The Sims 4, the beloved role-play game, has an exciting new update coming. March 14, the Sims 4 launched a much anticipated update, one that introduced a whole new life phase to the game: infants!

The infant update was followed by the Growing Together Expansion Pack which came out March 16.

But first, what is The Sims 4?

The Sims 4 is the fourth installment of the popular franchise by Maxis. While there is no clear end objective to The Sims 4, players can build and decorate their virtual houses with an expansive library of items and can play as their sims and create families, get jobs, and even die. You can even access thousands of mods and additional objects that were created by players, or “custom content;” however, custom content is only available on PC.

The Sims franchise began its life in 1989 with SimCity, in which Will Wright, the creator of the game, had trouble getting published. After this struggle, Wright co-founded a company called Maxis with an entrepreneur named Jeff Braun. SimCity was a barebones building game in which players acted as the mayor of their own fictional city which they had to plan and construct while on a budget.

The game had a slow start, but its popularity grew, and it sold a million copies by 1992. SimCity was followed closely by SimCity 2000, which was basically an update of the former, with improved graphics and gameplay.

The Sims gameplay as we know and love today was born with The Sims, which came out in 2000, and was inspired by the Wright family losing their home in the early 90’s. The game used SimCity as a jumping-off point but then zoomed in life in SimCity with the creation and design of homes; however, it branched off with the creation of sims: virtual humans with needs, relationships, and personalities.

From 2000-2003, Maxis released several themed expansion packs. These packs would include new decorative items, building styles, and gameplay for a lower price than the actual game.

The next installment in the Sims franchise was The Sims 2 in 2004. While the gameplay underwent some changes, such as new objects and a change that allowed players to view the world in full 3D, the biggest variation from The Sims had to do with the sims themselves. They could now form memories and had wants and fears that led to their main life goal (also known as an Aspiration).

Another huge change in The Sims 2 was the addition of genetics. While the children of sims in The Sims usually looked nothing like their parents, in The Sims 2, children inherited appearance and personality traits from their parents. The Create-A-Sim process (the process of designing your sims) was also majorly changed to improve aspects of customization. There were eight expansion packs for the Sims 2 as well as a variety of smaller game packs.

The Sims 3 in 2009 brought a major change to the gameplay of the franchise: story progression. Story progression basically allows life to go on outside of the household you are playing. So, for example, if you were playing only with the Smith family, the Johnson family down the street would still get promotions, hold weddings, and eventually die. There were 11 expansion packs for The Sims 3, and nine Stuff Packs.

The Sims 4 in 2014 introduced SmartSim in which sims emote based on the things happening around them. Create-a-Sim was also greatly improved with the addition of hyper honing any detail you’d like to change on your sim. However, many players complained about the lack of toddler and infant life stages. Toddlers were eventually added to The Sims 4, and the long awaited infant update was released March 14. There have been 12 expansion packs for The Sims 4, 12 Game Packs, 18 Stuff Packs, and 19 Kits.

The Sims franchise changed the expectation for video games to have a clear objective and is ranked the 45th most successful video game series of all time according to titlemax.com.