I'm entertained at the thought of a butler or a hot tub being "vital" gameplay content... Does everyone expect EA to put everything in a free patch? Do you all expect EA to put weather and pets in the basegame for you? They are a business and need to survive to keep making the game, and this is just over reacting to them releasing content. I bet if they made a super EP with everything you want in it for $50 you'd all whine and complain that it's $10 more.
how come previously they could put it in expansions that we're already pay 40$ for, but now it has to come in stuff packs? Yes, they're a business. Yes, they're using the fact that they dominate the market. However, why should we just accept it as a new norm?
Because EA decides and you can't stop EA from putting a little gameplay into SPs too to make them sell better
EA's new marketing strategy for the Sims games seems clear to me:
1. To aim as broad as possible and to let especially the Sims games being mainly aimed at casual gamers who haven't highend gaming computers. The Sims games are mainly made for people who like a "software toy" to make sims and to built houses more than a real game. Therefore the gameplay is easy and have become more and more just about watching the sims interact on their own instead of controlling them. (EA has other games for "real" gamers.)
2. SPs have sold very well earlier. But EA knows that some people might not have bought them because they only contained stuff. Therefore EA now adds just a little gameplay to the SPs too.
3. The small and cheap SPs have earlier sold surprisingly well compared to the more expensive EPs. Therefore EA now has decided to replace half of the EPs with smaller and cheaper GPs.
4. Graduately EA has changed the Sims games from the hard and challenging Sims 1 where it was difficult to take care of the sims and their needs to a more and more easy "game" where everything is easy but where it maybe is more fun just to watch the sims when they are flirting, partying and multitasking.
I think that EA has reached the end though and therefore has to get another vision for TS5. Otherwise I would expect its sales numbers to become too low for EA to like them.
I'm entertained at the thought of a butler or a hot tub being "vital" gameplay content... Does everyone expect EA to put everything in a free patch? Do you all expect EA to put weather and pets in the basegame for you? They are a business and need to survive to keep making the game, and this is just over reacting to them releasing content. I bet if they made a super EP with everything you want in it for $50 you'd all whine and complain that it's $10 more.
Hot tubs were base game content in Sims 1 and 2, IIRC, so I can see the complaints about those (I recall similar complaints when they were released in Sims 3 Late Night -- oddly enough, people were also upset about the in-ground aspect because it made it more difficult to add a hot tub indoors, while with Sims 4 more people seem to prefer in-ground hot tubs to the above ground we got). Butlers though have never been base game or provided free, in fact putting them in an SP in Sims 4 makes them cheaper than they were in previous iterations where they were only in EPs.
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I think EA was looking for a way to make SPs more desirable than they used to be. After all, many people - myself included - rarely bought the SPs for TS3. But by getting rid of the store, they had to find another way to sell "stuff", and one of the ways to do that is adding game play objects in with the stuff. Now, personally, I think the buttler could've been included with CL, although theme wise he definitely fits better with vintage stuff. Considering how many EPs we used to get, I kind of appreciate them adding more than just stuff to stuff packs because that'd mean we get new game play objects fairly rarely (maybe 1 to 3 times a year). But obviously, yes, it's a strategy to sell more, not less, and sell something that has historically probably not been the main source of income for the series. I kind of see it like this: EA finally gets to sell SPs, and we finally get something a little extra for buying them (without having to wait all year for something like that until an EP - or GP - finally comes out). Also, they don't always do this - they didn't make us pay for the nanny for example, she was patched in for free. So it's not like they're gonna make us shell out for every NPC in the future either (at least not with any certainty), but maybe for the more complex ones.
Well, Sims 4 doesn't have a store, so...yeah. EA got to get that DLC money somehow.
Sims has always been a cash cow kind of game. It pretty much thrives on DLC, and based on micro transactions from past sims games, I am not surprised by this change nor am I that bothered by it.
It's money-making business, not a charity. If one feels strongly about being ripped off, then they should definitely vote with their wallet, and if possible, provide feedback and maybe create/sign petitions, etc.
