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Is this promise about future Sims 4 content true?

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ULIBABA66ULIBABA66 Posts: 2,088 Member
So this is what they said in the last year's Behind The Sims Summit about The Sims 4:
”We are committed to bringing new content in the form of packs, kits, free updates, and Sims Delivery Express drops to The Sims 4 into the foreseeable future. As a sneak peak of what’s to come, during the Behind The Sims Summit we took a look at early concept developments that will be featured in future The Sims 4 expansion packs. We’re also excited to share that infants will be arriving in early 2023!”

Hmmm…I hope Rene won't cause the end of the Sims 4…also not to mention the fact that Sims Freeplay and Sims Mobile have coexisted peacefully for YEARS now and are still supported and getting new content updates rather regularly. This time around Maxis seems to have no actual reason or excuse to cease any more Sims 4 content packs and updates, with The Sims 3 there was a clear limit of how many packs they were able to create before the game could no longer tolerate it, but I have heard the opposite for The Sims 4.

Could Maxis confirm we will continue to get Sims 4 packs for many more years? <3
Post edited by EA_Cade on

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    logionlogion Posts: 4,791 Member
    edited June 2023
    Hopefully,

    The thing is that game studios don't tend to have people work on larger multiple projects like this, when they are getting ready to release a new game they tend to have something called "full production" which is when everything has been decided and they want to focus on getting the new game done. That's when studios tend to be silent, and if they are supporting other games then they tend to not release any major new content because they want everyone to be able to work on their new game and getting it finished.

    When they announced project Rene during the last sims summit and said that they had 2 more expansion packs planned then I guessed that would mean that they planned to support The Sims 4 for at least two more years and after that they would decide if they would go into full production to finish Project Rene.

    I know that they have said that they have separate teams, but they are going to reach a point where they are not going to be able to change a lot more and just need to work on creating everything that they have decided to make.
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    ULIBABA66ULIBABA66 Posts: 2,088 Member
    logion wrote: »
    Hopefully,

    The thing is that game studios don't tend to have people work on larger multiple projects like this, when they are getting ready to release a new game they tend to have something called "full production" which is when everything has been decided and they want to focus on getting the new game done. That's when studios tend to be silent, and if they are supporting other games then they tend to not release any major new content because they want everyone to be able to work on their new game and getting it finished.

    When they announced project Rene during the last sims summit and said that they had 2 more expansion packs planned then I guessed that would mean that they planned to support The Sims 4 for at least two more years and after that they would decide if they would go into full production to finish Project Rene.

    I know that they have said that they have separate teams, but they are going to reach a point where they are not going to be able to change a lot more and just need to work on creating everything that they have decided to make.

    Yes but didn't Simmatically confirmed on Twitter that Horse Ranch EP will not be the last EP? The way they replied with an emoji or something implies that there may be way more content planned for The Sims 4 than some of us have been expecting…also I saw in another thread the awesome @LeGardePourpre stating that it may take even more years for Rene to be ”finished” before being ready for an official release due to the fact that they are going to make it both, a mobile and PC game experience. So maybe what they said is true? :O
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    BabykittyjadeBabykittyjade Posts: 4,976 Member
    To be honest I don't know. They said "years" are left but we don't know how many years. And I don't know if they would produce content for both at the same time. I do however, totally understand how you feel because I don't want ts4 to end either!! There is so much more they could still bring to it! I would be thrilled with another 10 years.
    Ts5 might actually be a good game but still, that means years of waiting for content all over again.
    I still have tons to do in ts4 that would keep me busy for years but I would miss the exciting announcements for ts4. And I know a lot of modders and builders would most likely drop ts4 and move to ts5.
    Zombies, oh please oh please give us zombies!! :'(
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    ULIBABA66ULIBABA66 Posts: 2,088 Member
    Also, I heard from one source that Rene is set to release in 2028. This could be just a rumour, but I kind of hope it is true, because Sims 4 definitely needs way more improvements and the way they just announced the new Behind The Sims Summit and Rene's involvement in it makes me worried that Sims 4 is not going to last for as long as many of us hoped for. I will be very upset if Maxis wants to lose millions of customers willing to pay for new packs for The Sims 4, this time they cannot use the ”we can no longer make more packs for Sims 2/3 because the game has a limit cap for DLC” card as an excuse to end the series. I am not going to be happy at all once Rene is out if we are going to get the same amount of silence for 1-2 years in case they stop making new Sims 4 content before Rene arrives and the base game will be yet another empty canvas for possibilities and potential that could go for a waste.
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    WildIrishBansheeWildIrishBanshee Posts: 2,138 Member
    They said all this like, 2 years ago. So years has happened, realistically. The sims 4 team has already been reduced due to Project Rene, which tells me they are a lot closer to moving everyone over than you might think.
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    ULIBABA66ULIBABA66 Posts: 2,088 Member
    They said all this like, 2 years ago. So years has happened, realistically. The sims 4 team has already been reduced due to Project Rene, which tells me they are a lot closer to moving everyone over than you might think.

