I think it will end soon and there won't be anymore sims because our Society is moving in a different direction I could be wrong but after what they have done to Sims 4 I think there is a good possibility that it will end. They may come up with something to replace it but is will not be anything like the SIMS that we know and if you think about what they are doing with it that tells all.
Well for me it ended about 2 years ago, but I'm getting the distinct impression that we'll never see more than 6 or 7 expansion packs. They have a engine that's, even according to the devs themselves, limiting and hard to work with, and they seem to be starting to run short on ideas. Now considering the lifespan of a Sims game is 4-5 years, I'd be very surprised if TS4 lasts for more than 2 more years.
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Erpe - the teams are not machines - they don't just spit out packs - their pcs they use to make them are reformatted or replaced (upgraded with new technology and the new series tools etc) when one game ends and a new one is being made - as every system, engine, language even changes in a new series. It's why all work stops on the present game when a new one is being readied to be launched. They don't go back to former games as it is usually not possible.
Only time in history of the Sims I know of where a pack came out after the main studio and teams were working on the new series was in Sims 3 when ITF was made - it was done in the closing studio in Salt lake city on machines that still had the programming etc for the Sims 3 in them - while the Red Wood City main Maxis studio and teams were busy working on the base game (etc) of Sims 4. Otherwise we would have never gotten ITF from my understanding.
The work on Sims 4 started already around 2009 where TS3 was released. Sims 4 was suddenly announced officially by EA in May 2013 and then released in September 2014. After the announcement of TS4 EA released the following packs for TS3:
Island Paradise EP in June 2013.
Movie Stuff SP in September 2013.
Midnight Hollow (in the Sims 3 Store) in September 2013.
Into the Future EP in October 2013.
Roaring Heights (in the Sims 3 Store) in December 2013.
It was just because of the extra studio in Salt Lake because the same happened 5 years earlier when TS3 was announced in July 2007 to be released at February 20, 2009 - except that TS3’s release later was postponed to June 2, 2009. After the announcement of TS3 EA still released for TS2:
Bon Voyage EP in September 2007
Teen Style Stuff SP in November 2007
Free Time EP in February 2008
Kitchen & Bath Interior Design Stuff SP in April 2008
IKEA Home Stuff SP in June 2008
Apartment Life EP in August 2008
Mansion & Garden Stuff SP in November 2008
It is true that EA usually don’t release packs for the previous game just one or two months before the release of the next basegame. But it hasn’t anything to do with the developers being busy because EA has several teams working on different things at the same time. But EA wants people to switch quickly to the new game and therefore has a short break in the pack releases just before the new basegame is released.
There's a couple things that I think they will still add, I assume at least seasons and a supernatural expansion will still come. Besides that, I don't know. I'm gonna be honest, I'll be glad when most people will move on to a new game. When those who constantly complain have something new to complain about the people who will remain will be the ones who actually like the game so I hope there's going to be a very different atmosphere in this forum and I kind of can't wait to experience that!
Erpe - the teams are not machines - they don't just spit out packs - their pcs they use to make them are reformatted or replaced (upgraded with new technology and the new series tools etc) when one game ends and a new one is being made - as every system, engine, language even changes in a new series. It's why all work stops on the present game when a new one is being readied to be launched. They don't go back to former games as it is usually not possible.
Only time in history of the Sims I know of where a pack came out after the main studio and teams were working on the new series was in Sims 3 when ITF was made - it was done in the closing studio in Salt lake city on machines that still had the programming etc for the Sims 3 in them - while the Red Wood City main Maxis studio and teams were busy working on the base game (etc) of Sims 4. Otherwise we would have never gotten ITF from my understanding.
The work on Sims 4 started already around 2009 where TS3 was released. Sims 4 was suddenly announced officially by EA in May 2013 and then released in September 2014. After the announcement of TS4 EA released the following packs for TS3:
Island Paradise EP in June 2013.
Movie Stuff SP in September 2013.
Midnight Hollow (in the Sims 3 Store) in September 2013.
Into the Future EP in October 2013.
Roaring Heights (in the Sims 3 Store) in December 2013.
It was just because of the extra studio in Salt Lake because the same happened 5 years earlier when TS3 was announced in July 2007 to be released at February 20, 2009 - except that TS3’s release later was postponed to June 2, 2009. After the announcement of TS3 EA still released for TS2:
Bon Voyage EP in September 2007
Teen Style Stuff SP in November 2007
Free Time EP in February 2008
Kitchen & Bath Interior Design Stuff SP in April 2008
IKEA Home Stuff SP in June 2008
Apartment Life EP in August 2008
Mansion & Garden Stuff SP in November 2008
It is true that EA usually don’t release packs for the previous game just one or two months before the release of the next basegame. But it hasn’t anything to do with the developers being busy because EA has several teams working on different things at the same time. But EA wants people to switch quickly to the new game and therefore has a short break in the pack releases just before the new basegame is released.
Well don't forget they also had Emeryville Maxis Studio that closed also. I heard preliminary work and base game work for Sims 1 and 2, also Spore - as well as Sims City and My Sims used to be made there. So they always had 2 studios until Sims 4. Sims 3 preliminary was at Salt Lake City as well as the Sims 3 store and store worlds - and of course 4 of the EPs.
Post edited by Writin_Reg on
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
In dreams - I LIVE!
In REALITY, I simply exist.....
Erpe - the teams are not machines - they don't just spit out packs - their pcs they use to make them are reformatted or replaced (upgraded with new technology and the new series tools etc) when one game ends and a new one is being made - as every system, engine, language even changes in a new series. It's why all work stops on the present game when a new one is being readied to be launched. They don't go back to former games as it is usually not possible.
