There are actually a few projects doing exactly that, at least for the early entries;
- FreeSO - Open-source version of The Sims: Online but with a bunch of modern improvements, main server shut down at the end of last year
- Simitone - Single-player interface for FreeSO
- FreeSims - Open-source engine for The Sims
- OpenTS2 - Open-source implementation of The Sims 2 engine in Unity
Development pace for them is somewhat slow due apparent lack of interest - and a healthy dose of fear of EA interference - though.
The Librelancer project is working on this.