Speaking of numbers they probably had more returns than they had actual sales.
Nah EA was sneaky and only had a 24 hour gurantee and there were so many problems with the returning process. As well as customer service not being helpful so people got stuck with it as well...
Actually it was easy to return, it took 45 minutes so there weren't any real issues.
No option of return for those of us with discs.
You can always use the game as a coaster for your coffee table?
Speaking of numbers they probably had more returns than they had actual sales.
Nah EA was sneaky and only had a 24 hour gurantee and there were so many problems with the returning process. As well as customer service not being helpful so people got stuck with it as well...
Actually it was easy to return, it took 45 minutes so there weren't any real issues.
No option of return for those of us with discs.
You can always use the game as a coaster for your coffee table?
it works great whenever i need to fix a wobbly table
Speaking of numbers they probably had more returns than they had actual sales.
Nah EA was sneaky and only had a 24 hour gurantee and there were so many problems with the returning process. As well as customer service not being helpful so people got stuck with it as well...
Actually it was easy to return, it took 45 minutes so there weren't any real issues.
No option of return for those of us with discs.
You can always use the game as a coaster for your coffee table?
it works great whenever i need to fix a wobbly table
Hopefully not at the same time you're trying to use it as a coaster.
It's kind of sad that I have to point out that anything I say is only just my opinion and may be a different one from someone else.
You are all WRONG the sims4 is a great game sure it lacks stuff but remember we can't have everything in a game all at once and the as expansion packs and stuff packs comes out for the sims4 the sims4 will improve.
If you went the sims5 to remain offline feel free to sign this petition http://chng.it/gtfHPhHK please note that it is also to keep the gallery
You are all WRONG the sims4 is a great game sure it lacks stuff but remember we can't have everything in a game all at once and the as expansion packs and stuff packs comes out for the sims4 the sims4 will improve.
I don't know but TS2 and TS3 seems to have toddlers and pools that came with it already..
You are all WRONG the sims4 is a great game sure it lacks stuff but remember we can't have everything in a game all at once and the as expansion packs and stuff packs comes out for the sims4 the sims4 will improve.
Thanks for validating that your opinion is the correct one.
........
......
.....
yes. that was sarcasm.
It's kind of sad that I have to point out that anything I say is only just my opinion and may be a different one from someone else.
You are all WRONG the sims4 is a great game sure it lacks stuff but remember we can't have everything in a game all at once and the as expansion packs and stuff packs comes out for the sims4 the sims4 will improve.
Thank you for your descriptive and fact based thesis as for why we are all wrong...
The series has definitely removed itself from what many people loved about the franchise. It has gone seeking the younger generation, who frankly, are uninterested. And the rest of us are just here, wondering will it get better or should we give up on it? Honestly, I'm giving up on it. I will play with what I have, but I'm not investing in its future.
As I have said in other threads, TS4 lacks the depth of previous versions of the franchise. For me, TS2 had the best *game play* of the series. I love the things that TS3 brought to the franchise - especially CASt - but it didn't have the depth of TS2. In TS2 it was just as much fun to ruin a Sim's life as it was to make them succeed. The animations were longer and more intricate in TS2, and there were more options for almost anything you wanted to do. Even little things were treated with care and fully fleshed out - hair was animated, Sims got into and out of cars (once they were added) and there were dozens of little 'Easter eggs" sprinkled throughout the game.
In general it felt as if the programmers for TS2 were players *AND* as if they were give extra time to add their own little touches to the game. I am aware that when EA closed down the separate Maxis office (so that they could be moved to EA corporate headquarters) that a lot of senior programmers were simply 'let go'. Then, a year or so later there was a large lay-off of programmers that management felt were too expensive - that is, they had experience and had been with the company long enough to get some raises. Those programmers were replaced with less experience programmers fresh from college. I believe (I am too lazy to look it up) that something similar happened again around the time TS3: World Adventures was released.
Think of it like this: you have a restaurant that gets rave reviews and is very popular, but you want to get more profit from it. So you fire the chefs who have created the award-winning menu and hire a bunch of young, untested cooks, fresh out of school to replace them. You shove the old chef's fabulously complex recipe book into the hands of the new chefs and tell them to go out and reproduce it, right now, no time to practice, they have to be ready to feed the customers tonight.
What do you think would actually happen to that restaurant?