Me? I have enjoyed all of the content so far, so I am still buying the content. I have not been disappointed so far with the content outside of some bugs (except maybe with GTW's lackluster retail system).
I am just starting to get impatient, though, because I feel the content output is just too slow.
(Come on, EA! I am a shopaholic and a total completionist, and Sims 3 got me to buy lots of things, so you can do it! Make me buy more, lol! How does that meme go? "Shut up and take my money". )
I think EA was looking for a way to make SPs more desirable than they used to be. After all, many people - myself included - rarely bought the SPs for TS3. But by getting rid of the store, they had to find another way to sell "stuff", and one of the ways to do that is adding game play objects in with the stuff. Now, personally, I think the buttler could've been included with CL, although theme wise he definitely fits better with vintage stuff. Considering how many EPs we used to get, I kind of appreciate them adding more than just stuff to stuff packs because that'd mean we get new game play objects fairly rarely (maybe 1 to 3 times a year). But obviously, yes, it's a strategy to sell more, not less, and sell something that has historically probably not been the main source of income for the series. I kind of see it like this: EA finally gets to sell SPs, and we finally get something a little extra for buying them (without having to wait all year for something like that until an EP - or GP - finally comes out). Also, they don't always do this - they didn't make us pay for the nanny for example, she was patched in for free. So it's not like they're gonna make us shell out for every NPC in the future either (at least not with any certainty), but maybe for the more complex ones.
EA added a little gameplay to the SPs because EA knew that a lot of simmers didn't buy them because they had no gameplay. So by adding only a single object with gameplay EA hoped to get many more simmers to buy them too.
You miss the point when you indicate that SPs were changed because EA wanted to get rid of the store because EA of course had no wishes about getting rid of the store just to get rid of it. EA's problem instead was about sales numbers both for SPs without gameplay and for dead objects in the store. So EA realized that stuff was too hard to sell without gameplay. Therefore EA invented SPs with a little gameplay and GPs with less gameplay than EPs to be the new way to sell a lot of (cheap to make) stuff too. So EA just didn't need the store anymore because SPs (and GPs) seemed to be a much more promising way to sell stuff if EA wanted high sales numbers for stuff too.
@Erpe actually, you're not really saying anything all that different from what I've said, unless I misunderstand your post. I'm not saying they tried to find a way after getting rid of the store, or that they did it "just because", but rather that they found a new way to combine SPs & the store items into what SPs are now - GPs are a different thing, and one I'm personally not upset about, because Dine Out was really well done & I generally get the impression that GPs will bring a lot of value for less money than EPs. But yeah obviously, like I said, this is about selling more in the end and not less, so no, they didn't do it "just because". Obviously this was a well thought-out sales strategy, but it doesn't fundamentally alter their business model. If anything, I'm sure it makes it far more effective.
@Erpe actually, you're not really saying anything all that different from what I've said, unless I misunderstand your post. I'm not saying they tried to find a way after getting rid of the store, or that they did it "just because", but rather that they found a new way to combine SPs & the store items into what SPs are now - GPs are a different thing, and one I'm personally not upset about, because Dine Out was really well done & I generally get the impression that GPs will bring a lot of value for less money than EPs. But yeah obviously, like I said, this is about selling more in the end and not less, so no, they didn't do it "just because". Obviously this was a well thought-out sales strategy, but it doesn't fundamentally alter their business model. If anything, I'm sure it makes it far more effective.
Yes. It is more effective. But for us the problem is that we now have to buy SPs even if we only are interested in the object with the gameplay or one or two other objects and buying a whole SP just for this is much more expensive than buying just the objects we wanted from the store would have been.
I also understand why you like the GPs. I would probably too if I still played the game. But the problem with GPs is that they are replacements for bigger EPs. In 2012 and 2013 EA released 3 EPs each year. Now EA instead releases 2 GPs and 1 EP each year. I don't think that many simmers prefer this.
