Reading the answers in the comments here people aren't answering same question, but here are my answers:
Failure in sales? Hardly.
Failure as a game? It does what it is suppose to, I guess.
Failure a Sims title, and successor to the series? I wholeheartedly believe I believe it is, and the expansions haven't done anything so far to help from being a disappointment and feeling unfinished.> @PHOEBESMOM601 said:
> Impakt wrote: »
>
> Reading the answers in the comments here people aren't answering same question, but here are my answers:
>
> Failure in sales? Hardly.
> Failure as a game? It does what it is suppose to, I guess.
> Failure a Sims title, and successor to the series? I wholeheartedly believe I believe it is, and the expansions haven't done anything so far to help from being a disappointment and feeling unfinished.
>
>
>
>
> And this is your opinion correct?....because I don't think anyone but EA knows how sales have been and are going.
If you are having trouble figuring out whether or not if something that is obviously an opinion is an opinion. Let me spell it out for you: It is my opinion.
My opinion is based on hearsay, from the multitude of comments along the lines of "TS4, has outsold TS# therefore not a failure" true or not I have to agree that is some degree of success. It may be an abled bodied person taking gold in the special Olympics but it is what it is. If you are asking has EA/Maxis achieved success as in have they sold enough copies to recoup their investment and possibly profit you are correct only EA and those privy to that information knows not some random guy who happens a copy, obviously.
See that's the thing about hearsay....anybody can say anything and someone can hear it. Doesn't mean it's accurate. Only EA/Maxis can tell if it's a success or not. You might see a blog that says it sold two million (or insert whatever number) copies but if they expected to sell 10 million it's not doing well. Only time will tell us.
"People really love to explore 'failure states. In fact, the failure states are really much more interesting than the success states." ~ Will Wright
Reading the answers in the comments here people aren't answering same question, but here are my answers:
Failure in sales? Hardly.
Failure as a game? It does what it is suppose to, I guess.
Failure a Sims title, and successor to the series? I wholeheartedly believe I believe it is, and the expansions haven't done anything so far to help from being a disappointment and feeling unfinished.> @PHOEBESMOM601 said:
> Impakt wrote: »
>
> Reading the answers in the comments here people aren't answering same question, but here are my answers:
>
> Failure in sales? Hardly.
> Failure as a game? It does what it is suppose to, I guess.
> Failure a Sims title, and successor to the series? I wholeheartedly believe I believe it is, and the expansions haven't done anything so far to help from being a disappointment and feeling unfinished.
>
>
>
>
> And this is your opinion correct?....because I don't think anyone but EA knows how sales have been and are going.
If you are having trouble figuring out whether or not if something that is obviously an opinion is an opinion. Let me spell it out for you: It is my opinion.
My opinion is based on hearsay, from the multitude of comments along the lines of "TS4, has outsold TS# therefore not a failure" true or not I have to agree that is some degree of success. It may be an abled bodied person taking gold in the special Olympics but it is what it is. If you are asking has EA/Maxis achieved success as in have they sold enough copies to recoup their investment and possibly profit you are correct only EA and those privy to that information knows not some random guy who happens a copy, obviously.
See that's the thing about hearsay....anybody can say anything and someone can hear it. Doesn't mean it's accurate. Only EA/Maxis can tell if it's a success or not. You might see a blog that says it sold two million (or insert whatever number) copies but if they expected to sell 10 million it's not doing well. Only time will tell us.
Reading the answers in the comments here people aren't answering same question, but here are my answers:
Failure in sales? Hardly.
Failure as a game? It does what it is suppose to, I guess.
Failure a Sims title, and successor to the series? I wholeheartedly believe I believe it is, and the expansions haven't done anything so far to help from being a disappointment and feeling unfinished.> @PHOEBESMOM601 said:
> Impakt wrote: »
>
> Reading the answers in the comments here people aren't answering same question, but here are my answers:
>
> Failure in sales? Hardly.
> Failure as a game? It does what it is suppose to, I guess.
> Failure a Sims title, and successor to the series? I wholeheartedly believe I believe it is, and the expansions haven't done anything so far to help from being a disappointment and feeling unfinished.
>
>
>
>
> And this is your opinion correct?....because I don't think anyone but EA knows how sales have been and are going.
If you are having trouble figuring out whether or not if something that is obviously an opinion is an opinion. Let me spell it out for you: It is my opinion.
