piece by piece.
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And there was one other twist… multiplayer. Rene teases suggested players could collaborate - at
1:51
least in build mode - a big shift for a franchise that’s been mostly single-player for decades.
1:56
When The Sims 4 launched, it cost around $40, depending on where you bought it. But in 2022, the
2:01
game went free-to-play - so anyone could jump in and start building their own virtual communities.
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That’s when the DLC machine kicks in. And no game has weaponized it like The Sims.
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Over the last 10 years, The Sims 4 has released 20 expansion packs,
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all developed by the original creative team. The first pack, Get to Work, was only released
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a year after the game debuted and allowed your Sim to take on new jobs like detective, doctor,
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and scientist. It also introduced a new shopping district where your Sim could run a store.
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The idea of being able to send your Sim to work turned out to be a massive hit.
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And it hasn’t slowed down since.
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Future expansion packs offered the chance to increase your Sims’ social options,
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create new and exciting places to live, and most importantly of all - have pets.
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Later expansion packs would introduce darker elements, like Sims funerals and graveyards,
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and even supernatural elements. Along the way, the expansion packs started to feel more like
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an essential part of the experience, as the world of the Sims kept growing. And
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this was highly profitable for EA - the expansion packs retail for $20 to $40.
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And that’s the trick - at first, DLC feels optional.
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Then it feels normal. Suddenly,
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the base game starts feeling like the demo. And it wasn’t the only way to boost your game.
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In addition to the expansion packs, The Sims 4 introduced game packs. These smaller DLCs
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introduced specific game elements, and they retail for $14 a pop. These focus on more out-there plot
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elements, and past ones have introduced vampires, werewolves, and even a crossover with Star Wars.
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However, it’s not just the sales that make this a very profitable option for the company. They cost
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the company far less to develop than a new game, as they’re building on an existing framework. It’s
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estimated that an expansion pack can cost up to $10 million to design from start to finish,
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while a game pack may cost the company about 3 million. This is compared to the average
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budget for a triple-A video game, which can easily reach upwards of $80 million.
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But The Sims 4 doesn’t just have expansion packs and game packs. It also has stuff
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packs and kits - little bite-sized DLC bundles designed to get you spending
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'just a few bucks’ over and over again. And when you add all of it together…
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you get one of the most expensive ‘complete editions’ in gaming history.
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Add in the 20 expansion packs, the game, stuff and kit packs and the Sims 4 experience becomes
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a $1,000 to $1,500 hobby. For one game. And that’s not even counting sales tax,
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bundles that don’t include everything, re-buys across platforms, or buying newer
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DLC the second it drops because you don’t want your Sim’s lifestyle to feel “outdated.”
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But it helps a lot when you have a built-in audience.
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Over 200 million copies later, it’s one of gaming’s biggest franchises - and Sims 4
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is the engine still printing money. The expansion packs and game packs continue
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to roll out - with the most recent titled “Adventure Awaits”, released in October 2025.
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So it’s clear that The Sims 4 isn’t just surviving - it’s thriving.
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And that might actually be bad news for the future of the franchise.
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Normally, a sequel is the obvious next step. But for EA, a ‘Sims 5’ isn’t just a creative decision.
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It’s a reset button on their best business model.
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And EA is clearly acting like it. The first three Sims games never
5:10
took more than 5 years to release the next installment. The Sims 4, though,
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has been going for over a decade - and it still doesn’t feel old. The expansions
5:18
have been so constant that most years bring a fresh wave of new content. It’s open-ended,
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and players never really ‘finish’ it. As long as new content keeps dropping, they keep coming back.
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So the money keeps coming in.
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And while The Sims 4 has been free-to-play for a while, it’s actually more profitable than ever.
5:34
With old-school Triple A game releases, before the age of DLC, people would pay
5:38
$60 to purchase a game and that was all the money the company would get out of them. With
5:43
an endless supply of expansion packs, though, the company gets people to pay over and over again.