Well to me, a) we don't have to buy anything (I tend not to get every SP right away unless I really like the idea of the stuff in it), and b) even if they are replacements for bigger content (which they are), in the end 2x EPs (for around 40 each, so 80) or 2 GPs (20+20) and 1 EP (40) kind of amounts to the same thing in terms of cost. Then there are SPs which we can also purchase, just like TS3 store items before.
And as to whether or not they prefer 2 EPs or 1 EP + 2 GPs .. hm, I guess that depends on the person I don't know, personally, if the GPs are really well done and add enough interesting game play + items (like Dine Out did beautifully & Spa Day did somewhat well - I just don't like OR, but again, to each their own), then it doesn't make that much of a difference to me whether it's GPs or EPs. The good thing, I think, about GPs is that due to their limited focus, the devs tend to not forget too much that should (for me) be in there. With EPs, everyone has such different expectations (and their content could play out in so many different ways), that there's usually a lot more disappointment than with GPs. At least that's my experience. So I honestly don't know ... I'm just thinking out loud, I've been working for 6 days straight, maybe I'm not saying anything useful anymore
I think EA was looking for a way to make SPs more desirable than they used to be. After all, many people - myself included - rarely bought the SPs for TS3. But by getting rid of the store, they had to find another way to sell "stuff", and one of the ways to do that is adding game play objects in with the stuff. Now, personally, I think the buttler could've been included with CL, although theme wise he definitely fits better with vintage stuff. Considering how many EPs we used to get, I kind of appreciate them adding more than just stuff to stuff packs because that'd mean we get new game play objects fairly rarely (maybe 1 to 3 times a year). But obviously, yes, it's a strategy to sell more, not less, and sell something that has historically probably not been the main source of income for the series. I kind of see it like this: EA finally gets to sell SPs, and we finally get something a little extra for buying them (without having to wait all year for something like that until an EP - or GP - finally comes out). Also, they don't always do this - they didn't make us pay for the nanny for example, she was patched in for free. So it's not like they're gonna make us shell out for every NPC in the future either (at least not with any certainty), but maybe for the more complex ones.
Plus the butler has never been one of the base game NPCs like firefighters or repair persons (the latter we also got in a patch). S/he has always been in an EP. So we're actually getting a butler cheaper than in the past ($10 US rather than $40 US). I actually prefer the butler to be part of the SP because that way people who weren't interested in CL could still have access to that NPC.
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Fun must be always -- Tomas Hertl (San Jose Sharks hockey player)
@stilljustme2 yeah good point @ not wanting CL but still wanting the butler. Didn't really think of that. Also, I think this butler's actually much better done than before, so I'm kind of enjoying it. There's slightly less stuff, I think, than in some other SPs, but the addition of the butler still makes it one of the better SPs (to me)
@stilljustme2 yeah good point @ not wanting CL but still wanting the butler. Didn't really think of that. Also, I think this butler's actually much better done than before, so I'm kind of enjoying it. There's slightly less stuff, I think, than in some other SPs, but the addition of the butler still makes it one of the better SPs (to me)
I could have gone with only one double bed and added a single bed to coordinate (for those rich kids too snobby for Kids Room Stuff), and I would have loved a matching loveseat to go with the sofa. But those are small quibbles.
Never really used the butler in other Sims games, but I've got the Goths in the Torani Place penthouse which I remodeled; I didn't like having the dining table on a different floor than the kitchen so I took out the indoor basketball court and made that big room dining/entertainment (adding a bar, stereo/dance floor, and moving the piano down there), then where the dining table was on the second floor I walled it off and made it a kid's bedroom. The butler has the bedroom that's next to the elevator, but she never seems to use it; I've never seen her sleep since she's arrived. It can be tricky to track the butler down especially if you've got a really large place -- the ability to click on the Sim to summon the butler rather than clicking on the butler would be helpful.
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Fun must be always -- Tomas Hertl (San Jose Sharks hockey player)
@stilljustme2 I'm still waiting for them to finally put bunk beds in the game (I don't even care if they fit the theme of the SP/EP/GP, I just want them) haha
SPs usually have more than one gameplay object, just to be clear. Vintage itself has the globe bar, the vanity tables, the Butler npc, as well as several other objects that have gameplay like the chairs, beds and mirrors. It's not just 'clutter decoration x20 + a butler' or something.