    Sorry but no. This was stated in an October 2022 blog post. So it's less than 1 years. What are you talking about?

    https://www.ea.com/en-gb/news/everything-announced-during-the-behind-the-sims-summit
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    logionlogion Posts: 4,791 Member
    ULIBABA66 wrote: »
    logion wrote: »
    Hopefully,

    The thing is that game studios don't tend to have people work on larger multiple projects like this, when they are getting ready to release a new game they tend to have something called "full production" which is when everything has been decided and they want to focus on getting the new game done. That's when studios tend to be silent, and if they are supporting other games then they tend to not release any major new content because they want everyone to be able to work on their new game and getting it finished.

    When they announced project Rene during the last sims summit and said that they had 2 more expansion packs planned then I guessed that would mean that they planned to support The Sims 4 for at least two more years and after that they would decide if they would go into full production to finish Project Rene.

    I know that they have said that they have separate teams, but they are going to reach a point where they are not going to be able to change a lot more and just need to work on creating everything that they have decided to make.

    Yes but didn't Simmatically confirmed on Twitter that Horse Ranch EP will not be the last EP? The way they replied with an emoji or something implies that there may be way more content planned for The Sims 4 than some of us have been expecting…also I saw in another thread the awesome @LeGardePourpre stating that it may take even more years for Rene to be ”finished” before being ready for an official release due to the fact that they are going to make it both, a mobile and PC game experience. So maybe what they said is true? :O

    It might be many more years until they will be done with Project Rene... making a mobile version together with the PC version is rather unusual, I think it's more common for studios to develop their mobile version at a different studio. But the thing is also that Maxis have merged with mobile game developers that have worked on sims mobile so I'm finding it a bit difficult to understand how exactly they are working and progressing with Project Rene.

    If I were them I would have kept the mobile version as a separate project and not develop it together with the PC version so that wouldn't affect the development of the PC version but they instead seem to be developing it together with the PC version which will complicate the process.

    So it's possible that they are able to keep everything separate on different teams and are able to support the sims4 for many years to come, I'm just finding it a bit unlikely because they are making things a bit more complicated than I feel that they need to be, but maybe we will understand more what they are planning in future sims summits.
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    WildIrishBansheeWildIrishBanshee Posts: 2,138 Member
    Was talking more about the years part, which wasn't mentioned in that blog post. Foreseeable future can be "end of business year" or many other things. Obviously it wasn't end of business year, because that's over. We're in a new one now. Can also mean "until we get out what we already have" and who knows how long that takes.
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    ULIBABA66ULIBABA66 Posts: 2,088 Member
    Was talking more about the years part, which wasn't mentioned in that blog post. Foreseeable future can be "end of business year" or many other things. Obviously it wasn't end of business year, because that's over. We're in a new one now. Can also mean "until we get out what we already have" and who knows how long that takes.

    Well ok but how can 1 or 2 more years be ”foreseeable future”? That would be so funny :lol:
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    LeGardePourpreLeGardePourpre Posts: 15,560 Member
    There are also another option :
    SWTOR case, BioWare will give the development to another studio and go to work on Mass Effect/Dragon Age.

    Maxis already did it by transferring The Sims Mobile to Firemonkeys studio.
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    ULIBABA66ULIBABA66 Posts: 2,088 Member
    There are also another option :
    SWTOR case, BioWare will give the development to another studio and go to work on Mass Effect/Dragon Age.

    Maxis already did it by transferring The Sims Mobile to Firemonkeys studio.

    Wait wait wait…didn't they do something similar with The Sims 3 DLC development years ago too when that game was still being developed? They split the studios or something, but probably not for the same reason they would do it in The Sims 4's case. There was Maxis Emeryville and Maxis Redwood Shores or something like that…maybe they could give The Sims 4 to another studio with a few of the current SimGurus moving there along with new developers for new Sims 4 packs and content updates, and the rest would be moving to Rene/Sims 5, meaning that these two games can co-exist peacefully along with their proper target audiences and fanbases? Because this has been my gut feeling for years now. We can dream <3
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    LeGardePourpreLeGardePourpre Posts: 15,560 Member
    edited June 2023
    "Peacefully" ... as long as both are profitable.