5:49
Sims players don’t feel like they’re spending $1,000. Because they’re not spending it all
5:53
at once. They’re spending $40 here… $20 there… $10 there… $5 there… for YEARS.
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It’s the slowest financial ambush in gaming. A $15/month subscription is $180 a year. Over
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10 years, that’s $1,800 - and Sims fans can land in the same neighborhood without realizing it.
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And unlike a subscription, where you can cancel anytime, Sims DLC is psychological. Because once
6:18
you’ve bought 10 expansions, you don’t want to “start over” in a new Sims game without them.
6:23
You don’t want to lose the weather system. You don’t want to lose the pets. You don’t
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want to lose the careers, the neighborhoods, the furniture, the worlds, the build options.
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So you stay. And EA keeps collecting. Despite having no shortage of content
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for their favorite game, Sims fans were excited for the announcement of a new project. After all,
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The Sims 4 had been such a leap forward for the game that they couldn’t wait to
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discover what comes next. And so they waited…and waited, and waited some more. After the reveal,
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it was like EA hit the mute button. Since then, it’s been radio silence.
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And that tells you everything about what EA wants next.
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Is The Sims 5 coming? At this point, the outlook might be cloudy at best. The Sims
7:01
4 has become such a money-making juggernaut that it never quite
7:04
ended. The company is naturally hesitant to sunset their bread and butter. But the
7:08
problem doesn’t end there. The Sims 4 has been on the market for over a decade now,
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and that’s a century in gaming time. It’s not just that graphics have evolved and hardware
7:17
has changed - the way people play games has changed, and it’s not going back any time soon.
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But The Sims can’t hold back the tide forever.
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And if The Sims goes online, it risks bringing the whole internet with
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it — outages, bans, and toxicity included. But here’s the bigger problem for EA.
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It’s not 2004 anymore. Back then, The Sims wasn’t just the king of life simulators. It was basically
7:40
the only kingdom. If you wanted a “make people, build houses, run lives, create chaos” game…
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you bought The Sims. End of story. Now? That monopoly is cracking.
7:49
The gaming industry figured out what Sims fans really want customization, cozy gameplay,
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relationship storytelling, building and decorating and a world that reacts to you
7:59
And suddenly, life-sim competition isn’t one game. It’s an entire genre. You’ve got
8:05
games competing on the cozy side, the farming side, the dating side, the open-world side,
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the roleplay side. Players who never would’ve touched Sims in 2014 can
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now find an alternative in 2024. And now, for the first time ever,
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The Sims isn’t competing with ‘the next Sims.’ It’s competing with an entire lineup of rivals.
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Games like inZOI are coming for Sims players who want realistic graphics,
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modern character creation, and a next-gen ‘life sim’ world that feels more like a movie than a
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cartoon. Titles like Paralives are targeting the builders - the players who want deep home design,
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cozy living, and maximum creativity without needing $1,500 worth of DLC.
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Life By You targets total player control - mods, freedom, full-world simulation. Basically
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what Sims fans have begged for for years. And games like Stardew Valley and Animal Crossing
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proved something even worse for EA. Millions of people don’t need “The Sims” specifically,
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they just need a comforting life game they can sink hundreds of hours into. Which means Sims
9:03
players finally have options. And once players have options… the monopoly dies.
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Even worse for EA, many of these competitors are built for the modern gaming economy from day one.
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They launch in early access. They update constantly. They build community
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feedback into development. They monetize cosmetics, expansions, or creator tools.
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That means Sims 4 isn’t competing with “Sims 3.” It’s competing with every lifestyle game
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that steals just one slice of its pie. And if a player only cares about decorating,
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romance or farming? They can leave. And that’s a new problem
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The Sims has never had before. When The Sims debuted, it basically owned the
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genre. Now the genre has grown up - and players can get their ‘life sim fix’ almost anywhere.
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There are many concerns about the future of The Sims - but one big x-factor.