Backyard had the slides, the lemonade, the 6-seat tables. Kids' Room had the Puppet Theater, voidcritter machine and cards, etc. The SPs are a little more than some make them out to be at first glance when you think about it. They might not have flashy venues or worlds, but they're not limited to one-new-object plus decorations either.
SPs usually have more than one gameplay object, just to be clear. Vintage itself has the globe bar, the vanity tables, the Butler npc, as well as several other objects that have gameplay like the chairs, beds and mirrors. It's not just 'clutter decoration x20 + a butler' or something.
Backyard had the slides, the lemonade, the 6-seat tables. Kids' Room had the Puppet Theater, voidcritter machine and cards, etc. The SPs are a little more than some make them out to be at first glance when you think about it. They might not have flashy venues or worlds, but they're not limited to one-new-object plus decorations either.
Didn't Backyard also had the bird feeder, too, yes? Or am I remembering the wrong pack?
I have liked SPs (have almost all of Sims 3 and Sims 2 UC has all of them), so I am fine if they have some gameplay in them as well.
The only SP (besides Kitchen Stuff not having much real Kitchen Stuff, lol) I have issue with is the one with the Hot Tub. I could have sworn that was base game content in the past sims games...?
Yes @bunny-🐸🐸🐸🐸 , the bird feeder is part of BY stuff, and I agree @TheGoodOldGamer - I just love the butler most this time around, so it kind of is "the butler EP" to me, but in a good way
SPs usually have more than one gameplay object, just to be clear. Vintage itself has the globe bar, the vanity tables, the Butler npc, as well as several other objects that have gameplay like the chairs, beds and mirrors. It's not just 'clutter decoration x20 + a butler' or something.
Backyard had the slides, the lemonade, the 6-seat tables. Kids' Room had the Puppet Theater, voidcritter machine and cards, etc. The SPs are a little more than some make them out to be at first glance when you think about it. They might not have flashy venues or worlds, but they're not limited to one-new-object plus decorations either.
Didn't Backyard also had the bird feeder, too, yes? Or am I remembering the wrong pack?
I have liked SPs (have almost all of Sims 3 and Sims 2 UC has all of them), so I am fine if they have some gameplay in them as well.
The only SP (besides Kitchen Stuff not having much real Kitchen Stuff, lol) I have issue with is the one with the Hot Tub. I could have sworn that was base game content in the past sims games...?
Hot tubs were base game in Sims 1 and 2, but not in Sims 3.
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Fun must be always -- Tomas Hertl (San Jose Sharks hockey player)
Hot tubs were base game in Sims 1 and 2, but not in Sims 3.
Ah, I see. So even Sims 3 sold the hot tub as part of a pack, too. So I am okay with Patio pack now. (I have it, but I wasn't sure about whether past games had it as base game, as I usually don't use it much except in Sims 1.)
I don't think Stuff packs are bad. Before they were selling them for 20 dollars and giving us no game play. It was just decor and CAS. Now we're getting cas, decor/furniture, and actual game-play objects. In my opinion, they're better and I think they're worth 10 dollars.
So, while these expansion packs are taking a year to create, we can have some new game play to tie us over for each month. Hopefully game packs will come out sooner next year as well.
Well to me, a) we don't have to buy anything (I tend not to get every SP right away unless I really like the idea of the stuff in it), and b) even if they are replacements for bigger content (which they are), in the end 2x EPs (for around 40 each, so 80) or 2 GPs (20+20) and 1 EP (40) kind of amounts to the same thing in terms of cost. Then there are SPs which we can also purchase, just like TS3 store items before.
