The day I never thought I'd witness is near – EA is finally introducing an autosave feature to The Sims 4… you know, a good 12 years after its 2014 launch.

How many Sims have I lost to random crashes? How many houses have perished before my eyes due to buggy shutdowns? Too many to count, I'd say – and sure, I could've been more vigilant about saving, but The Sims 4 has needed an autosave feature for well over a decade now.

Some of the best Sims 4 mods (I'm looking at you, MC Command Center) have tried to rectify the issue, but EA hadn't officially addressed it… until now. On July 21, the studio is finally adding an autosave ("AutoSave," as EA calls it) option to the life sim – but that's not all.

As outlined in its latest Laundry List of upcoming fixes, EA says, "This month we're introducing a new AutoSave to The Sims 4, and rolling out Memory Boost to Mac and console players to improve overall performance for more Simmers."

The team is also looking to target "the top-reported issues from players via EA Forums."

The autosave feature is undeniably the most eye-catching tidbit here, though. So… how will it work, exactly? "Quietly in the background, automatically creating save points at key moments while you play," apparently.

"You can customize when AutoSave happens in Game Save Settings, with options like saving after traveling between lots, after a period of playtime, or at important gameplay milestones."

There's another option for Simmers who hate themselves (I kid, I kid). "If you'd rather stay in control, Save Reminders like the friendly (or slightly grumpy) gnome notification… can prompt you to create a manual save at the frequency you choose. Together, these features help reduce the risk of lost progress while giving you the flexibility to save the way you want."

Not bad, EA. Not bad at all. It just took, erm, 12 years.

EA goes into some of its other big tweaks, too, like the Memory Boost system that "improves how The Sims 4 manages memory while you play, helping deliver a smoother experience with reduced lag, improved frame rates and responsiveness, shorter loading times, and a lower risk of memory-related crashes."

It sounds like, all in all, The Sims 4 will crash less – and when it does crash, it'll be far less painful thanks to autosaving.

I don't know about you all, but I think this is a step in the right direction – even if it's coming a bit late to The Sims 4. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some mods to delete…

The Sims 4's microtransaction Marketplace has officially shown me the door after 24 years of Simming.