Only time in history of the Sims I know of where a pack came out after the main studio and teams were working on the new series was in Sims 3 when ITF was made - it was done in the closing studio in Salt lake city on machines that still had the programming etc for the Sims 3 in them - while the Red Wood City main Maxis studio and teams were busy working on the base game (etc) of Sims 4. Otherwise we would have never gotten ITF from my understanding.
The work on Sims 4 started already around 2009 where TS3 was released. Sims 4 was suddenly announced officially by EA in May 2013 and then released in September 2014. After the announcement of TS4 EA released the following packs for TS3:
Island Paradise EP in June 2013.
Movie Stuff SP in September 2013.
Midnight Hollow (in the Sims 3 Store) in September 2013.
Into the Future EP in October 2013.
Roaring Heights (in the Sims 3 Store) in December 2013.
It was just because of the extra studio in Salt Lake because the same happened 5 years earlier when TS3 was announced in July 2007 to be released at February 20, 2009 - except that TS3’s release later was postponed to June 2, 2009. After the announcement of TS3 EA still released for TS2:
Bon Voyage EP in September 2007
Teen Style Stuff SP in November 2007
Free Time EP in February 2008
Kitchen & Bath Interior Design Stuff SP in April 2008
IKEA Home Stuff SP in June 2008
Apartment Life EP in August 2008
Mansion & Garden Stuff SP in November 2008
It is true that EA usually don’t release packs for the previous game just one or two months before the release of the next basegame. But it hasn’t anything to do with the developers being busy because EA has several teams working on different things at the same time. But EA wants people to switch quickly to the new game and therefore has a short break in the pack releases just before the new basegame is released.
Well don't forget they also had Emeryville Maxis Studio that closed also. I heard preliminary work and base game work for Sims 1 and 2, also Spore - as well as Sims City and My Sims used to be made there. So they always had 2 studios until Sims 4. Sims 3 preliminary was at Salt Lake City as well as the Sims 3 store and store worlds - and of course 4 of the EPs.
Yes. But you seem to think that the closure of the studios in Emeryville and Salt Lake was forced on EA for other reasons such that EA just lost those studios and therefore couldn’t let them make the games that EA would have wanted them to make. But it was the other way around because the truth is that EA just chose to close those studios for the following reasons:
1. EA didn’t need the studio in Emeryville anymore because EA didn’t want to make more games like Spore and Darkspore and EA had nothing else to use the studio for.
2. The studio in Salt Lake was originally a studio for some of EA’s sports games. After year 2000 in first made PGA Championship games and later a big series of Tiger Wood golf games until EA didn’t need it anymore for those games. Then it was transferred to the Sims division and made some extra EPs for TS3 and also some Sims 2 and Sims 3 games for consoles. EA then kept the studio alive for a few years as a reserve and let it make some small app games for iOS and Android. But then EA closed the studio down in April 2017 because EA still hadn’t anything good for the studio to make because TS4 is mainly about SPs and GPs which the Redwood studio easily can make itself even at the same time as the studio also makes the Sims Mobile and most likely also TS5.
Yes, a lot of simmers in this forum really wants EA to make more EPs too. But GPs and especially SPs sell better because they are cheaper for us to buy and they are much cheaper and faster for EA to make too. So EA still just wants TS4 mainly to be about SPs and GPs and much less about EPs. If EA could choose then EA likely would prefer to only release SPs. But EA knows that to keep the customers the GPs are necessary as replacements for half of the earlier EPs. But I even suspect EA to not release EPs at all for TS5 but only SPs and GPs because they are so much cheaper for EA to make and sell better anyway.
Erpe - the teams are not machines - they don't just spit out packs - their pcs they use to make them are reformatted or replaced (upgraded with new technology and the new series tools etc) when one game ends and a new one is being made - as every system, engine, language even changes in a new series. It's why all work stops on the present game when a new one is being readied to be launched. They don't go back to former games as it is usually not possible.
Only time in history of the Sims I know of where a pack came out after the main studio and teams were working on the new series was in Sims 3 when ITF was made - it was done in the closing studio in Salt lake city on machines that still had the programming etc for the Sims 3 in them - while the Red Wood City main Maxis studio and teams were busy working on the base game (etc) of Sims 4. Otherwise we would have never gotten ITF from my understanding.
The work on Sims 4 started already around 2009 where TS3 was released. Sims 4 was suddenly announced officially by EA in May 2013 and then released in September 2014. After the announcement of TS4 EA released the following packs for TS3:
Island Paradise EP in June 2013.
Movie Stuff SP in September 2013.
Midnight Hollow (in the Sims 3 Store) in September 2013.
Into the Future EP in October 2013.
Roaring Heights (in the Sims 3 Store) in December 2013.
It was just because of the extra studio in Salt Lake because the same happened 5 years earlier when TS3 was announced in July 2007 to be released at February 20, 2009 - except that TS3’s release later was postponed to June 2, 2009. After the announcement of TS3 EA still released for TS2:
Bon Voyage EP in September 2007
Teen Style Stuff SP in November 2007
Free Time EP in February 2008
Kitchen & Bath Interior Design Stuff SP in April 2008
IKEA Home Stuff SP in June 2008
Apartment Life EP in August 2008
Mansion & Garden Stuff SP in November 2008
It is true that EA usually don’t release packs for the previous game just one or two months before the release of the next basegame. But it hasn’t anything to do with the developers being busy because EA has several teams working on different things at the same time. But EA wants people to switch quickly to the new game and therefore has a short break in the pack releases just before the new basegame is released.
Well don't forget they also had Emeryville Maxis Studio that closed also. I heard preliminary work and base game work for Sims 1 and 2, also Spore - as well as Sims City and My Sims used to be made there. So they always had 2 studios until Sims 4. Sims 3 preliminary was at Salt Lake City as well as the Sims 3 store and store worlds - and of course 4 of the EPs.
