Inside SimMattically’s Meteoric Rise: how a Sims 4 creator can give away most of their work for free and still grow their earnings

Sul sul! 👋 SimMattically, or Matt to his community of more than 200,000 members, attributes his growth to a combination of early access, meaningful perks, and regular updates that keep fans connected to his work.

Matt creates mods and custom additions for The Sims 4, and since launching his Patreon in 2023, he's made nearly everything available for free. Of his first 164 posts, 144 were fully public, 17 were available to free members, and just three were behind a paywall.

We dove in with him to understand how his business model works, as he crosses a milestone that he describes in his own words as "completely unprecedented."

What inspired you to start a creative practice around The Sims 4, and what brought you to Sims in the first place?

Matt: The Sims is truly one of a kind. It encompasses so much! Experimentation, challenges, creativity, but also just unwinding. You have total freedom to focus on whatever fits your mood at any given moment, and that unique mix of gameplay and vibe is what naturally drew me in.

I've been creating and sharing content for the franchise since I was a kid. I even remember making machinima videos (that is, videos made using the in-game footage) in 2010. Later on, I used to make YouTube playthroughs and also wrote for a Sims-focused news page. As I grew up and my skills developed, that passion to create eventually led me into serious modding. It began with designing UI mockups to showcase how I would reimagine certain parts of the game. Eventually, step by step, I figured out how to turn those concepts into fully functional mods! That's really where my entire modding journey took off.

How do you think about the balance between your free and paid members?

Matt: Patreon made a great move by introducing free memberships. On Patreon, you reliably reach the exact people who chose to follow you. To me, free members are my followers, and I want to keep them in the loop on everything happening. Paid members are the core supporters. They get access to early builds, exclusive perks, the ability to comment and connect with me directly, and priority troubleshooting or guidance.

For Matt, free access isn't an alternative to paid membership. It's part of how his business works.

The reason this exchange holds up, Matt says, traces back to EA's own policy requiring modders to make work public after an early access period, though he adds he wouldn't keep mods permanently locked even without that rule. Early access, in his framing, funds development while the wider community still gets permanent free access down the line.

Starting from zero followers, he says he'd skip early access entirely and release a major mod free from day one, prioritizing reach and word of mouth over first-week revenue. He'd extend that same advice to other Sims creators, though his one critique is about presentation, not effort: good work often goes unseen for lack of "engaging branding and promotion."

What role do public posts on Patreon play in your business?

Matt: I use public posts mainly for exposure and updates. Since my tools and early access content actually live on my personal site rather than Patreon, public posts are how I keep all members, paid or free, in the loop through email and Patreon notifications. Paid members then head to my site to download the materials, where membership gets verified automatically the moment someone tries to grab a file or use a tool.

Matt’s model converts a slice of his free member base into paid members at $3 to $7 a month. In return, paid members get early access to his mods, priority support through DMs and comments, and his full suite of tools: background pack, screenshot converter, custom phone wallpaper, photo replacement, and family tree background generators.

When you're finishing a mod, walk me through how you decide whether it goes out free right away, or starts as early access and opens up later.

Matt: I put every major release into a paid initial early access period. This gives me time to test and refine the project before making it available to everyone. It was especially crucial for my Challenge Tracker mod. I built the tracker itself, but the challenges people play in it are made by other creators with my Challenge Creator tool and shared through the Challenge Gallery on my site. Since so much of what makes the mod useful comes from other creators, I needed to see how people would actually use it first. People surprised me with how they interacted with the tools. If I hadn't gated the initial version, I would've been flooded with broken or half-functional user submissions. That said, for smaller releases, things that already feel stable and safe, I'll release for free immediately, just to share a fun idea between bigger projects.

That same instinct is what he tells newer creators too: "I only started encouraging people to support me once I felt confident in the quality of my work and knew it offered genuine value."

There are two different ways to offer free work to fans, and Matt leverages both. Quips are "quick check-ins, fun facts, and short, tweet-style updates" for new and existing audiences to discover more about his work, while full posts go deep for people who already want in.

Is there a Quip you posted without a lot of thought that surprised you, positively or negatively?

Matt: Yes! It was my Quip about my Quick Save Button mods. A lot of new people discovered the mod simply because a bite-sized post popped up on their Patreon feed. Both mods had already been out for a while, and I published the Quip to give them a quick visibility boost. I really didn't expect it to gain the traction it did.

