The Sims™ 4 Businesses & Hobbies Expansion Pack Review Summary

This worthwhile DLC's game-changing small business system enables creative, varied ventures with excellent cross-pack integration, but tattoo tools are inadequate and employees often fail to show up.

Worthwhile and high-quality DLC: Many players consider this pack among the best Sims 4 DLCs, praising its value, quality, and game-changing content. It is seen as a complete pack that brings together the best charms of previous packs.

Small business system is game-changing: The small business venue allows ownership of almost any type of business, including spas, gyms, studios, and pools, opening many gameplay options. It enables running multiple businesses from a single lot and expands with owned packs.

Enables creative and varied businesses: Players can run just about any business imaginable, such as daycare, gym, magic classes, cat cafes, and more, using diverse themes. The social group activity system allows creativity about what the business is about.

Excellent cross-pack integration: The pack combines exceptionally well with activities from most other packs to create highly varied businesses, such as mini clubs with Get Together or magic training grounds with Realm of Magic. Cross-pack gameplay is well done and adds a lot of depth.

Tattoo system is super fun: The tattoo skill and custom tattoos allow incredible customization, including free-paint mode that can create permanent makeup, bruises, and skin details. Playing as a tattoo artist is enjoyable.

Tattoo design tools are inadequate: The tattoo creation system lacks symmetry options, has difficult controls, and does not save colors properly. Drawing with a mouse or tablet is frustrating and there is little creativity possible.

Employees fail to show up: Hired employees do not appear at work and may not be listed in the manage employees menu, preventing players from staffing their businesses. They cannot be fired or quit, leaving the business understaffed.

Many technical issues and crashes: The game suffers from general glitchiness, queued actions canceling, occasional crashes, and over 1000 bugs. These issues are not patched quickly and moderators rarely respond.

Overpriced and not worth it: Many players feel the expansion is not worth full price, especially given the amount of bugs and lack of content. It is often described as overhyped and expensive.

Customer behavior is illogical: Customer Sims do not perform tasks in a logical order, leave messes, forget drinks, and walk off with books. They may take entire servings for the price of one and disappear, breaking the business system.

New skills and activities: The pack adds new skills such as pottery, tattooing, and candy making. These skills come with perks and can be used in businesses or for personal enjoyment.

Tattoo system with customization: The pack includes a tattoo system that allows players to create custom tattoos, use stamps, and apply them to Sims. There is also a tattoo career where you design tattoos for other Sims.

Small business management system: The pack introduces a comprehensive small business system where players can create and manage various businesses, hire and fire employees, assign tasks, and customize uniforms.

Diverse business types: Players can run many types of businesses, including cat cafes, museums, farms, after-school care, restaurants, retail shops, spas, yoga studios, and more. The system supports high flexibility.

Employee management features: Players can hire up to three employees, assign them tasks, and even instruct them to build robots. Employees can greet customers and perform services like tattooing.

White Screen on World Entry: A player reports encountering a white screen when attempting to enter the world, which prevents them from starting or continuing gameplay. This blocking issue can make the game unplayable for affected users.

Occasional Unexpected Crashes: Players experience sporadic crashes during gameplay that interrupt sessions without warning. These unexpected crashes reduce stability and can cause lost progress or frustration.

Wait for a sale: Many players recommend waiting for a discount rather than paying the full price, citing the current price as too high for the content offered. Buying on sale is a common suggestion across multiple reviews.

Highly recommended DLC: Despite some criticism, many players highly recommend this DLC, especially for those who enjoy business gameplay and own multiple packs. It is praised for its infinite possibilities and cross-pack integration.

Good for specific playstyles: The pack is recommended for players who enjoy Rags to Riches, legacy play, or managing multiple businesses, and for those who create many different sims. It is also suggested for players who don't mind business stress.

Not worth buying: A number of players advise against purchasing this pack, citing missing features, unrealistic mechanics, and overall lack of value. Some simply say 'Save your money' or 'Don't do it'.

Bugs need fixing: Several reviews mention that the expansion has issues, particularly a whiteboard bug, and recommend not buying until these are fixed. Some would change their negative recommendation to positive once the issues are addressed.

Community fair range: $20.00 - $30.00.

Session length: 0.7h.

Home Business Manager: Registers businesses, manages employees, plans lot sizes and industry schedules, and runs shops from home. Motivation: To run and grow home-based businesses with employees and multi-industry management. Stance: sale.

Custom Tattoo Creator: Uses the tattoo drawing feature, tries to make symmetrical designs, and experiments with occult Sims. Motivation: To create and apply custom tattoos on Sims. Stance: sale.

Value-Conscious DLC Buyer: Waits for sales, weighs pack features against price, and selectively buys DLC that adds value. Motivation: To get worthwhile Sims 4 content without overpaying. Stance: sale.

Monetization: The provided reviews focus on traditional paid DLC/expansion feedback. They praise one DLC as worthwhile or worth full price, complain about its upfront price and sale timing, compare it with another DLC, and one reviewer regrets paying because the base game is broken. No review describes real-money microtransactions, loot boxes, gacha pulls, paid power, paid convenience, battle passes, or an in-game cash shop. Under the audit rules, traditional DLC and base-price complaints cannot push the score above 20.

Similar to other Sims 4 packs: It is compared to Get To Work, Dine Out, Get Together, and fitness/spa packs, with one calling it a combined improved version.

Favorable Sims 2 comparisons: The pack is compared to The Sims 2 Open For Business, with some saying Sims 2 handled business mechanics better.

Patch fixes not effective: The latest patch with 150 fixes did not fix the 'paint by reference' issue or the kids stretching while playing violin issue.

Cross-pack interactions included: Includes cross-pack interactions with Get Together, Realm of Magic, and other packs.

Bug reports growing unsolved: Bug reports are tracked on the game's official forums and the list continues to grow with updates and DLC releases, with many help requests without solutions.