Yes. But you seem to think that the closure of the studios in Emeryville and Salt Lake was forced on EA for other reasons such that EA just lost those studios and therefore couldn’t let them make the games that EA would have wanted them to make. But it was the other way around because the truth is that EA just chose to close those studios for the following reasons:
1. EA didn’t need the studio in Emeryville anymore because EA didn’t want to make more games like Spore and Darkspore and EA had nothing else to use the studio for.
2. The studio in Salt Lake was originally a studio for some of EA’s sports games. After year 2000 in first made PGA Championship games and later a big series of Tiger Wood golf games until EA didn’t need it anymore for those games. Then it was transferred to the Sims division and made some extra EPs for TS3 and also some Sims 2 and Sims 3 games for consoles. EA then kept the studio alive for a few years as a reserve and let it make some small app games for iOS and Android. But then EA closed the studio down in April 2017 because EA still hadn’t anything good for the studio to make because TS4 is mainly about SPs and GPs which the Redwood studio easily can make itself even at the same time as the studio also makes the Sims Mobile and most likely also TS5.
Yes, a lot of simmers in this forum really wants EA to make more EPs too. But GPs and especially SPs sell better because they are cheaper for us to buy and they are much cheaper and faster for EA to make too. So EA still just wants TS4 mainly to be about SPs and GPs and much less about EPs. If EA could choose then EA likely would prefer to only release SPs. But EA knows that to keep the customers the GPs are necessary as replacements for half of the earlier EPs. But I even suspect EA to not release EPs at all for TS5 but only SPs and GPs because they are so much cheaper for EA to make and sell better anyway.
No - if you said that - you think that I would assume otherwise you are trying to make me look rather a fool. I don't appreciate that - so please refrain from that. Thank you. But I actually heard why EA closed them - they were not efficient. Better environments over all.
My point I was actually making is they were spaces that allowed a second full team to work on different games (like a preliminary base game from a future series apart from the present series - was my ONLY point.
Please stop trying to say what I think, or playing bizarre guessing games. I don't appreciate it. I can speak for myself. It is rude to second guess other posters. You say what you think and I'll say what I think or know (in most cases).
ETA one other thing my husband and I have been with EA gaming since the real early 90's - I'm well aware of what they make at what studio - but then so is many people - we don't need a lesson on EA's history. One only has to go to EAs main page and find out anything they want to know if one does not know it already. EA's history is irrelevant to the conversation at present.
Post edited by Writin_Reg on
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
In dreams - I LIVE!
In REALITY, I simply exist.....
Erpe - the teams are not machines - they don't just spit out packs - their pcs they use to make them are reformatted or replaced (upgraded with new technology and the new series tools etc) when one game ends and a new one is being made - as every system, engine, language even changes in a new series. It's why all work stops on the present game when a new one is being readied to be launched. They don't go back to former games as it is usually not possible.
Only time in history of the Sims I know of where a pack came out after the main studio and teams were working on the new series was in Sims 3 when ITF was made - it was done in the closing studio in Salt lake city on machines that still had the programming etc for the Sims 3 in them - while the Red Wood City main Maxis studio and teams were busy working on the base game (etc) of Sims 4. Otherwise we would have never gotten ITF from my understanding.
The work on Sims 4 started already around 2009 where TS3 was released. Sims 4 was suddenly announced officially by EA in May 2013 and then released in September 2014. After the announcement of TS4 EA released the following packs for TS3:
Island Paradise EP in June 2013.
Movie Stuff SP in September 2013.
Midnight Hollow (in the Sims 3 Store) in September 2013.
Into the Future EP in October 2013.
Roaring Heights (in the Sims 3 Store) in December 2013.
It was just because of the extra studio in Salt Lake because the same happened 5 years earlier when TS3 was announced in July 2007 to be released at February 20, 2009 - except that TS3’s release later was postponed to June 2, 2009. After the announcement of TS3 EA still released for TS2:
Bon Voyage EP in September 2007
Teen Style Stuff SP in November 2007
Free Time EP in February 2008
Kitchen & Bath Interior Design Stuff SP in April 2008
IKEA Home Stuff SP in June 2008
Apartment Life EP in August 2008
Mansion & Garden Stuff SP in November 2008
It is true that EA usually don’t release packs for the previous game just one or two months before the release of the next basegame. But it hasn’t anything to do with the developers being busy because EA has several teams working on different things at the same time. But EA wants people to switch quickly to the new game and therefore has a short break in the pack releases just before the new basegame is released.
Well don't forget they also had Emeryville Maxis Studio that closed also. I heard preliminary work and base game work for Sims 1 and 2, also Spore - as well as Sims City and My Sims used to be made there. So they always had 2 studios until Sims 4. Sims 3 preliminary was at Salt Lake City as well as the Sims 3 store and store worlds - and of course 4 of the EPs.
Yes. But you seem to think that the closure of the studios in Emeryville and Salt Lake was forced on EA for other reasons such that EA just lost those studios and therefore couldn’t let them make the games that EA would have wanted them to make. But it was the other way around because the truth is that EA just chose to close those studios for the following reasons:
1. EA didn’t need the studio in Emeryville anymore because EA didn’t want to make more games like Spore and Darkspore and EA had nothing else to use the studio for.
2. The studio in Salt Lake was originally a studio for some of EA’s sports games. After year 2000 in first made PGA Championship games and later a big series of Tiger Wood golf games until EA didn’t need it anymore for those games. Then it was transferred to the Sims division and made some extra EPs for TS3 and also some Sims 2 and Sims 3 games for consoles. EA then kept the studio alive for a few years as a reserve and let it make some small app games for iOS and Android. But then EA closed the studio down in April 2017 because EA still hadn’t anything good for the studio to make because TS4 is mainly about SPs and GPs which the Redwood studio easily can make itself even at the same time as the studio also makes the Sims Mobile and most likely also TS5.