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After the 2022 announcement, information about The Sims 5 started becoming few
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and far between. But in 2025, a dam finally broke - and it wasn’t what anyone expected.
9:58
Instead, they announced that Project Rene wasn’t going to be a new iteration of The Sims, but
10:02
instead, was going to be a new spinoff geared to a multiplayer online audience. It would be developed
10:08
alongside The Sims 4, but not replace it. One major thing the company confirmed is that The
10:12
Sims 4 will keep getting new expansion packs. But the franchise itself is also shifting beyond one
10:18
single game - toward a bigger network of connected Sims experiences, with multiple ways to play.
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But one word has people very concerned.
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Right now, Project Rene looks like it’s going to be online and free-to-play - with extra features
10:31
likely locked behind microtransactions. It’s been in testing and development for at least 3 years,
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but beyond that? EA’s still keeping things close to the chest. And honestly,
10:40
this isn’t even new territory for The Sims. They’ve tried the online angle before,
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with the idea of a Sims Hub - a shared space for legacy games where players could upload
10:49
and share their families and creations. It wasn’t tied directly into the main game but
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it was the first real sign that The Sims was thinking bigger than a single-player sandbox.
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But one element is making its way everywhere.
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In late 2024, Electronic Arts announced that they’d be adding the first AI features to the
11:05
Sims Hub. This would allow fans to customize and convert objects, scan designs directly into the
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server, and even customize the faces of your Sims with their own photos - all powered by generative
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AI. This caused no shortage of controversy among fans. The programs are imperfect,
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although they’re getting less-so with each new update - and they’re facing plenty of accusations
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of taking content from artists without pay - as well as being bad for the environment.
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But the march of AI doesn’t seem to be stopping - and the Sims are getting on board.
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It’s not clear what the future of The Sims is going to look like, but what is clear is that
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it’s not going to look like a premium The Sims 5 getting a traditional release. Triple-A games
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are still being released all the time. And the budgets are getting bigger all the time. That
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means the risk of a new release is increasing all the time, and games are taking more and
11:51
more time in between releases as a result. Some franchises, like Kingdom Hearts, took
11:56
over ten years between releases and filled the gap with supplemental games for other platforms.
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And The Sims 5 may simply not make sense for EA right now.
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There’s always the risk that a new game won’t deliver what the fans want
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and will bleed the audience in a hurry - but there’s no such risk with the existing game.
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The graphics and gameplay on The Sims 4 are still up to par enough that fans have
12:17
no complaints. The constant infusion of new content via expansion packs allows the game
12:22
to keep things fresh and keep a constant stream of money coming in without having to spend all
12:26
the money on the development of a completely new game where people will have to start over.
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And the future of The Sims is likely to look very different.
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Whatever Project Rene is, it’s likely to take the world of the Sims in a completely new direction.
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Gone is the private little slice of heaven you create for yourself. Instead you’ll be met with
12:43
a massive multiplayer game that brings the entire internet into play. And for
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those people who wished they could make real friends more easily in the world of the Sims,
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it could be a dream come true. But it’s likely to come with some major drawbacks - including
12:56
the introduction of more pay-to-play features. It won’t be for everyone.
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And that might be the point.
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The Sims is one of the biggest franchises in video game history,
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and it’s not stopping any time soon. And because of that, it might have become too big for a single
13:09
game called The Sims 5. It would take years for a new game to approach the scope that The
13:14
Sims 4 has reached. And whatever direction it takes about embracing multiplayer and AI,
13:19
or eschewing them, it won’t satisfy everyone. And so rather than put all its eggs in one basket,
13:24
the franchise is ready to branch out and see what the fans embrace.
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Because in 2026 and beyond… The Sims isn’t trying to sell you a sequel.
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It’s trying to stay in your life forever.
13:34
This isn’t the only area where AI might be wreaking havoc. Check out “Real Reason RAM
13:39
Prices Are Skyrocketing (And Getting Worse)”, or watch this video instead!