Frankly, I don't think that EA's senior management understands their product at all. They seem to be treating game production the way you would produce cars or furniture or widgets or sprockets. But games aren't widgets or sprockets or any other kind of mass-produced gadget - they are an art form. Making a good game requires creativity and a little talent which can't really be rushed and micro-managed. It appears that someone in EA thinks that if the can reduce programming time by a few hundred man-hours they can eke out more of a profit - well that sort of economizing might work when producing widgets, it doesn't work at all when making something creative.
The best thing that I could recommend for EA is that instead of recruiting management from industry they should look more towards film, television or music and see how those sorts of companies are managed. Then instead of chasing every game-industry fad - like micro-transactions and online games - they could actually make something that engages their audience again.
*casually waits for the new Mass Effect*
(Bioware is the only thing that could save EA now)
Pennsatucky?
In regards to the thread, TS4 wasn't necessarily a flop... it just didn't do as well as the other games. Consider the fact it reached #1 in the UK too - one of the biggest markets for gaming.
I have to admit that the game has been a bit lackluster for me. In S3, I would always be excited to get back home from school or work and delve back into it. Even up to the final expansion. It's bad that even during dates I would be thinking of my little sims and how much fun I could be having playing them instead.
Now with S4... well, I haven't played it in a couple of weeks. It just isn't holding my interest. I keep coming here hoping some news is forthcoming about their next expansion, but it there's nothing. That's bad. Because if they're determined to sell a lot of expansions and DLC to keep S4 going, they really need to keep our attention and mine is waning away.
TS4 honestly feels so out of place within the franchise after watching TS1 and TS2's trailers.
I have seen trailers for all the first 3 and the funny thing is they all show things that never made it into the final game but still show how good the games would become
TS4 honestly feels so out of place within the franchise after watching TS1 and TS2's trailers.
I have seen trailers for all the first 3 and the funny thing is they all show things that never made it into the final game but still show how good the games would become
Supposedly there was a server fire at Maxis/EA that caused content in development to be lost during TS2's base game development, perhaps content seen in the trailer was included (things like swinging from fans, etc.). However, they were able to recover the game itself quite well, as can be seen by the final release. It makes me wonder how the team back then was able to recover from a huge issue in development when the team now wasn't exactly able to do the same, recovering from Olympus/the original, online version of TS4.
Anyway, yeah, that was very common with a lot of TS3's expansion pack trailers and TS2's trailer that was linked in that post. Despite that, both games did end up alright.
Well whose fault is it in the first place if this is a flop? Would it be the people who made it, or the people who won't buy it?
Think of it this way. EA is a business and a business offer goods and/or services to the public in exchange for money. It is a business' responsibility to please the consumers *if* they want to continue having a stable income and good reputation. So you see, the success or failure lies with the people at the business not the consumers. For it is their job if they want to succeed to persuade consumers their product/service is of good reputation. But of course consumers use of word of mouth through whatever means available is a very powerful message to possible new consumers, current and old consumers alike.
Thing is, if the business appeals to the majority that they corrected their errors and have learned from their mistakes, then I'm sure most would be happy to return when they feel appreciated as a person and not just $$$. There is nothing wrong in wanting quality and expecting it. Of course nothing is perfect but it's the effort the business puts into customer satisfaction that consumers will see. Because you know, action speaks louder than words. Otherwise it's no wonder a business gets a bad reputation for their product/service.
“What doesn't kill you makes you stronger
Stand a little taller
Doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone
What doesn't kill you makes a fighter
Footsteps even lighter”
It's like everyone involved in the development had a brain wipe. Sales may -or may not - have been a failure, but the ideas and implementation certainly were. Just my humble opinion.
“I was so sure that I knew what they needed and what I wanted to sell them that I never stopped long enough to find out what it was they wanted to buy.”
― Chris Murray, The Extremely Successful Salesman's Club
TS4 honestly feels so out of place within the franchise after watching TS1 and TS2's trailers.
I have seen trailers for all the first 3 and the funny thing is they all show things that never made it into the final game but still show how good the games would become
Supposedly there was a server fire at Maxis/EA that caused content in development to be lost during TS2's base game development, perhaps content seen in the trailer was included (things like swinging from fans, etc.). However, they were able to recover the game itself quite well, as can be seen by the final release. It makes me wonder how the team back then was able to recover from a huge issue in development when the team now wasn't exactly able to do the same, recovering from Olympus/the original, online version of TS4.
Anyway, yeah, that was very common with a lot of TS3's expansion pack trailers and TS2's trailer that was linked in that post. Despite that, both games did end up alright.