Yes, a lot of simmers in this forum really wants EA to make more EPs too. But GPs and especially SPs sell better because they are cheaper for us to buy and they are much cheaper and faster for EA to make too. So EA still just wants TS4 mainly to be about SPs and GPs and much less about EPs. If EA could choose then EA likely would prefer to only release SPs. But EA knows that to keep the customers the GPs are necessary as replacements for half of the earlier EPs. But I even suspect EA to not release EPs at all for TS5 but only SPs and GPs because they are so much cheaper for EA to make and sell better anyway.
No - if you said that - you think that I would assume otherwise you are trying to make me look rather a fool. I don't appreciate that - so please refrain from that. Thank you. But I actually heard why EA closed them - they were not spacious, modern, and just getting too old. Ea prefers modern, spacious facilities for their employees. Better environments over all.
My point I was actually making is they were spaces that allowed a second full team to work on different games (like a preliminary base game from a future series apart from the present series - was my ONLY point.
Please stop trying to say what I think, or playing bizarre guessing games. I don't appreciate it. I can speak for myself. It is rude to second guess other posters. You say what you think and I'll say what I think or know (in most cases).
ETA one other thing my husband and I have been with EA gaming since the real early 90's - I'm well aware of what they make at what studio - but then so is many people - we don't need a lesson on EA's history. One only has to go to EAs main page and find out anything they want to know if one does not know it already. EA's history is irrelevant to the conversation at present.
I only wrote things like they seemed to me and you are welcome to correct me
But I don’t buy the excuses about the reasons why EA closed Salt Lake because they seem to be rationalizations after the fact. EA bought Headgate Studios in 2006 and renamed it to EA Salt Lake. Headgate Studios was founded by the studio’s president Vance Cook in 1992 and specialized in PGA golf games even though its first program was PentaCalc (a scientific calculator for Windows). President Vance Cook was a veteran programmer for years in Access Software which was a premier developer of golf games before he founded Headgate. So he knew how to make golf games and Headgate published its golf games through Sierra until it in 2000 switched publisher to EA. So EA bought Headgate Studios primarily to get the rights for using its game engine for golf games and renamed the studio to EA Salt Lake.
Then on July 21, 2010 EA moved EA Salt Lake from its home in Bountiful, Utah to a new state-of-the-art facility in downtown Salt Lake City. So the closure of the studio already in 2017 surely wasn’t at all about “the building becoming old”!
Yeah you can read anything you want on Wiki and google search.
It is all irreverent to the facts regardless. EA will do what they want to do - and we either accept it or we don't - but truthfully no one but EA knows what they are going to do and when.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
In dreams - I LIVE!
In REALITY, I simply exist.....
Yeah you can read anything you want on Wiki and google search.
It is all irreverent to the facts regardless. EA will do what they want to do - and we either accept it or we don't - but truthfully no one but EA knows what they are going to do and when.
I agree. But if we want to make intelligent guesses and not just unrealistic wishes about EA’s future decisions then we still need to understand what EA is and how its decisions are made. This is the reason why I am interested in such things at all.
Simmers always seem instead to just use wishfull thinking or to make up theories about EA being an evil company instead. But EA is neither some friendly company that only wants to please us nor an evil company who only want to disappoint us and make us angry. Besides that EA isn’t either an incompetent company that only misunderstand our wishes all the time and therefore put a lot of bugs in the game and remove popular things because EA didn’t know that we wanted those things. EA is an extremely competent business company that only makes games to earn as much money as possible. Therefore EA is mainly interested in marketing and in making packs that sell well because they can be advertised efficiently.
So we only fool ourselves if we try to make guesses about the future without realizing this! We have to understand why EA has released a new Sims basegame every 5 years even though simmers always have hoped for more EPs instead and we have to understand why EA even closed a good studio like the one in Salt Lake instead of using it to make all the Sims 4 EPs that simmers here in the forum have wanted so badly since the Sims 4 basegame was released in 2014 - even when it would have been so very easy for EA just to have kept the Salt Lake Studio and let them make those EPs?
So no. I don’t buy the excuses and made up “explanations” about EPs suddenly taking twice as much time to make which then “means” that “TS4 will get new packs for 10 years instead of only 5 years as usual”. EA is a business and it took the decision to ”only” make 1 EP each years from facts about the market instead! So what was those facts? From my studies about such companies I can only guess on the following (and in this case I am also quite sure that my guesses are very close to the truth):
1. EA has carefully considered how many packs it can release each year without sales numbers going down too much for each pack. The result of EA’s considerations are based on market investigations about how much money the average simmer will use on packs each year? (This way of thinking is also taught to all the students in business schools where they learn to see things this way!) So EA has carefully considered this and the result must have been that EA doesn’t think that it would be profitable to release packs that would cost more each year than what they cost now! So when EA now releases all those SPs and GPs then EA has to reduce the number of EPs to avoid releasing more than the average simmer will want to buy!
2. EA has also carefully considered how often a new basegame should be released? The decision about this has never been made at random either. Sure the decisions also never have been based on what simmers in the forums wanted either because they never have wanted a new basegame instead of more packs (unless they hated the game and didn’t play it anymore). So why has EA always released a new basegame after at most 5 years anyway??
The answer to the last question is of course again about marketing! So let us just consider the pros and cons from a marketing viewpoint:
1. It is much cheaper to just make packs than it is to develop and design a whole new basegame. Simmers also prefer more and more packs over a new basegame. So from this viewpoint EA should just release new packs forever!
2. But the problem is that an old basegame doesn’t sell very well to new customers who usually clearly prefer new games over old games. Also some of the simmers who earlier bought all the released packs stop playing the game and therefore don’t buy the new packs. Old packs also need to be offered for a lower price to still sell. But then more and more simmers will buy old discounted packs instead of the new ones. So EA’s income goes down both because the old basegame doesn’t sell well anymore and because the new packs sell worse than the first packs did!
