UPDATE: EA has clarified that Early access for a “reasonable” amount of time is still allowed. What counts as reasonable, is still up for debate.
EA recently came out with the following statement:
We know that, for many of you, Mods are an important part of your game experience. For that reason, we support a framework in The Sims 4 that makes it easier for you to install and use Mods. The Sims team doesn’t pre-screen, endorse or specifically support any particular Mod. You should use Mods with caution and understand there may be risk. We have a long tradition of supporting creativity in our community. We do not object to Mod developers continuing to share their amazing content, subject to the following: Do not promote your Mods in a way that suggests they are endorsed by or affiliated with The Sims, Maxis, or Electronic Arts. This means you cannot use any game logos or trademarks, including versions of the plumbob, or key art designs to promote your Mods. You may state that your Mods are for The Sims 4 and/or for a specific game expansion pack. Mods must be non-commercial and distributed free-of-charge. Mods cannot be sold, licensed, or rented for a fee, nor can Mods contain features that would support monetary transactions of any type. However, Maxis recognizes that creating Mods takes time and resources. Accordingly, Mod developers may recoup their development costs via passive advertisements and donations as long as: Passive advertisements and requests for donations must be limited to the Mod website or distribution site, and not appear within the Mod itself. All users must be able to access the Mods in full for free regardless of whether they donate. We reserve the right to address any inappropriate Mods, including Mods that infringe the intellectual property or privacy rights of others, contain obscene, objectionable, or harmful content, jeopardize the integrity of The Sims 4 gameplay, or otherwise violate the EA User Agreement.
This is both a good thing, and a very confusing thing. First, it’s very clear EA will not tolerate people putting their Custom Content behind a perminate pay-wall as some creators have done. In the past EA’s official response to this was you were allowed to release your content “early” by a period of two weeks on services like Patreon. But the CC must be made available for free to everyone after those two weeks. EA’s new statement and what is now on their website states you are only allowed to get money from services like Google Ads and donations via PayPal. So I wanted to come out and say that if you are affected by this, and wish to continue to make some money off your creations, I will help you get a website online and ready to start earning some passive income via ads and donations. The help in terms of talking about best options is free, however if you wish for me to manage your site and assist with the more technical aspects, there is a fee of $25 per hour. If you wish to talk with me about this, either send me a DM on Twitter.