    I think TS3 Store isn't shutdown yet because people still purchase content.
    TS3 and TS4 co-exist even if TS3 development is over a long time ago.
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    WildIrishBansheeWildIrishBanshee Posts: 2,138 Member
    I don't foresee that happening - EA goes all in with new Sim games. However, no Sim game has ever lasted this long, so only time will tell. And it's not uncommon for EA to say one thing, like "foreseeable future" and 6 months later release the newest version...so...YMMV.
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    ULIBABA66ULIBABA66 Posts: 2,088 Member
    "Peacefully" ... as long as both are profitable.

    I think TS3 Store wasn't shutdown yet because people still purchase content.
    TS3 and TS4 co-exist even if TS3 development is over a long time ago.

    I have this strong feeling that Horse Ranch EP will be extremely profitable for Maxis, and that will kind of force them to continue working on this game for years to come. Also didn't we get the news recently about Growing Together EP becoming a huge success for Maxis too? This game series definitely has longevity power (yes I mean The Sims 4). Many Simmers seemed to underestimate it ever since 2014-2015 as far as I remember.
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    LeGardePourpreLeGardePourpre Posts: 15,560 Member
    edited June 2023
    But more packs about what themes exactly ? Right now I've got no idea, there are many possibilities but Maxis can't do everything.

    I'm curious to know what else will be added and what will be missing at the end.
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    Amapola76Amapola76 Posts: 1,940 Member
    edited June 2023
    This has been a productive year, and a successful one, it would seem. The two EPs are both wins in my book, and if we were to get at least one GP in the fall, it would be an absolutely amazing year IMO. So I don't see them having a great, full year this year, and then just pulling a full stop at the end of 2023. I think it will be more of a tapering off process, with a continuing shift toward more and more kits and less of everything else. I could realistically imagine another 2-3 years of slowly dwindling content. If they were still to do cars/bands/hotels in EPS, and a fairy GP, let's say, plus a couple of surprise packs that no one imagined, and a billion kits, that would easily fill 2-3 years of tapering off.
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    Amapola76Amapola76 Posts: 1,940 Member
    Just want to add that one of my greatest wishes is that as they begin to wrap things up, they will finally give us a Create-A-World tool. I'm sure one of the reasons we don't have one already is that they want us to have incentive to keep buying new packs, and a big part of that incentive is new worlds. But when we reach the point where there are no more new packs forthcoming, then it would be a truly wonderful parting gift to have the ability to begin to make worlds of our own.

    There's the question of whether it's technically feasible, of course, but I don't see why they couldn't at least give us something like we had in TS2, where we had ability to add versions of the existing worlds, just stripped of all of their landmarks/shells/other assets. I know I could do a lot with blank slate versions of our existing worlds, and there are talented creators out there who could do a heck of a lot more.
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    LeGardePourpreLeGardePourpre Posts: 15,560 Member
    edited June 2023
    Even if they decide to stop to produce EP and GP (new gameplay breaking the game), Kits and SDX could keep on adding new items and color swatches.

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    Lenny_OggLenny_Ogg Posts: 3,696 Member
    Before a game gets released, it costs a lot of money to develop.
    So when they release it, they want the money come in again.
    And therefore I think Sims 4 will end.
    Since they want us to spend our money on Sims 5.
    I think Sims 5 won't be released before 2025 and until then we will have any expansion possible -
    or the 7th north american desert world - who knows 😅
    I'm not convinced that they have two teams (one for Sims 4 and one for Sims 5).
    The content is lacking (I can't get over the dust clouds instead of proper animations 😱) and there are barely new packs that show that they are working with a full team on it. But when was this even the case? haha
    Ah compared to what we got in Sims 3 (in only 5 years!) this is so sad and annoying.
    A few days ago I was playing at Tartosa and I wanted my sims to woohoo in the lighthouse.
    But you can only woohoo in the lighthouse in Brindleton Bay. Why? The mechanic was already there!
    Such little things show me that they often just don't care and do what's necessary to get their job done and milk Sims 4 as long as possible with the least effort.
    d70aead6bd57d9113e587b03ecffce84b09267d0.jpgThe Boys 2 - Therapy Game 🛺 A Dramedy 🚶🏼🚶🏻🚶🏽🚶🏽 The Boys 🥇 Their first year - A Dramedy 🚀 Lost In Space - A Space Opera 🐎 The Stables - A Horse Drama
    🎁 Best of Buydebug ☃️ Short trips to the Oggiverse - Short Clips 🎬 My Builds: Houses 🏘 Rooms 🛋 SciFi 👾 creatively edited Screenshots 🎨
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    mightyspritemightysprite Posts: 6,211 Member
    logion wrote: »
    When they announced project Rene during the last sims summit and said that they had 2 more expansion packs planned then I guessed that would mean that they planned to support The Sims 4 for at least two more years and after that they would decide if they would go into full production to finish Project Rene.

