The Sims 4 Growing Together: Release Date, Price and What the Expansion Adds
- Update (October 2026): We wrote this story in February 2023, a month before Growing Together came out.
- The Sims 4: Growing Together came out on March 16, 2023, as the game's 13th expansion pack.
- Pre-orders were open by February 2, 2023, when the official Sims account on X announced the March 16 date.
Update (October 2026): We wrote this story in February 2023, a month before Growing Together came out. The expansion launched on March 16, 2023, as planned. We have updated the page with what the pack includes, what came free with it and what it costs today.
The Sims 4: Growing Together came out on March 16, 2023, as the game’s 13th expansion pack. It focuses on families and on how Sims change over a lifetime, and it still sells for $39.99 on Steam, as of October 24, 2026.
Pre-orders were open by February 2, 2023, when the official Sims account on X announced the March 16 date. The pack launched on the same platforms as the base game: PC, Mac, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S.
Infants came free two days earlier
The expansion arrived the same week as a free update, and the two are easy to mix up. On March 14, 2023, EA added infants to the base game for everyone, free. According to EA’s patch notes, newborns now grow into infants with their own needs and emotions, along with new clothing, hairstyles, personality traits, furniture and toys.
You do not need Growing Together to have infants. The expansion adds to the family side of the game, with content for other life stages too.
What the expansion adds
EA’s store description lists four main features:
- Milestones that shape Sims: key moments, such as a midlife crisis or a relative asking to move in, can unlock or change personality traits.
- Social compatibility: Sims have preferences that decide who they click with and who is more likely to become an enemy.
- Family dynamics: related Sims can grow closer or clash, which changes their relationships over time.
- San Sequoia: a new world on an ocean bay, a former fishing village with quiet suburbs, a rec center and an influential local family, the Robleses.
Planned events such as sleepovers also come with the pack. It is not the first Sims 4 add-on about families: the Parenthood game pack covered parenting back in 2017. Growing Together is built around how relationships and personalities change across a Sim’s whole life.
Where it sits among the expansions
Growing Together was the first of three expansions in 2023, followed by Horse Ranch in July and For Rent in December. The Sims 4 now has 21 expansion packs, all priced at $39.99 on Steam, with Royalty & Legacy the newest since February 2026. Our full list of Sims 4 expansion packs has every release date.
If you are deciding whether to buy it, the free infant update is a useful test. Play a family through the infant stage first, and if you want deeper family drama and more for kids and elders to do, Growing Together is the pack that adds it.