And as to whether or not they prefer 2 EPs or 1 EP + 2 GPs .. hm, I guess that depends on the person I don't know, personally, if the GPs are really well done and add enough interesting game play + items (like Dine Out did beautifully & Spa Day did somewhat well - I just don't like OR, but again, to each their own), then it doesn't make that much of a difference to me whether it's GPs or EPs. The good thing, I think, about GPs is that due to their limited focus, the devs tend to not forget too much that should (for me) be in there. With EPs, everyone has such different expectations (and their content could play out in so many different ways), that there's usually a lot more disappointment than with GPs. At least that's my experience. So I honestly don't know ... I'm just thinking out loud, I've been working for 6 days straight, maybe I'm not saying anything useful anymore
But we don't get that. In two years we have got 3 GPs and 3 EPs. That is 1.5 GP and 1.5 EP each year. While we in 2012 and 2013 actually got 3 EPs each year.
Another way of seeing it is that there in average have been about 8 months between 2 succeeding GPs and also about 8 months between 2 succeeding EPs. But apparently there is even longer time between them now. This could indicate that some of the developers already have begun their work on TS5. If this is true then expansions for TS4 will soon be released even slower unless EA again chooses to use another development teamtoo in another city like EA did with the Salt Lake City team in 2012 and 2013. But will EA do something like that again?
@Erpe honestly I have no idea what they're working on or not, so I can't comment on that. But to be fair, in 2015 we got 2 EPs and 2 GPs, in 2016 unfortunately only 1 of each (although the last EP in 2015 was released relatively late). So who knows what we might be getting this year. Somehow, I'm guessing it'll be 1 EP + 2 GPs, but I obviously don't know if that's true or not. We'll have to see What we can't know, however, is whether they're working on TS4 or TS5 - my personal guess is, they're still focused on 4 atm and there's no reason to assume otherwise. Don't they usually announce when they start the developing the next iteration?
@Erpe honestly I have no idea what they're working on or not, so I can't comment on that. But to be fair, in 2015 we got 2 EPs and 2 GPs, in 2016 unfortunately only 1 of each (although the last EP in 2015 was released relatively late). So who knows what we might be getting this year. Somehow, I'm guessing it'll be 1 EP + 2 GPs, but I obviously don't know if that's true or not. We'll have to see What we can't know, however, is whether they're working on TS4 or TS5 - my personal guess is, they're still focused on 4 atm and there's no reason to assume otherwise. Don't they usually announce when they start the developing the next iteration?
No, they have never announced when they are starting to work on the next basegame.
The Sims 3 was announced in May 2013 and a trailer revealed at Gamescom in August 2013. The game was then released in September 2014.
Likewise EA announced that the Sims 2 was in development on May 5, 2003. Then the game was first shown on E3 in Los Angelos on May 13, 2003 and released in September 2004.
So our best guess currently is that the Sims 5 will be announced in May 2018 and then released in September 2019 in the same way.
But EA never announces the next game before it already has been in development for quite some time. I think that development on the Sims 4 started in 2011 even though the game wasn't announced until 2 years later. One reason why I think that is that it was in 2011 that EA decided to let a second team in Salt Lake City start on the development of EPs for the Sims 3 too because Maxis after that couldn't release more than one EP each year. The reason most likely was that Maxis then had to transfer many developers to the Sims 4 team which just had started.
If they're going to abandon to work on Sims 5, it better be freakin' AMAZING with toddlers from the get go, properly programmed (optimized) and all of that good jazz.
Because I will not preorder another iteration again. I will wait and see how it works out for different players and how much computer power it needs.
(If it's going to be computer intensive and buggy like Sims 3 and buggy like Sims 4 is, then I will wait a longer time for mods. Even longer for a new computer, because my computer is still good, and I refuse to get brand new computers so fast for one freakin' game when there are other games and console port versions of those same awesome games out there.)