So EA has always had to find a balance between those two points and the result of EA’s considerations has always been to release packs for 5 years but then to release a new basegame to have a much better selling basegame again and to be able to offer a more attractive game to especially new customers such that the sales numbers for the packs also can be higher again! My point therefore just is that I can’t at all imagine any good reason why EA suddenly instead should make a different decision now and decide that it doesn’t matter if sales numbers go down and EA’s income therefore too just to avoid making a new well selling basegame!?!! Can you really imagine such a good reason? Or do you just think that EA shouldn’t make a new basegame because the time for big Sims games soon will be over anyway?
While I agree with just about everything that @Erpe just said, I think that EA actually raising the price of Sims 4 packs is a pretty fair sign that... well, either their packs are selling just fine, or they want to milk one last glut of cash out of us before they close up Sims 4. Apparently the new engine makes Seasons more difficult.
Going by Erpe's argument, raising prices means that packs will be released less frequently - which also means that if the packs remain the same size regardless, they can go on releasing them after they stop making them. I don't want this, but since when did EA listen to what I want?
Prepping a list of mods to add after Infants are placed into the game. Because real life isn't 'nice'.
While I agree with just about everything that @Erpe just said, I think that EA actually raising the price of Sims 4 packs is a pretty fair sign that... well, either their packs are selling just fine, or they want to milk one last glut of cash out of us before they close up Sims 4. Apparently the new engine makes Seasons more difficult.
Going by Erpe's argument, raising prices means that packs will be released less frequently - which also means that if the packs remain the same size regardless, they can go on releasing them after they stop making them. I don't want this, but since when did EA listen to what I want?
I think that we should see the raising prices in a bigger perspective. Netflix recently raised its prices too and the game companies seem to do the same for all their games. So I think that EA just reacted to this tendency on the market. Read also the information on http://thefederalist.com/2017/07/13/developers-dlc-video-games-not-expensive-enough/
I am not sure that making Seasons has become more difficult because that sounds quite unlikely to me. Even the Sims Freeplay has all kinds of weather. So weather can’t be that difficult to make. But EA has until now avoided repetions of wellknown EPs like University and Seasons and likely for two reasons:
1. EA doesn’t want people to start taking about: “all the big Sims games being the same! So if you own one of them you should just go on playing it instead of buying slightly changed and very expensive new versions of the same game!”
2. EA decided to replace half of the usually EPs with the new GPs. So TS4 will likely get much fewer EPs than the earlier Sims games got.
I don't understand why people assume if sims 5 comes out it will be better. If they use the same game engine it will take just as long for packs if they don't it will take just as long to redo animations. Look how long it took them to do toddlers in sims 4, do we really want to wait again.
They always talk about how Sims 4 required an upgrade to their technology base. I just don’t see it. They can’t accomplish anything on this technology.
I would hope the heads at Maxis would immediately shoot down the idea of reusing the Smart Sim engine. It has been the largest road-block for Sims 4.
The engine actually seems to be the most stable and best engine they’ve ever made.
An engine and game are two very seperate things. They’ve chosen to build The Sims 4 the way it is. The limitations are based on the fact they chose to make them in the first place.
They were able to turn The Sims 2, that already used SimCity 4 as it’s world engine into The Sims 3. However there was no way they could add Open World to the Sims 2. Yet they used The Sims 2 engine for TS3. The engine is just a tool kit to make a game.
The only reason they build new engines is when the old ones can’t make proper use of technology. But look at gaming engines like Unreal. The amount of games using that engine is huge.
Also remember, the Sims 2 engine was also used for The Urbz, The Sims 2 console games and even The Sims 3 for console (also Nintendo 3DS), hence why they’re able to copy and paste animations etc freely.
The Sims 3 for 3DS was basically found to be a reskinned Sims 2.
I don't understand why people assume if sims 5 comes out it will be better. If they use the same game engine it will take just as long for packs if they don't it will take just as long to redo animations. Look how long it took them to do toddlers in sims 4, do we really want to wait again.
They always talk about how Sims 4 required an upgrade to their technology base. I just don’t see it. They can’t accomplish anything on this technology.
I would hope the heads at Maxis would immediately shoot down the idea of reusing the Smart Sim engine. It has been the largest road-block for Sims 4.
The engine actually seems to be the most stable and best engine they’ve ever made.
An engine and game are two very seperate things. They’ve chosen to build The Sims 4 the way it is. The limitations are based on the fact they chose to make them in the first place.
They were able to turn The Sims 2, that already used SimCity 4 as it’s world engine into The Sims 3. However there was no way they could add Open World to the Sims 2. Yet they used The Sims 2 engine for TS3. The engine is just a tool kit to make a game.
The only reason they build new engines is when the old ones can’t make proper use of technology. But look at gaming engines like Unreal. The amount of games using that engine is huge.
Also remember, the Sims 2 engine was also used for The Urbz, The Sims 2 console games and even The Sims 3 for console (also Nintendo 3DS), hence why they’re able to copy and paste animations etc freely.
The Sims 3 for 3DS was basically found to be a reskinned Sims 2.
I know what I’m talking about Jack. Just because the game is stable doesn’t mean it has a good foundation underneath it.
Yes they are able to do some pretty cool things with flexible game engines, but Sims 4 can barely do anything. Do you think they intentionally design the game to be so vastly inferior? No.. that’s a byproduct of their lack of funding and difficult to work with engine. Go do some research and stop spreading misinformation on the forums.
I hope we get a sims 5 2020 with seasons in base game and baby’s that aren’t objects.
That's asking for too much knowing Maxis over the years. And seeing how Sims 4 has been over the course of 3 years we may not even see babies in the base game of the next installment. They may just pop out of the mother as a child.