    Huh, that would make the 2 expansion packs Growing Together and Horse Ranch then. So that's already what they promised?
    Don't buy broken stuff
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    LeGardePourpreLeGardePourpre Posts: 15,560 Member
    edited June 2023
    @Lenny_Ogg wrote: »
    Before a game gets released, it costs a lot of money to develop.
    So when they release it, they want the money come in again.
    And therefore I think Sims 4 will end.
    Since they want us to spend our money on Sims 5.

    The Sims 4 was saved by the income from TS3 Store.
    2014 basegame had a bad reputation and during 3 years players complained about the unfinished game and the missing toddler.

    Many players requested for TS5 but it wasn't even sure that The Sims Studio would survive after the closure of Maxis Emeryville in 2015.
    And with only 1 EP per year it took a long time to go back to normal.


    When a successful game is replaced by an empty game, many players prefer to wait several years.
    Post edited by LeGardePourpre on
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    RoaringHeightsRoaringHeights Posts: 37 Member
    I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but production on new content for The Sims 4 will end in the next two years.

    EA go all in when it comes to a brand new sims game, The Sims is currently the biggest it's ever been and they're gonna want people to switch over to the next game as soon as its out. Currently, it seems that kits are being outsourced to other companies so they're not being developed in-house.

    SimGuruGrant was moved to work on The Sims 5 in 2019; and when Grant leaves the current game then you know that the next one is on the horizon.

    And from monitoring Gurus social media platforms (linkedin included) a majority of them have shifted to work on Rene, with a few Gurus left to develop the current Sims 4 packs. All of this is proof that 5 is their top priority. I personally think, and hope that the last piece of content we get for The Sims 4 will be in early 2025.
    Simmer since 2012, The Sims 2, 3 & 4. Setup: i5 10400f, GTX 1650 SUPER, 16GB DDR4, 512GB SSD & Steam Deck
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    LeGardePourpreLeGardePourpre Posts: 15,560 Member
    I hope TS4 will stay until 2029.
    5 years was nice for the previous PC games but Project Rene is more ambitious and complex.

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    Lenny_OggLenny_Ogg Posts: 3,696 Member
    What we also shouldn't forget is that there are already three other life sims that will be released sooner or later.
    So the Sims team should really combine their forces to not mess up Sims 5 too.
    Which is also a reason for them to drop Sims 4.
    d70aead6bd57d9113e587b03ecffce84b09267d0.jpgThe Boys 2 - Therapy Game 🛺 A Dramedy 🚶🏼🚶🏻🚶🏽🚶🏽 The Boys 🥇 Their first year - A Dramedy 🚀 Lost In Space - A Space Opera 🐎 The Stables - A Horse Drama
    🎁 Best of Buydebug ☃️ Short trips to the Oggiverse - Short Clips 🎬 My Builds: Houses 🏘 Rooms 🛋 SciFi 👾 creatively edited Screenshots 🎨
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    RoaringHeightsRoaringHeights Posts: 37 Member
    > @Lenny_Ogg said:
    > What we also shouldn't forget is that there are already three other life sims that will be released sooner or later.
    > So the Sims team should really combine their forces to not mess up Sims 5 too.
    > Which is also a reason for them to drop Sims 4.

    Exactly, Life By You releases in Early Access in September. It'll be the latest life simulator not developed on an engine from 2008.

    However, I'm not so sure the games gonna be a bolstering success, given the community's reaction to the graphics and incredibly high specs requirements.
    Simmer since 2012, The Sims 2, 3 & 4. Setup: i5 10400f, GTX 1650 SUPER, 16GB DDR4, 512GB SSD & Steam Deck
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