InZOI Director Positions Game as Unique Alternative to The Sims, Highlighting AI-Powered Features

InZOI director says it isn't a competitor to The Sims, but "another option" and a "different experience" with "in-depth customization" and AI-powered tools

We here at GamesRadar+ have been known to occasionally brand the upcoming life sim inZOI a "Sims competitor," but as it turns out, its director doesn't think of it that way. In our defense, we aren't the only ones calling inZOI a Sims rival/competitor/what have you, and it certainly looks the part, but in an interview with PC Gamer, director Hyungjun Kim suggested he's keen to distance inZOI from the genre titan. "We see Inzoi not as a competitor to The Sims, but rather as another option that fans of this genre can enjoy," Kim said. "We have great respect for the legacy The Sims has built over the years, since we know that reaching that much depth in such a short period of time is no easy task. This is due to the nature of life sim games which cover the vast and complex concept of 'life,' making it difficult to capture its every aspect." Kim didn't get into specifics of everything that makes inZOI unique from The Sims, and to be clear no reasonable person would look at it and call it a Sims clone, but one element that's been spotlighted before is its hyper-realistic visuals, partly achieved using AI. It also sounds to me like at least one of the main goals is to maximize player agency. "Inzoi is designed to allow players to freely shape the life they desire, using various creative tools," Kim said. "To achieve this, we have a realistic visual style powered by Unreal Engine 5, in-depth customization features, and AI-driven creative tools. We hope that players explore these features to bring their imaginations to life, become their own protagonists and live in those worlds." InZOI is set to release in Early Access in March.

Inzoi director says 'we have great respect for the legacy The Sims has built' and doesn't see their game as a director competitor: 'Our aim is to provide a different experience'

Inzoi is looming ever closer, and with it the first real competition The Sims has had, well, ever. Krafton's take on the life sim genre looks like it'll be the closest we get to EA's scope and scale for a good while. Despite that, director Hyungjun Kim doesn't view his game as a rival. "We see Inzoi not as a competitor to The Sims, but rather as another option that fans of this genre can enjoy," Kim told me during a recent interview for the latest issue of PC Gamer magazine. "We have great respect for the legacy The Sims has built over the years, since we know that reaching that much depth in such a short period of time is no easy task. This is due to the nature of life sim games which cover the vast and complex concept of 'life,' making it difficult to capture its every aspect." It's a very sportsmanlike showing from Kim, who I'm sure is all-too-aware of how many Sims players are mentally pitting the two games against each other right now. But it seems that instead of trying to do everything better than The Sims, Kim wants to offer an alternative experience. "Our aim is to provide a different experience by highlighting our unique features," he said. "Inzoi is designed to allow players to freely shape the life they desire, using various creative tools. To achieve this, we have a realistic visual style powered by Unreal Engine 5, in-depth customization features, and AI-driven creative tools. We hope that players explore these features to bring their imaginations to life, become their own protagonists and live in those worlds." The visual style definitely feels like one of the biggest differentiators here, being a stark contrast to The Sims 4's more cartoonish style. I can also concede that Inzoi's AI features do indeed make it stand apart from EA's offering, even if I'm not particularly jazzed about them myself: There are the Smart ZOI, which Krafton says "can grow and develop its own personality" with NVIDIA AI tech, as well as its little-mentioned 3D printer technology which allegedly lets you plug in a photo of some furniture before letting Inzoi turn it into a full-fledged model. You can peep the full interview with Hyungjun Kim in the next issue of PC Gamer magazine, hitting shelves in the UK on February 27 and in the US on March 18.