1. The Sims 2
2. The Sims 3
3. The Sims 4 (5 years later its decent)
4. The Sims 1
Late 2019 or 2020 will be the end of Sims 4. It's probably not going further because that's where making a Sims 5 might become more profitable than developing new packs for this.
This makes a lot more sense than even for this reason. It's about software support policies and product support policies by which a company is bound to legally. When a company no longer develops a product, they are supposed to support it for a number of years afterwards. For tangible goods such as refrigerators, stoves, computer parts, etc., the period is about 5 years. I know this because I worked for some hardware manufacturers for quite some years.
Software, meaning computer programs, the period is a lot shorter because of the nature of the business and how fast things progress. For that the period is about 2 to 4 years. Given that we're already into 2018 and new packs are still being offered, we may see Sims 4 as a product for another couple of years then followed by another two years of full support while Sims 5 fills in and grows beyond that.
I voted 2020 back when this poll started but never commented. I no longer believe it will be 2020 when the game ends. I think it will go on much longer than that... at the very least 2022 and possibly beyond I really think it could still keep filling for some time beyond that now.
We still need some sort of seasons/weather, a higher education, more romance, a beach world/vacation, many supernaturals and lots more hobbies. To me those are the bare essentials, without added flair to give it a pat and call it done. This doesn't even add in the expectations they have allowed us for farming, and more life events ect.
I started speculating today on the meaning of the Gallery and how it ties in. We have this incredible access now that wasn't available in the past. People had to find other hosts to get their work out. Now it's all right here at our fingertips. The flip side of it is those of us who really play, buy and enjoy the game are bound to it, we are used to it.. and I daresay we need it to some extent because it's part of the day to day gameplay. I need a certain lot and I can get it... In the past they didn't host all of this for us.. the buyers. Now they do. We're tied in to the online functionality. EA will have to extend services for quite awhile when the game finishes production for customers that have bought this product to feel satisfied and to make plans on what to keep in their library before they take the Gallery away. There is a lot of investment here in that functionality alone.
If they are making money and I think they are I think they are going to hold to the course of continuing this game until it's fully complete.
I was thinking about when they would probably announce Sims 5 (or anything as bigger), but that doesn't mean the end of Sims 4 at all. So 2022 is my right vote.
Ending in 2020 means we would get only more 3 EPs and 5 GPs, which barely covers the amount of stuff we're expecting to get back from previous iterations. I still wanna be surprised, have the unprecedented experiences, and I guess having at least until 2022 is required for that.
I was thinking about when they would probably announce Sims 5 (or anything as bigger), but that doesn't mean the end of Sims 4 at all. So 2022 is my right vote.
Ending in 2020 means we would get only more 3 EPs and 5 GPs, which barely covers the amount of stuff we're expecting to get back from previous iterations. I still wanna be surprised, have the unprecedented experiences, and I guess having at least until 2022 is required for that.
Sims 2 only had eight expansion packs, so it's not completely unlikely that Sims 4 will only end up having roughly that many in the end. It's also possible that they might release two expansion packs around the same time (like they did with Sims 3: Supernatural and Seasons). If that's the case, then we could end up with about 10 by the time 2020 comes around. Also, let's not forget that game packs and stuff packs exist too. This is the first installment with game packs, so we can't really predict how this will effect the amount of expansion packs.
I'm really trying to give EA the benefit of the doubt, but it's kinda hard to do so when they pull something like they did the other day... but all joking aside, I think we'll see the end of Sims 4 by the time 2020 comes around. My guess is the next expansion packs will probably be Seasons and University. Other than that, I really don't know what else simmers have been demanding that can't simply be game packs or stuff packs. I just hope they DON'T continue the trend of making stuff packs based on expansion packs.
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Island Paradise EP in June 2013.
Movie Stuff SP in September 2013.
Midnight Hollow (in the Sims 3 Store) in September 2013.
Into the Future EP in October 2013.
Roaring Heights (in the Sims 3 Store) in December 2013.
It was just because of the extra studio in Salt Lake because the same happened 5 years earlier when TS3 was announced in July 2007 to be released at February 20, 2009 - except that TS3’s release later was postponed to June 2, 2009. After the announcement of TS3 EA still released for TS2:
Bon Voyage EP in September 2007
Teen Style Stuff SP in November 2007
Free Time EP in February 2008
Kitchen & Bath Interior Design Stuff SP in April 2008
IKEA Home Stuff SP in June 2008
Apartment Life EP in August 2008
Mansion & Garden Stuff SP in November 2008
It is true that EA usually don’t release packs for the previous game just one or two months before the release of the next basegame. But it hasn’t anything to do with the developers being busy because EA has several teams working on different things at the same time. But EA wants people to switch quickly to the new game and therefore has a short break in the pack releases just before the new basegame is released.
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Well don't forget they also had Emeryville Maxis Studio that closed also. I heard preliminary work and base game work for Sims 1 and 2, also Spore - as well as Sims City and My Sims used to be made there. So they always had 2 studios until Sims 4. Sims 3 preliminary was at Salt Lake City as well as the Sims 3 store and store worlds - and of course 4 of the EPs.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
In dreams - I LIVE!
In REALITY, I simply exist.....
1. EA didn’t need the studio in Emeryville anymore because EA didn’t want to make more games like Spore and Darkspore and EA had nothing else to use the studio for.
2. The studio in Salt Lake was originally a studio for some of EA’s sports games. After year 2000 in first made PGA Championship games and later a big series of Tiger Wood golf games until EA didn’t need it anymore for those games. Then it was transferred to the Sims division and made some extra EPs for TS3 and also some Sims 2 and Sims 3 games for consoles. EA then kept the studio alive for a few years as a reserve and let it make some small app games for iOS and Android. But then EA closed the studio down in April 2017 because EA still hadn’t anything good for the studio to make because TS4 is mainly about SPs and GPs which the Redwood studio easily can make itself even at the same time as the studio also makes the Sims Mobile and most likely also TS5.