I never even knew of the fire... But even EPs from the original had stuff in trailers that never made the final cut. The Hot Date EP was heavily criticised when it first came out because of a bug that prevent the original Mrs Crumplebotton showing up and kids couldn't be taken downtown without a 'cheat' and objects have been seen from very early screenshots of the original that have never been seen since
It's like everyone involved in the development had a brain wipe. Sales may -or may not - have been a failure, but the ideas and implementation certainly were. Just my humble opinion.
I believe there might have been emotional break downs within the company which influenced the game. Tossing out serious and key game elements to replace then with something as bland as emotions. That don't work well.
You are all WRONG the sims4 is a great game sure it lacks stuff but remember we can't have everything in a game all at once and the as expansion packs and stuff packs comes out for the sims4 the sims4 will improve.
TS4 is a great game is a matter of opinion and nothing more. What is great for you may not be so great to someone else. We all have our own likes/dislikes/preferences. Just because I like chocolate, doesn't mean I think everyone should like chocolate too and anyone who doesn't is "wrong". Do you see how silly that is?
As far as the base game goes, I personally do not expect everything but I do expect most or all the 'best and well received' features but improved from all previous base games. I also think having just weather/seasons (holidays not included but definitely would be welcomed) is long overdue to being in bg.
EP's will follow the base game/game engine limitations so more of the same old same old. Nothing to look forward to...for me that is because the base game itself seems so uninspiring and tedious. Nothing interests me about TS4 to even want to play it.
“What doesn't kill you makes you stronger
Stand a little taller
Doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone
What doesn't kill you makes a fighter
Footsteps even lighter”
It's like everyone involved in the development had a brain wipe. Sales may -or may not - have been a failure, but the ideas and implementation certainly were. Just my humble opinion.
I believe there might have been emotional break downs within the company which influenced the game. Tossing out serious and key game elements to replace then with something as bland as emotions. That don't work well.
Yeah. They thought betrayal and mediocrity wouldn't have consequences.
It's like everyone involved in the development had a brain wipe. Sales may -or may not - have been a failure, but the ideas and implementation certainly were. Just my humble opinion.
I believe there might have been emotional break downs within the company which influenced the game. Tossing out serious and key game elements to replace then with something as bland as emotions. That don't work well.
Yeah. They thought betrayal and mediocrity wouldn't have consequences.
Now I await for the release of the first EP so that I can decide whether or not I will support this franchise all the way or wait until its over and buy it when gamestop has their buy one get the other 75% off.
As of the first week of November - retail sales of Sims 4 was at over a million. That is not including any downloaded sales - just the physical disk sales.
Do you have proof of that? Something that you can actually show a link to, because far as im concerned even if you are a stockholder EA isn't releasing data on those sales just yet to anyone. Frankly what i find odd is that other sites have published that sims 4 hadn't even made 800,000 over all retail sales let alone 1 million like you claim in the first week.
I think that 400,000 retail is more accurate and digital probably far less given the mass exodus of returns. Until ea posts some actual figures im going to have say i don't believe you one bit.
See this is the NPD Software sales out for september
Sims 4 is ranked 8th. We know that Supersmash brothers sold 705k in copies in september
I may not know the accurate number but i know well enough sims 4 retail sales or otherwise first week was not 1 million and fact far from it. since it falls at 8th place and just above hyrule warriors at 100k i would say sims 4 probably landed about 400k to 500k retail sales.
But when you look at that chart, notice that it includes all platforms, not just PC -- in fact Sims 4 is the only game that's only available on PC. That's going to deflate numbers considerably -- you've got people who don't buy games for PC because that's what their console system is for, or maybe their parents/spouses don't want the family computer cluttered up with games when it's needed for working at home. So it's not that inaccurate to argue that Sims 4 sold well for PC.
Check out my Gallery! Origin ID: justme22
Fun must be always -- Tomas Hertl (San Jose Sharks hockey player)
It's like everyone involved in the development had a brain wipe. Sales may -or may not - have been a failure, but the ideas and implementation certainly were. Just my humble opinion.
I believe there might have been emotional break downs within the company which influenced the game. Tossing out serious and key game elements to replace then with something as bland as emotions. That don't work well.
Yeah. They thought betrayal and mediocrity wouldn't have consequences.
Greed above all else. In my mind I see a simple flow chart of TS2 & TS3. Now you take the best of both, check the Store for what products were best sellers, implement all of that, flesh it out in 2014 code and voila! you have a beautiful, fun, amazing life simulation game. Instead EA threw out the flowchart, ignored Store sales, ignored long standing customers and simply said "Hey RPG games make lots of money! Let's do that and we'll make the game on the cheap and charge lots of money since our core customers are 15 years old and will buy anything cause "the Sims!" and what do they know?" And here we are.