@Erpe and while all that may be possible, we still can't tell for sure whether they're working on 5 already or not - or whether that means we'd get less for 4 from now on. I honestly kind of doubt it though, but you may also be right. Idk, it's just speculation in the end. 5 or not, I still have things I like about 4 and I'd like for a lot of things to still be added before spending money on a new base game plus idk how much extra content lol... So we'll see, I guess
@Erpe and while all that may be possible, we still can't tell for sure whether they're working on 5 already or not - or whether that means we'd get less for 4 from now on. I honestly kind of doubt it though, but you may also be right. Idk, it's just speculation in the end. 5 or not, I still have things I like about 4 and I'd like for a lot of things to still be added before spending money on a new base game plus idk how much extra content lol... So we'll see, I guess
I would be very surprised if EA doesn't release the Sims 5 too because the Sims games have been among the best selling EA games in all the years since the Sims 1 was released in 2000. Therefore I don't see why EA suddenly shouldn't be interested in making them anymore just because a few simmers in this forum don't like the Sims 4
Comments
EA's new marketing strategy for the Sims games seems clear to me:
1. To aim as broad as possible and to let especially the Sims games being mainly aimed at casual gamers who haven't highend gaming computers. The Sims games are mainly made for people who like a "software toy" to make sims and to built houses more than a real game. Therefore the gameplay is easy and have become more and more just about watching the sims interact on their own instead of controlling them. (EA has other games for "real" gamers.)
2. SPs have sold very well earlier. But EA knows that some people might not have bought them because they only contained stuff. Therefore EA now adds just a little gameplay to the SPs too.
3. The small and cheap SPs have earlier sold surprisingly well compared to the more expensive EPs. Therefore EA now has decided to replace half of the EPs with smaller and cheaper GPs.
4. Graduately EA has changed the Sims games from the hard and challenging Sims 1 where it was difficult to take care of the sims and their needs to a more and more easy "game" where everything is easy but where it maybe is more fun just to watch the sims when they are flirting, partying and multitasking.
I think that EA has reached the end though and therefore has to get another vision for TS5. Otherwise I would expect its sales numbers to become too low for EA to like them.
Hot tubs were base game content in Sims 1 and 2, IIRC, so I can see the complaints about those (I recall similar complaints when they were released in Sims 3 Late Night -- oddly enough, people were also upset about the in-ground aspect because it made it more difficult to add a hot tub indoors, while with Sims 4 more people seem to prefer in-ground hot tubs to the above ground we got). Butlers though have never been base game or provided free, in fact putting them in an SP in Sims 4 makes them cheaper than they were in previous iterations where they were only in EPs.
Fun must be always -- Tomas Hertl (San Jose Sharks hockey player)
Sims has always been a cash cow kind of game. It pretty much thrives on DLC, and based on micro transactions from past sims games, I am not surprised by this change nor am I that bothered by it.
It's money-making business, not a charity. If one feels strongly about being ripped off, then they should definitely vote with their wallet, and if possible, provide feedback and maybe create/sign petitions, etc.
Me? I have enjoyed all of the content so far, so I am still buying the content. I have not been disappointed so far with the content outside of some bugs (except maybe with GTW's lackluster retail system).
I am just starting to get impatient, though, because I feel the content output is just too slow.
(Come on, EA! I am a shopaholic and a total completionist, and Sims 3 got me to buy lots of things, so you can do it! Make me buy more, lol! How does that meme go? "Shut up and take my money".
(She/her)
You miss the point when you indicate that SPs were changed because EA wanted to get rid of the store because EA of course had no wishes about getting rid of the store just to get rid of it. EA's problem instead was about sales numbers both for SPs without gameplay and for dead objects in the store. So EA realized that stuff was too hard to sell without gameplay. Therefore EA invented SPs with a little gameplay and GPs with less gameplay than EPs to be the new way to sell a lot of (cheap to make) stuff too. So EA just didn't need the store anymore because SPs (and GPs) seemed to be a much more promising way to sell stuff if EA wanted high sales numbers for stuff too.
I also understand why you like the GPs. I would probably too if I still played the game. But the problem with GPs is that they are replacements for bigger EPs. In 2012 and 2013 EA released 3 EPs each year. Now EA instead releases 2 GPs and 1 EP each year. I don't think that many simmers prefer this.
And as to whether or not they prefer 2 EPs or 1 EP + 2 GPs .. hm, I guess that depends on the person
Plus the butler has never been one of the base game NPCs like firefighters or repair persons (the latter we also got in a patch). S/he has always been in an EP. So we're actually getting a butler cheaper than in the past ($10 US rather than $40 US). I actually prefer the butler to be part of the SP because that way people who weren't interested in CL could still have access to that NPC.