Yes, a lot of simmers in this forum really wants EA to make more EPs too. But GPs and especially SPs sell better because they are cheaper for us to buy and they are much cheaper and faster for EA to make too. So EA still just wants TS4 mainly to be about SPs and GPs and much less about EPs. If EA could choose then EA likely would prefer to only release SPs. But EA knows that to keep the customers the GPs are necessary as replacements for half of the earlier EPs. But I even suspect EA to not release EPs at all for TS5 but only SPs and GPs because they are so much cheaper for EA to make and sell better anyway.
No - if you said that - you think that I would assume otherwise you are trying to make me look rather a fool. I don't appreciate that - so please refrain from that. Thank you. But I actually heard why EA closed them - they were not efficient. Better environments over all.
My point I was actually making is they were spaces that allowed a second full team to work on different games (like a preliminary base game from a future series apart from the present series - was my ONLY point.
Please stop trying to say what I think, or playing bizarre guessing games. I don't appreciate it. I can speak for myself. It is rude to second guess other posters. You say what you think and I'll say what I think or know (in most cases).
ETA one other thing my husband and I have been with EA gaming since the real early 90's - I'm well aware of what they make at what studio - but then so is many people - we don't need a lesson on EA's history. One only has to go to EAs main page and find out anything they want to know if one does not know it already. EA's history is irrelevant to the conversation at present.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
In dreams - I LIVE!
In REALITY, I simply exist.....
But I don’t buy the excuses about the reasons why EA closed Salt Lake because they seem to be rationalizations after the fact. EA bought Headgate Studios in 2006 and renamed it to EA Salt Lake. Headgate Studios was founded by the studio’s president Vance Cook in 1992 and specialized in PGA golf games even though its first program was PentaCalc (a scientific calculator for Windows). President Vance Cook was a veteran programmer for years in Access Software which was a premier developer of golf games before he founded Headgate. So he knew how to make golf games and Headgate published its golf games through Sierra until it in 2000 switched publisher to EA. So EA bought Headgate Studios primarily to get the rights for using its game engine for golf games and renamed the studio to EA Salt Lake.
Then on July 21, 2010 EA moved EA Salt Lake from its home in Bountiful, Utah to a new state-of-the-art facility in downtown Salt Lake City. So the closure of the studio already in 2017 surely wasn’t at all about “the building becoming old”!
It is all irreverent to the facts regardless. EA will do what they want to do - and we either accept it or we don't - but truthfully no one but EA knows what they are going to do and when.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
In dreams - I LIVE!
In REALITY, I simply exist.....
Simmers always seem instead to just use wishfull thinking or to make up theories about EA being an evil company instead. But EA is neither some friendly company that only wants to please us nor an evil company who only want to disappoint us and make us angry. Besides that EA isn’t either an incompetent company that only misunderstand our wishes all the time and therefore put a lot of bugs in the game and remove popular things because EA didn’t know that we wanted those things. EA is an extremely competent business company that only makes games to earn as much money as possible. Therefore EA is mainly interested in marketing and in making packs that sell well because they can be advertised efficiently.
So we only fool ourselves if we try to make guesses about the future without realizing this! We have to understand why EA has released a new Sims basegame every 5 years even though simmers always have hoped for more EPs instead and we have to understand why EA even closed a good studio like the one in Salt Lake instead of using it to make all the Sims 4 EPs that simmers here in the forum have wanted so badly since the Sims 4 basegame was released in 2014 - even when it would have been so very easy for EA just to have kept the Salt Lake Studio and let them make those EPs?
So no. I don’t buy the excuses and made up “explanations” about EPs suddenly taking twice as much time to make which then “means” that “TS4 will get new packs for 10 years instead of only 5 years as usual”. EA is a business and it took the decision to ”only” make 1 EP each years from facts about the market instead! So what was those facts? From my studies about such companies I can only guess on the following (and in this case I am also quite sure that my guesses are very close to the truth):
1. EA has carefully considered how many packs it can release each year without sales numbers going down too much for each pack. The result of EA’s considerations are based on market investigations about how much money the average simmer will use on packs each year? (This way of thinking is also taught to all the students in business schools where they learn to see things this way!) So EA has carefully considered this and the result must have been that EA doesn’t think that it would be profitable to release packs that would cost more each year than what they cost now! So when EA now releases all those SPs and GPs then EA has to reduce the number of EPs to avoid releasing more than the average simmer will want to buy!
2. EA has also carefully considered how often a new basegame should be released? The decision about this has never been made at random either. Sure the decisions also never have been based on what simmers in the forums wanted either because they never have wanted a new basegame instead of more packs (unless they hated the game and didn’t play it anymore). So why has EA always released a new basegame after at most 5 years anyway??
The answer to the last question is of course again about marketing! So let us just consider the pros and cons from a marketing viewpoint:
1. It is much cheaper to just make packs than it is to develop and design a whole new basegame. Simmers also prefer more and more packs over a new basegame. So from this viewpoint EA should just release new packs forever!
2. But the problem is that an old basegame doesn’t sell very well to new customers who usually clearly prefer new games over old games. Also some of the simmers who earlier bought all the released packs stop playing the game and therefore don’t buy the new packs. Old packs also need to be offered for a lower price to still sell. But then more and more simmers will buy old discounted packs instead of the new ones. So EA’s income goes down both because the old basegame doesn’t sell well anymore and because the new packs sell worse than the first packs did!