Edited again. I'll spit it out eventually.
Post edited by Wildley Curious on
“I was so sure that I knew what they needed and what I wanted to sell them that I never stopped long enough to find out what it was they wanted to buy.”
― Chris Murray, The Extremely Successful Salesman's Club
You are all WRONG the sims4 is a great game sure it lacks stuff but remember we can't have everything in a game all at once and the as expansion packs and stuff packs comes out for the sims4 the sims4 will improve.
TS4 is a great game is a matter of opinion and nothing more. What is great for you may not be so great to someone else. We all have our own likes/dislikes/preferences. Just because I like chocolate, doesn't mean I think everyone should like chocolate too and anyone who doesn't is "wrong". Do you see how silly that is?
As far as the base game goes, I personally do not expect everything but I do expect most or all the 'best and well received' features but improved from all previous base games. I also think having just weather/seasons (holidays not included but definitely would be welcomed) is long overdue to being in bg.
EP's will follow the base game/game engine limitations so more of the same old same old. Nothing to look forward to...for me that is because the base game itself seems so uninspiring and tedious. Nothing interests me about TS4 to even want to play it.
-content removed-
Foul language much? People who dislike The Sims 4 have have every right to be here. We are expressing our discontent with it. It is feedback, which any good company would want, yes? (Whether EA is a good company or not is up to you.)
Comments
You can always use the game as a coaster for your coffee table?
it works great whenever i need to fix a wobbly table
Hopefully not at the same time you're trying to use it as a coaster.
The people who made it obviously. Why buy something you don't like?
Repose en paix mamie tu va me manquer :
1923-2016 mamie
Thanks for validating that your opinion is the correct one.
........
......
.....
yes. that was sarcasm.
Thank you for your descriptive and fact based thesis as for why we are all wrong...
As I have said in other threads, TS4 lacks the depth of previous versions of the franchise. For me, TS2 had the best *game play* of the series. I love the things that TS3 brought to the franchise - especially CASt - but it didn't have the depth of TS2. In TS2 it was just as much fun to ruin a Sim's life as it was to make them succeed. The animations were longer and more intricate in TS2, and there were more options for almost anything you wanted to do. Even little things were treated with care and fully fleshed out - hair was animated, Sims got into and out of cars (once they were added) and there were dozens of little 'Easter eggs" sprinkled throughout the game.
In general it felt as if the programmers for TS2 were players *AND* as if they were give extra time to add their own little touches to the game. I am aware that when EA closed down the separate Maxis office (so that they could be moved to EA corporate headquarters) that a lot of senior programmers were simply 'let go'. Then, a year or so later there was a large lay-off of programmers that management felt were too expensive - that is, they had experience and had been with the company long enough to get some raises. Those programmers were replaced with less experience programmers fresh from college. I believe (I am too lazy to look it up) that something similar happened again around the time TS3: World Adventures was released.
Think of it like this: you have a restaurant that gets rave reviews and is very popular, but you want to get more profit from it. So you fire the chefs who have created the award-winning menu and hire a bunch of young, untested cooks, fresh out of school to replace them. You shove the old chef's fabulously complex recipe book into the hands of the new chefs and tell them to go out and reproduce it, right now, no time to practice, they have to be ready to feed the customers tonight.
What do you think would actually happen to that restaurant?
Frankly, I don't think that EA's senior management understands their product at all. They seem to be treating game production the way you would produce cars or furniture or widgets or sprockets. But games aren't widgets or sprockets or any other kind of mass-produced gadget - they are an art form. Making a good game requires creativity and a little talent which can't really be rushed and micro-managed. It appears that someone in EA thinks that if the can reduce programming time by a few hundred man-hours they can eke out more of a profit - well that sort of economizing might work when producing widgets, it doesn't work at all when making something creative.
The best thing that I could recommend for EA is that instead of recruiting management from industry they should look more towards film, television or music and see how those sorts of companies are managed. Then instead of chasing every game-industry fad - like micro-transactions and online games - they could actually make something that engages their audience again.
Pennsatucky?
In regards to the thread, TS4 wasn't necessarily a flop... it just didn't do as well as the other games. Consider the fact it reached #1 in the UK too - one of the biggest markets for gaming.
Now with S4... well, I haven't played it in a couple of weeks. It just isn't holding my interest. I keep coming here hoping some news is forthcoming about their next expansion, but it there's nothing. That's bad. Because if they're determined to sell a lot of expansions and DLC to keep S4 going, they really need to keep our attention and mine is waning away.