My opinion is based on hearsay, from the multitude of comments along the lines of "TS4, has outsold TS# therefore not a failure" true or not I have to agree that is some degree of success. It may be an abled bodied person taking gold in the special Olympics but it is what it is. If you are asking has EA/Maxis achieved success as in have they sold enough copies to recoup their investment and possibly profit you are correct only EA and those privy to that information knows not some random guy who happens a copy, obviously.
See that's the thing about hearsay....anybody can say anything and someone can hear it. Doesn't mean it's accurate. Only EA/Maxis can tell if it's a success or not. You might see a blog that says it sold two million (or insert whatever number) copies but if they expected to sell 10 million it's not doing well. Only time will tell us.
Straight from EA fiscal report : "the continued success of The Sims 4", "As well as frontline success, we sought ongoing strength from our catalog, particularly The Sims 4, and Battlefield".
Those are the ones that explicitely mentionned "success", there's a lot more about strong sales and solid revenue.
Reading the answers in the comments here people aren't answering same question, but here are my answers:
Failure in sales? Hardly.
Failure as a game? It does what it is suppose to, I guess.
Failure a Sims title, and successor to the series? I wholeheartedly believe I believe it is, and the expansions haven't done anything so far to help from being a disappointment and feeling unfinished.> @PHOEBESMOM601 said:
> Impakt wrote: »
>
> Reading the answers in the comments here people aren't answering same question, but here are my answers:
>
> Failure in sales? Hardly.
> Failure as a game? It does what it is suppose to, I guess.
> Failure a Sims title, and successor to the series? I wholeheartedly believe I believe it is, and the expansions haven't done anything so far to help from being a disappointment and feeling unfinished.
>
>
>
>
> And this is your opinion correct?....because I don't think anyone but EA knows how sales have been and are going.
If you are having trouble figuring out whether or not if something that is obviously an opinion is an opinion. Let me spell it out for you: It is my opinion.
My opinion is based on hearsay, from the multitude of comments along the lines of "TS4, has outsold TS# therefore not a failure" true or not I have to agree that is some degree of success. It may be an abled bodied person taking gold in the special Olympics but it is what it is. If you are asking has EA/Maxis achieved success as in have they sold enough copies to recoup their investment and possibly profit you are correct only EA and those privy to that information knows not some random guy who happens a copy, obviously.
See that's the thing about hearsay....anybody can say anything and someone can hear it. Doesn't mean it's accurate. Only EA/Maxis can tell if it's a success or not. You might see a blog that says it sold two million (or insert whatever number) copies but if they expected to sell 10 million it's not doing well. Only time will tell us.
Straight from EA fiscal report : "the continued success of The Sims 4", "As well as frontline success, we sought ongoing strength from our catalog, particularly The Sims 4, and Battlefield".
Those are the ones that explicitely mentionned "success", there's a lot more about strong sales and solid revenue.
First of all that was the fiscial report from the first year the game came out - there are new earning calls every quarter and believe me they are not even mentioning Sims 4 in the last two. As for the final 4th quarter for the fiscial year we just completed - the meeting is schedualled May 17th at 8:30 am (Investor Day) so we will not have the yearly report and minutes of the meeting until that meeting has came and gone. The Fiscial year just ended - and so far all we have is the over view - basically - just numbers overall for the year - not a mention of Sims 4. If any mention is forthcoming it will be said during the May 17th meeting. But you can't keep going around reporting that same old first report... or really shouldn't. I do know the last two quarterly earnings call not a word was brought up on Sims 4. All talk was about Titanfall, Star Wars, Battlefield, Madden, Fifa, Ravel, and the Apps - Free Play and Build It. No Sims 4 anything - not even a whisper.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
In dreams - I LIVE!
In REALITY, I simply exist.....
Reading the answers in the comments here people aren't answering same question, but here are my answers:
Failure in sales? Hardly.
Failure as a game? It does what it is suppose to, I guess.
Failure a Sims title, and successor to the series? I wholeheartedly believe I believe it is, and the expansions haven't done anything so far to help from being a disappointment and feeling unfinished.> @PHOEBESMOM601 said:
> Impakt wrote: »
>
> Reading the answers in the comments here people aren't answering same question, but here are my answers:
>
> Failure in sales? Hardly.
> Failure as a game? It does what it is suppose to, I guess.
> Failure a Sims title, and successor to the series? I wholeheartedly believe I believe it is, and the expansions haven't done anything so far to help from being a disappointment and feeling unfinished.