Fun must be always -- Tomas Hertl (San Jose Sharks hockey player)
I could have gone with only one double bed and added a single bed to coordinate (for those rich kids too snobby for Kids Room Stuff), and I would have loved a matching loveseat to go with the sofa. But those are small quibbles.
Never really used the butler in other Sims games, but I've got the Goths in the Torani Place penthouse which I remodeled; I didn't like having the dining table on a different floor than the kitchen so I took out the indoor basketball court and made that big room dining/entertainment (adding a bar, stereo/dance floor, and moving the piano down there), then where the dining table was on the second floor I walled it off and made it a kid's bedroom. The butler has the bedroom that's next to the elevator, but she never seems to use it; I've never seen her sleep since she's arrived. It can be tricky to track the butler down especially if you've got a really large place -- the ability to click on the Sim to summon the butler rather than clicking on the butler would be helpful.
Fun must be always -- Tomas Hertl (San Jose Sharks hockey player)
Backyard had the slides, the lemonade, the 6-seat tables. Kids' Room had the Puppet Theater, voidcritter machine and cards, etc. The SPs are a little more than some make them out to be at first glance when you think about it. They might not have flashy venues or worlds, but they're not limited to one-new-object plus decorations either.
Didn't Backyard also had the bird feeder, too, yes? Or am I remembering the wrong pack?
I have liked SPs (have almost all of Sims 3 and Sims 2 UC has all of them), so I am fine if they have some gameplay in them as well.
The only SP (besides Kitchen Stuff not having much real Kitchen Stuff, lol) I have issue with is the one with the Hot Tub. I could have sworn that was base game content in the past sims games...?
(She/her)
Yet.
I would start to get alarmed if the toddler life stage was only in an optional pack (GP/EP/SP)...
(She/her)
Hot tubs were base game in Sims 1 and 2, but not in Sims 3.
Fun must be always -- Tomas Hertl (San Jose Sharks hockey player)
Ah, I see. So even Sims 3 sold the hot tub as part of a pack, too. So I am okay with Patio pack now. (I have it, but I wasn't sure about whether past games had it as base game, as I usually don't use it much except in Sims 1.)
(She/her)
So, while these expansion packs are taking a year to create, we can have some new game play to tie us over for each month. Hopefully game packs will come out sooner next year as well.
Another way of seeing it is that there in average have been about 8 months between 2 succeeding GPs and also about 8 months between 2 succeeding EPs. But apparently there is even longer time between them now. This could indicate that some of the developers already have begun their work on TS5. If this is true then expansions for TS4 will soon be released even slower unless EA again chooses to use another development teamtoo in another city like EA did with the Salt Lake City team in 2012 and 2013. But will EA do something like that again?
The Sims 3 was announced in May 2013 and a trailer revealed at Gamescom in August 2013. The game was then released in September 2014.
Likewise EA announced that the Sims 2 was in development on May 5, 2003. Then the game was first shown on E3 in Los Angelos on May 13, 2003 and released in September 2004.
So our best guess currently is that the Sims 5 will be announced in May 2018 and then released in September 2019 in the same way.
But EA never announces the next game before it already has been in development for quite some time. I think that development on the Sims 4 started in 2011 even though the game wasn't announced until 2 years later. One reason why I think that is that it was in 2011 that EA decided to let a second team in Salt Lake City start on the development of EPs for the Sims 3 too because Maxis after that couldn't release more than one EP each year. The reason most likely was that Maxis then had to transfer many developers to the Sims 4 team which just had started.
Because I will not preorder another iteration again. I will wait and see how it works out for different players and how much computer power it needs.
(If it's going to be computer intensive and buggy like Sims 3 and buggy like Sims 4 is, then I will wait a longer time for mods. Even longer for a new computer, because my computer is still good, and I refuse to get brand new computers so fast for one freakin' game when there are other games and console port versions of those same awesome games out there.)
(She/her)