TS4 honestly feels so out of place within the franchise after watching TS1 and TS2's trailers.
I have seen trailers for all the first 3 and the funny thing is they all show things that never made it into the final game but still show how good the games would become
Supposedly there was a server fire at Maxis/EA that caused content in development to be lost during TS2's base game development, perhaps content seen in the trailer was included (things like swinging from fans, etc.). However, they were able to recover the game itself quite well, as can be seen by the final release. It makes me wonder how the team back then was able to recover from a huge issue in development when the team now wasn't exactly able to do the same, recovering from Olympus/the original, online version of TS4.
Anyway, yeah, that was very common with a lot of TS3's expansion pack trailers and TS2's trailer that was linked in that post. Despite that, both games did end up alright.
Think of it this way. EA is a business and a business offer goods and/or services to the public in exchange for money. It is a business' responsibility to please the consumers *if* they want to continue having a stable income and good reputation. So you see, the success or failure lies with the people at the business not the consumers. For it is their job if they want to succeed to persuade consumers their product/service is of good reputation. But of course consumers use of word of mouth through whatever means available is a very powerful message to possible new consumers, current and old consumers alike.
Thing is, if the business appeals to the majority that they corrected their errors and have learned from their mistakes, then I'm sure most would be happy to return when they feel appreciated as a person and not just $$$. There is nothing wrong in wanting quality and expecting it. Of course nothing is perfect but it's the effort the business puts into customer satisfaction that consumers will see. Because you know, action speaks louder than words. Otherwise it's no wonder a business gets a bad reputation for their product/service.
Stand a little taller
Doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone
What doesn't kill you makes a fighter
Footsteps even lighter”
― Chris Murray, The Extremely Successful Salesman's Club
I never even knew of the fire... But even EPs from the original had stuff in trailers that never made the final cut. The Hot Date EP was heavily criticised when it first came out because of a bug that prevent the original Mrs Crumplebotton showing up and kids couldn't be taken downtown without a 'cheat' and objects have been seen from very early screenshots of the original that have never been seen since
I believe there might have been emotional break downs within the company which influenced the game. Tossing out serious and key game elements to replace then with something as bland as emotions. That don't work well.
TS4 is a great game is a matter of opinion and nothing more. What is great for you may not be so great to someone else. We all have our own likes/dislikes/preferences. Just because I like chocolate, doesn't mean I think everyone should like chocolate too and anyone who doesn't is "wrong". Do you see how silly that is?
As far as the base game goes, I personally do not expect everything but I do expect most or all the 'best and well received' features but improved from all previous base games. I also think having just weather/seasons (holidays not included but definitely would be welcomed) is long overdue to being in bg.
EP's will follow the base game/game engine limitations so more of the same old same old. Nothing to look forward to...for me that is because the base game itself seems so uninspiring and tedious. Nothing interests me about TS4 to even want to play it.
Stand a little taller
Doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone
What doesn't kill you makes a fighter
Footsteps even lighter”
Yeah. They thought betrayal and mediocrity wouldn't have consequences.
Now I await for the release of the first EP so that I can decide whether or not I will support this franchise all the way or wait until its over and buy it when gamestop has their buy one get the other 75% off.
But when you look at that chart, notice that it includes all platforms, not just PC -- in fact Sims 4 is the only game that's only available on PC. That's going to deflate numbers considerably -- you've got people who don't buy games for PC because that's what their console system is for, or maybe their parents/spouses don't want the family computer cluttered up with games when it's needed for working at home. So it's not that inaccurate to argue that Sims 4 sold well for PC.
Fun must be always -- Tomas Hertl (San Jose Sharks hockey player)
Greed above all else. In my mind I see a simple flow chart of TS2 & TS3. Now you take the best of both, check the Store for what products were best sellers, implement all of that, flesh it out in 2014 code and voila! you have a beautiful, fun, amazing life simulation game. Instead EA threw out the flowchart, ignored Store sales, ignored long standing customers and simply said "Hey RPG games make lots of money! Let's do that and we'll make the game on the cheap and charge lots of money since our core customers are 15 years old and will buy anything cause "the Sims!" and what do they know?" And here we are.
Edited again. I'll spit it out eventually.
― Chris Murray, The Extremely Successful Salesman's Club
Foul language much? People who dislike The Sims 4 have have every right to be here. We are expressing our discontent with it. It is feedback, which any good company would want, yes? (Whether EA is a good company or not is up to you.)
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