>
>
>
>
> And this is your opinion correct?....because I don't think anyone but EA knows how sales have been and are going.
If you are having trouble figuring out whether or not if something that is obviously an opinion is an opinion. Let me spell it out for you: It is my opinion.
My opinion is based on hearsay, from the multitude of comments along the lines of "TS4, has outsold TS# therefore not a failure" true or not I have to agree that is some degree of success. It may be an abled bodied person taking gold in the special Olympics but it is what it is. If you are asking has EA/Maxis achieved success as in have they sold enough copies to recoup their investment and possibly profit you are correct only EA and those privy to that information knows not some random guy who happens a copy, obviously.
See that's the thing about hearsay....anybody can say anything and someone can hear it. Doesn't mean it's accurate. Only EA/Maxis can tell if it's a success or not. You might see a blog that says it sold two million (or insert whatever number) copies but if they expected to sell 10 million it's not doing well. Only time will tell us.
Straight from EA fiscal report : "the continued success of The Sims 4", "As well as frontline success, we sought ongoing strength from our catalog, particularly The Sims 4, and Battlefield".
Those are the ones that explicitely mentionned "success", there's a lot more about strong sales and solid revenue.
First of all that was the fiscial report from the first year the game came out - there are new earning calls every quarter and believe me they are not even mentioning Sims 4 in the last two. As for the final 4th quarter for the fiscial year we just completed - the meeting is schedualled May 17th at 8:30 am (Investor Day) so we will not have the yearly report and minutes of the meeting until that meeting has came and gone. The Fiscial year just ended - and so far all we have is the over view - basically - just numbers overall for the year - not a mention of Sims 4. If any mention is forthcoming it will be said during the May 17th meeting. But you can't keep going around reporting that same old first report... or really shouldn't. I do know the last two quarterly earnings call not a word was brought up on Sims 4. All talk was about Titanfall, Star Wars, Battlefield, Madden, Fifa, Ravel, and the Apps - Free Play and Build It. No Sims 4 anything - not even a whisper.
Well of course most come from the first year the game came out, most fiscal reports are from the first year, there's only 6 reports available, and 4 of them are in the first year.
Q2 2016 mentionned Sims 4 by the way, though mostly about its launch :
"Last year's Q2 gross margin was exceptionally strong, due to The Sims 4.",
"The quarter's revenue was 6% lower than the prior year's, as a result of an FX headwind of $110 million, and The Sims 4 launch last year"
" At constant currency, this revenue would have increased, as the growth in console downloads more than offset the absence of The Sims 4 this year"
I'm a bit surprised to see TS4 being mentionned that much to be honest, I looked at the reports during the TS3 era and TS3 was mentionned only at launch, then it was all about TS3 console, TS Freeplay, and other games of the franchise. And frankly between Starwars Battlefront and a TS4 EP, which one do you think have the highest interest for the investors ? I doubt TS4 EPs have as big a budget as Starwars Battlefront. And they mentionned in Q1 2016 that TS4 was basically gaining momentum with the EPs, and that they expected the trend to continue, so unless something changes, I doubt they are going to talk a lot about it.
I attend almost every earning call, via live audio/video conference call because EA is part of my hubbies 401 k Investment portfolio package - but there is a new Earnings Call every 3 months. You may be thinking of just the Investors meeting or the Stock holders meetings - they are one or two a year. But the games doing well are always mentioned as are games being made, release times - you name it. The only things they don't mention is games not doing as expected. So it is concerning.
Well TitanFall 2, Star Wars, Mirrors Edge are all big in the talks, Need for Speed, DA, and of course EA Mobile. Always lots of info on Madden, Fifa, and other sports games are always mentioned and of course killing it. But you are talking games that are making their EA predicted sales which are often 9-13 million units their first quarter- compared to our little Sims 4 taking nearly 5 quarters to reach 1 and a half million with additional packs added (that I believe was just physical sales and not digital). Even Sims 3 got mentioned - but Sims 4 did not at the 3rd quarter earning call - well for one Sims 3 was being added to that game card play thing and the Sims 3 mobile eps were doing good, as well as the game itself was again selling good at the EA store. You would think if Sims 4 was doing anything in 14 pages of that transcript on how all were doing - they might have gotten a mention. I was not surprised to all of a sudden to see the Gurus suddenly starting to talk again - never mind posting and asking for info from fans on toddlers and then on the retail business post.