So EA has always had to find a balance between those two points and the result of EA’s considerations has always been to release packs for 5 years but then to release a new basegame to have a much better selling basegame again and to be able to offer a more attractive game to especially new customers such that the sales numbers for the packs also can be higher again! My point therefore just is that I can’t at all imagine any good reason why EA suddenly instead should make a different decision now and decide that it doesn’t matter if sales numbers go down and EA’s income therefore too just to avoid making a new well selling basegame!?!! Can you really imagine such a good reason? Or do you just think that EA shouldn’t make a new basegame because the time for big Sims games soon will be over anyway?
Going by Erpe's argument, raising prices means that packs will be released less frequently - which also means that if the packs remain the same size regardless, they can go on releasing them after they stop making them. I don't want this, but since when did EA listen to what I want?
I am not sure that making Seasons has become more difficult because that sounds quite unlikely to me. Even the Sims Freeplay has all kinds of weather. So weather can’t be that difficult to make. But EA has until now avoided repetions of wellknown EPs like University and Seasons and likely for two reasons:
1. EA doesn’t want people to start taking about: “all the big Sims games being the same! So if you own one of them you should just go on playing it instead of buying slightly changed and very expensive new versions of the same game!”
2. EA decided to replace half of the usually EPs with the new GPs. So TS4 will likely get much fewer EPs than the earlier Sims games got.
The engine actually seems to be the most stable and best engine they’ve ever made.
An engine and game are two very seperate things. They’ve chosen to build The Sims 4 the way it is. The limitations are based on the fact they chose to make them in the first place.
They were able to turn The Sims 2, that already used SimCity 4 as it’s world engine into The Sims 3. However there was no way they could add Open World to the Sims 2. Yet they used The Sims 2 engine for TS3. The engine is just a tool kit to make a game.
The only reason they build new engines is when the old ones can’t make proper use of technology. But look at gaming engines like Unreal. The amount of games using that engine is huge.
Also remember, the Sims 2 engine was also used for The Urbz, The Sims 2 console games and even The Sims 3 for console (also Nintendo 3DS), hence why they’re able to copy and paste animations etc freely.
The Sims 3 for 3DS was basically found to be a reskinned Sims 2.
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I know what I’m talking about Jack. Just because the game is stable doesn’t mean it has a good foundation underneath it.
Yes they are able to do some pretty cool things with flexible game engines, but Sims 4 can barely do anything. Do you think they intentionally design the game to be so vastly inferior? No.. that’s a byproduct of their lack of funding and difficult to work with engine. Go do some research and stop spreading misinformation on the forums.
That's asking for too much knowing Maxis over the years. And seeing how Sims 4 has been over the course of 3 years we may not even see babies in the base game of the next installment. They may just pop out of the mother as a child.
2. The Sims 3
3. The Sims 4 (5 years later its decent)
4. The Sims 1
This makes a lot more sense than even for this reason. It's about software support policies and product support policies by which a company is bound to legally. When a company no longer develops a product, they are supposed to support it for a number of years afterwards. For tangible goods such as refrigerators, stoves, computer parts, etc., the period is about 5 years. I know this because I worked for some hardware manufacturers for quite some years.
Software, meaning computer programs, the period is a lot shorter because of the nature of the business and how fast things progress. For that the period is about 2 to 4 years. Given that we're already into 2018 and new packs are still being offered, we may see Sims 4 as a product for another couple of years then followed by another two years of full support while Sims 5 fills in and grows beyond that.
2. The Sims 3
3. The Sims 4 (5 years later its decent)
4. The Sims 1
We still need some sort of seasons/weather, a higher education, more romance, a beach world/vacation, many supernaturals and lots more hobbies. To me those are the bare essentials, without added flair to give it a pat and call it done. This doesn't even add in the expectations they have allowed us for farming, and more life events ect.
I started speculating today on the meaning of the Gallery and how it ties in. We have this incredible access now that wasn't available in the past. People had to find other hosts to get their work out. Now it's all right here at our fingertips. The flip side of it is those of us who really play, buy and enjoy the game are bound to it, we are used to it.. and I daresay we need it to some extent because it's part of the day to day gameplay. I need a certain lot and I can get it... In the past they didn't host all of this for us.. the buyers. Now they do. We're tied in to the online functionality. EA will have to extend services for quite awhile when the game finishes production for customers that have bought this product to feel satisfied and to make plans on what to keep in their library before they take the Gallery away. There is a lot of investment here in that functionality alone.
If they are making money and I think they are I think they are going to hold to the course of continuing this game until it's fully complete.
2. The Sims 3
3. The Sims 4 (5 years later its decent)
4. The Sims 1
win/win.
Ending in 2020 means we would get only more 3 EPs and 5 GPs, which barely covers the amount of stuff we're expecting to get back from previous iterations. I still wanna be surprised, have the unprecedented experiences, and I guess having at least until 2022 is required for that.
Legacy Photomode
Sims 2 only had eight expansion packs, so it's not completely unlikely that Sims 4 will only end up having roughly that many in the end. It's also possible that they might release two expansion packs around the same time (like they did with Sims 3: Supernatural and Seasons). If that's the case, then we could end up with about 10 by the time 2020 comes around. Also, let's not forget that game packs and stuff packs exist too. This is the first installment with game packs, so we can't really predict how this will effect the amount of expansion packs.
I'm really trying to give EA the benefit of the doubt, but it's kinda hard to do so when they pull something like they did the other day... but all joking aside, I think we'll see the end of Sims 4 by the time 2020 comes around. My guess is the next expansion packs will probably be Seasons and University. Other than that, I really don't know what else simmers have been demanding that can't simply be game packs or stuff packs. I just hope they DON'T continue the trend of making stuff packs based on expansion packs.
Sims 1: Hot Date
Sims 2: Seasons
Sims 2: Happy Holiday Stuff
Sims 3: Seasons
Sims 3: 70's, 80's, & 90's Stuff
Sims 4: Seasons
Sims 4: Paranormal Stuff
Sims 4: Strangerville Game Pack