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Sims 5 is Internet-Only, Cloud-Based Subscription Game?
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From interviews, it seems like even Lyndsay Pearson isn't exactly sure what the game will turn out to be along those three capabilities: internet-only, cloud-based, and subscription
EA/Maxis is already getting ready for Sims 5 and probably experimenting, putting many more local servers to use for it when it comes out.
I was commenting on a Cloud version several years ago here. Nobody seemed to find it viable. I did.
I guess a lot of the things that might happen with Sims 5 / Project Rene are just a huge gamble. Considering that the real maxis was killed by EA in 2015 and they just keep using the name and the franchise because they own it -- well, that almost speaks for itself. And EAs history of doing business like this is quite long. The mobile devision received a huge push because mobile games offer insane amounts of revenue to a point that it's far superior to the rest of the gaming market. Of course, with the extra cherry on top that crazy predatory monetization somehow is accepted worldwide as long as we are talking about a mobile game.
I don't see a cloud service being good, and a subscription doesn't make sense either. Maybe they have everything on the table and talk about it but even from a business standpoint -- why would you try to push any of that stuff to your playerbase when there is no real benefit on the table? I mean sure, a subscription is easy and secure income but going for such a cheap cashgrab? I really don't know.
Actually there is also the trend of Metaverse (social) and NFT (content creator).
Many digital companies are moving their pieces toward this future.
Subscription-based games, software, etc? Never.
If I can't buy something outright (paid in full with full ownership), then I want nothing to do with it. I absolutely hate with a passion this ridiculous subscription-based direction the world is going in.
Most of us don't rent things in our life (house, cars, furnishings, electronics, clothing, etc), we buy them. Why would anyone in their right mind pay a monthly rental (aka subscription) for something that would otherwise cost under $100 to buy outright? Just imagine paying a monthly subscription for the Sims 5 over a period of 5-10 years PLUS all the costs to "purchase" the endless DLC's that will inevitably get added to the game over the years.... We're talking about a game that will easily end up costing upwards of $1500-$2000 (or more). For a video game.... that's disgusting.
As far as I'm concerned, any kind of subscription-based software/games is not only an easy money grab from these corporations, it's an outright blatant scam/con job.
Buying tangible goods vs renting digital 1's and 0's? This should be a no-brainer for consumers.
"Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect." ~ Mark Twain
A game is different from a social network, it serves a different purpose. They could make the social bunny application for real and create a world or several for it where social bunnies could gather and interact sort of like in 2nd life but they should leave the game be a game, people won't be attracted to it if it loses it's purpose as a game. Sure, there will be a social network, but it won't be a game. Simmers can spend hours in the game with no social interaction, maybe that's exactly what attracts them to the game, the lack of social aspect and the drama that usually comes with it.
But The Sims is more than a game, it's also a tool that allows artists to express their creativity and share it with other people.
Instagram, Twitter and TikTok are places where people share content, interest and meet new people.
The Sims with multiplayer mode could be a place where players share content, interest and meet other players.
We already follow Mod/CC creators, Gallery creators, YouTube channels, ...
Like the social networks, there are simmers who became popular (international level) thanks to their Sims content.
I already imagine me following in-game the stories of the households made by somebody else, a popular storyteller
(Community Neighborhood Stories).
Wouldn't following in game the stories made by some popular storyteller imply that they would be able to stream directly from the game and not via Twitch of Youtube? You would need to be connected via audio and video to their game, and I am not sure they will be able to do that with thousands or millions of followers.
Story Progression in TS3 and Neighborhood Stories in TS4 don't need YouTube or Twitch to work.
Notifications or just meet these "NPC" could be enough to discover what is happening in their life.
A lot of players share their stories by posting screenshots and text.
Maxis could bring back this TS2 feature :
I mean these sims are invited in my world as NPC townies but I don't really see yet how the multiplayer mode should work.
Oh, you mean like a sort of in game notification you send out to your followers of what your sims are doing? To be honest, I don't find that particularly interesting, I mean I don't check out what my own sims are doing while I am playing other households, I don't think I would I be interested to follow another simmer's sims on a regular basis. Being able to send screenshots from the game with a bit of accompanying text as a sort of postcard to other simmers in game and to social media, might be fun, sort of like the threads we have here on the forum about what happened in game and screenshots. But I wouldn't want to be bombarded with these notifications from everyone I follow, especially if someone abuses such functionality. As for stories, no one has time for that, the stories will be buried deep down in the gallery just like anything else that is posted there. The only reason some gallery updates have lots of views and downloads is because of all the social media.
Alright re reading the quote .I don't think this implies anything.A.This was an investor call in late January.Its almost been a year things change.B.In the summit they said multiplayer was optional.It won't be optional if they do this cross platform cloud enabled world?C.Even though they mention next sims.They might not be talking the sims sequel in general. So I see two possibilities.
A. This istalking about a spin off project that's related to Rene.Why Rene it's own game.
B.This is just going to be a side feature and not the main feature if the game .
The only game I play that has a subscription is World of Warcraft where you don't need a subscription to play a character below level 20. Been playing that game since its early days when you could purchase the game disks at your local store and plan on keeping it that way as don't have much money to spend on entertainment every month
I'm burned out of dealing with subscriptions for anything.
I did the math and looked at what I had for streaming services. For a LOT less than the $350 or so a year I spend on them, I can just buy the DVDs and a new Blu-Ray player (I have a DVD player, but most things seem to be Blu-Ray these days). Plus, a lot of these services have jumped anywhere from $2-5 a month in the past year, with Netflix being the biggest offender.
Plus, a lot of shows have shifted between streaming services. First of all, it was my shows moving from Netflix and Hulu to newer network-owned streaming services like Disney+, Paramount, and HBO Max. Now, it seems the "in" thing is moving shows to YouTube (older seasons of Power Rangers; which moved from Netflix a year or two ago) or free ad-supported platforms (recently canceled my HBO Max subscription as they planned to do the same with Westworld). Both "free" platforms are horribly ad-ridden, and the ads are annoying and intrusive.
With DVD/Blu-Rays, I can avoid the "musical chairs" my shows have been playing lately, and I don't even need internet, which is a plus to my "man cave" in an outbuilding/former above-garage apartment.
I had an XBOX subscription shortly to try a couple of games I wasn't exactly keen on spending $60 each for, but I canceled it after I did so, pretty much before the trial ended. It is cheaper for me to just wait for a sale than continue spending ten bucks a month for two games. "
Used to be, one could use Flickr pretty much unencumbered for free; then Yahoo spun them off to be sold to SmugMug; and I ended up having to pay $8 for PRO to get much use out of it Then, after getting sucked into a subscription, they changed it back to where it was by changing all "public" photos to not count towards storage limits. And it went up to $10 a month, for something I don't use much. Thinking about going back to free.
Because Maxis forbid a lot of things, mods are required to unlock the game.
But cross-platform means no mod and no CC on console and mobile, your savegame might be broken without them.
It reminds me SimCity (2013) launch. 10 years later EA seems to repeat the same mistakes.
What does give me some hope is that they've said it won't be MMO and that multi-player will be optional. This means that, maybe, it won't be as we fear. However, we will all need to wait and see. The good news: EA is not the only fish in the sea anymore. At least two other similar games have been announced as being in development. So if EA doesn't give us what we want anymore, Bye Bye.
Anyway. I would never ever buy the Sims 5 if it was a subscription. Trust.
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