But I can't say for sure that is why - I just find it suspect when suddenly there was nothing said about Sims 4 in the last two quarters... on top of it they are suddenly having the Guru's working all kinds of hours and actually again caring what we think after weeks and weeks of total silence.
Post edited by Writin_Reg on
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
In dreams - I LIVE!
In REALITY, I simply exist.....
I attend almost every earning call, via live audio/video conference call because EA is part of my hubbies 401 k Investment package - and there is a new Earnings Call every 3 months. You may be thinking of just the Investors meeting or the Stock holders meetings - they are one or two a year. But the games doing well are always mentioned as are games being made, release times - you name it. The only things they don't mention is games not doing as expected. So it is concerning.
Are you saying TS3 was not doing as expected ?
I think they are mentionning what holds the most weight at a given moment. In Q2 2016/Q3 2016, we were just before/in the holiday season, which is the moment where all those big games with big budget are released. Don't you think the investors are more interested in knowing how well those games went rather than the n-th pack for a game that sells all year long, and that they were already told was growing and gaining momentum, because it's all about the layering of packs.
I don't know, it seems to me like you expect a TV sport show to focus on the middle of the marathon, and not show the 100m sprint finish line.
You tell me - you claim to have the earning call - the investors and stock holders always ask questions - you should know what kind of questions they ask at EA. I don't see how I am telling you anything you can't look up under the questions and answer section of the conference calls. I have been attending these calls long before there was a Sims 4 - (since 2007) and granted Sims games never garner the kind of attention Madden and Fifa, and the big name games get - still - they usually get a bit of mention because it is one of the 5 main divisions at EA.
Here - see if you can read this. This was the January Conference call transcript - it includes the question and answer segment. I don't see any mention of Sims 4 at all. They generally don't say much, but the usually mention it was doing as projected or something along those lines - no mention that I can see. Like I said I could not sit through the live call due to weather conditions keeping me off the net - so all I got was the transcript.
Here you want to read some of the others - as you can see they come out every quarter -
ETA - the next one will be interesting as it is an Investors Day Earnings call meeting on May 17 at 8:30 am (PT) - the company that holds my hubbies portfolio should be at this one...
Post edited by Writin_Reg on
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
In dreams - I LIVE!
In REALITY, I simply exist.....
You tell me - you claim to have the earning call - the investors and stock holders always ask questions - you should know what kind of questions they ask at EA. I don't see how I am telling you anything you can't look up under the questions and answer section of the conference calls. I have been attending these calls long before there was a Sims 4 - (since 2007) and granted Sims games never garner the kind of attention Madden and Fifa, and the big name games get - still - they usually get a bit of mention because it is one of the 5 main divisions at EA.
Oh and TS3 is apparently still doing fine.
In Q2/Q3 2016, there was a lot of talk about Star Wars, with the movie going out and several EA games on the Star Wars IP (Star Wars Battlefront, SWTOR, Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes).
I didn't see your edit above so to add to it, there's one thing to keep in mind, it's that Sims games are really more marathoners than sprinters. It was mentionned just before TS3 launch that TS2 had a really long tail, it continued to sell well during several years ("Our last big launch, The Sims 2, shipped in 2004 with a very long tail – selling over 4M copies of the base game each year for three years in a row"), and that's rather unusual for video games. They said that "the strength of The Sims franchise is the layering in of expansion packs that really fuel not just the expansion pack revenue, but bring people into the core game", and I think that's something to keep in mind when it's competing for attention with other games which are more seasonal.
I hope they do - One thing I don't want is the series to end even if I am not overjoyed with the present game - I know how a single ep can make all the difference in the world. I want to see the Sims 4 be something we can all enjoy - and I cannot see it not getting any mention. That bothers and worries me. LOL.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
In dreams - I LIVE!
In REALITY, I simply exist.....
I hope they do - One thing I don't want is the series to end even if I am not overjoyed with the present game - I know how a single ep can make all the difference in the world. I want to see the Sims 4 be something we can all enjoy - and I cannot see it not getting any mention. That bothers and worries me. LOL.
We'll see TS4 future a bit more clearly next tuesday at least. The big game changer EPs are usually not the very first ones, but now that we're almost at the third one, it will soon be really interesting to see what they have in store
I'm really glad SimGuruGraham mentionned both Seasons and Pets as classic themes likely to return (or at least more than WA ) because Seasons have a lot of potential in my mind.