The release post for your Immersive World Map turned out to be your single highest-engagement free member post ever. The teaser, the behind-the-scenes video with Evan, and the update on the map's continents all rank among your top-performing Quips too, four of your strongest posts, all tied to one release. Can you walk me through how that rollout came together? Was the sequence planned out, or did it take shape as you went?

Matt: Once the project came together, I was incredibly proud of what Evan, the illustrator behind the world map, and I had made, so I wanted to stir up real anticipation before the full reveal. The initial run of teasers was definitely planned ahead of time, though the updates that followed came together as feedback rolled in. Looking back, I think that's part of why the whole rollout did so well. Each post did a different job along the way: building anticipation, then showing the work, then showing progress. By the time the release dropped, people had already been following the whole story.

Do you think your strategies are applicable to all creators or only those with large audiences?

Matt: I think the "big announcement drop" I mentioned earlier relies heavily on audience size. That strategy works because there's already an established base ready to jump on the release. But one tactic any creator can use, regardless of their following, is gating free Patreon posts so they're only visible to logged-in members. It's an incredibly effective way to convert casual traffic into registered followers and steadily grow your core community from scratch.

Tell me about your 100K-members post. What an exciting milestone!

Matt: As you ask this, I'm actually just a few hundred members away from hitting another massive milestone, which is 200k. When I first started modding and launched my Patreon, I honestly never expected to build a platform anywhere near this size. More than anything, I'm just deeply grateful for the community's support, both moral and financial.

Why make a milestone post at all?

Matt: When I post about my projects and releases, the spotlight is entirely on the work itself. But mod creators can sometimes feel a bit distant or impersonal. We operate under handles, hide behind avatars, and run our own niche brands, so it's easy for people to forget there's an actual person there. I treat these milestone posts as a chance to speak directly to my community as a real human being on the other side of the screen.

That instinct for personal connection carries over into what he thinks actually performs best. His best free work, in his own view, leans personal: "personal updates and opinions" the same direct relationship with fans he first built on Twitter before he ever started modding.

But Matt is still often surprised by what ends up resonating the most with his audience. His favorite post came from the smallest possible stakes, a macOS installation tutorial he wrote for his own workflow and posted with zero expectations. It turned into a quietly durable resource players still stumble on, amassing over 60 comments

Surprises like that are part of why he's stopped trying to reverse-engineer performance. Early on, likes and comments genuinely guided him. Once UI modding became his focus, that shifted: "I focus on building what genuinely excites me rather than chasing metrics for the sake of engagement."

That same shift, from reacting to the numbers to trusting his own judgment, is also how he's come to think about early access itself.

Matt: Some people are very vocal about their dislike of early access mods and creators who use that model for work based on existing IP. Over time, though, I realized that I invest just as much time, effort, and money into my work as creators in other mediums do. Because my mods always become free for everyone once the early access window closes, and no one is ever obligated to pay, it really is a win-win for both me and the players who can't or choose not to pledge.

Is there a lesson in all this that you think has nothing to do with Sims at all?

Matt: By building my own brand and making a space for myself online and within the community, I've developed skills that are incredibly versatile. Being a creator isn't just one single job, but a blend of multiple roles and skill sets. I really see myself as a one-person team.

Ideas you can try from SimMattically's approach

From keeping free members engaged to building anticipation around new releases, Matt's approach offers plenty of ideas you can adapt to your own creative business. Here are four worth trying.

1. Give free members a reason to stay connected.

Free updates, previews, and personal reflections can help fans follow your work and build a relationship with you over time.

2. Make paid membership valuable without putting everything behind a paywall.

Early access, additional tools, and priority support give Matt's paying members meaningful benefits while allowing his work to eventually reach everyone. Think about what else you can offer your biggest fans beyond exclusive access.

3. Build anticipation before your next big release.

Matt's Immersive World Map rollout used teasers, behind-the-scenes updates, and progress posts to build excitement. Try planning a series of updates leading up to your next launch.

4. Bring your community along for the journey.

Whether it’s reaching a membership goal, finishing a big project, or reflecting on how far you’ve come, sharing creative wins gives fans something to celebrate with you.

Try this with your next release

Think about a project you're working on. What's one update you could share with free members before it's finished? It might be a sneak peek, a behind-the-scenes photo, or a quick note about something you're excited to make.

Start there, and see what sparks a conversation with your community.

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