Yeah, I'm always wondering why those other type games go ahead and build their games and don't build them for laptops and or older graphic cards, and don't sweat if they lose those players, knowing they are going to gain the gamer. I don't think those big RPG/Shooter/MMOs worry about low end pcs.
Because they are targeted at hardcore gamers who can be expected to have strong gaming computers and because those games usually also are M rated and not T rated. If people with weaker older computers play those games at all they probably attempt to download the games for free from piracy sites. So the game companies don't mind at all to give those games high minimum requirements
The problem with the Sims games is that they always have been a kind of dollhouse simulations which always have been targeted primarily at very young teen girls who otherwise only can be expected to have played small free casual games. So even though the Sims games also are played by many adults they are targeted at a group who can't be expected to have strong gaming computers.
The problem with the Sims games is that they always have been a kind of dollhouse simulations which always have been targeted primarily at very young teen girls who otherwise only can be expected to have played small free casual games. So even though the Sims games also are played by many adults they are targeted at a group who can't be expected to have strong gaming computers.
Which in fact is the reason why I am playing. It keeps me ever young. LOL
The problem with the Sims games is that they always have been a kind of dollhouse simulations which always have been targeted primarily at very young teen girls who otherwise only can be expected to have played small free casual games. So even though the Sims games also are played by many adults they are targeted at a group who can't be expected to have strong gaming computers.
Which in fact is the reason why I am playing. It keeps me ever young. LOL
To my knowledge the only persons who were embarrassed because they played the Sims games (because they actually felt that they were too old to play them) were several older teens (about 15 to 19 yrs old) in our Danish Sims 2 forum. I have never met adults who felt in the same way
I play games mainly to keep me young too. But not just Sims games because I actually believe that playing any game will do that
I think that The Sims 4 is amazing and it's a big improvement from The Sims 3. Yes, I miss CASt and open world but I would sarcafice them in the name of Sims themselves and Sims are not static, robotic and emotionless like they were in The Sims 3, the list of missing features is getting smaller by time and the game has improved alot with only 2 eps so I think that the future of The Sims 4 is more than bright. Just be patient
I do find it rather interesting that in that report @Writin_Reg linked the ONLY mention of any Sims game at all is Sims FreePlay. Now either these people are just trying to quietly convince shareholders mobile is the way to go or TS4 isn't doing all that well. Of course I don't expect after roughly a year-and-a-half for TS4 to have the same amount of sales as it did initially but considering it is a major Sims title it should still be making enough to be worth mentioning--that is if its sales numbers actually were worth mentioning--and the sales of various packs, something released fairly regularly, should be noteworthy. That brings us back around to successful sales equals mention in earnings reports whereas no info indicates sales not worth mentioning.
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Yeah, I'm always wondering why those other type games go ahead and build their games and don't build them for laptops and or older graphic cards, and don't sweat if they lose those players, knowing they are going to gain the gamer. I don't think those big RPG/Shooter/MMOs worry about low end pcs.
Because they are targeted at hardcore gamers who can be expected to have strong gaming computers and because those games usually also are M rated and not T rated. If people with weaker older computers play those games at all they probably attempt to download the games for free from piracy sites. So the game companies don't mind at all to give those games high minimum requirements
The problem with the Sims games is that they always have been a kind of dollhouse simulations which always have been targeted primarily at very young teen girls who otherwise only can be expected to have played small free casual games. So even though the Sims games also are played by many adults they are targeted at a group who can't be expected to have strong gaming computers.
Time for them to start targeting a different audience then. An audience with money to buy good equipment.
I was just reading an article about the original Sims game and in it I ran across a statement from one of the designers.
"the Sims team had to survive a management push to make the game more like a Hollywood sitcom, featuring pre-scripted story lines and characters who were exclusively young adults. "
So this had me thinking. Ms Franklin said that TS4 was going to return to TS roots yet she has also been known to say it's going to be like a soap opera or reality TV.
So the original team resisted the push to make it like a sitcom but now it's actually more like one according to Ms. Franklin.
I guess it all got confused in the developing.
I also was surprised to read that the original Sims target audience was gender neutral. In fact until a few EPs came out the players who registered games were 85% male. I believe the article said that after Hot Date was released was the first time the female audience went over 50%.
"People really love to explore 'failure states. In fact, the failure states are really much more interesting than the success states." ~ Will Wright
"the Sims team had to survive a management push to make the game more like a Hollywood sitcom, featuring pre-scripted story lines and characters who were exclusively young adults. " *shudder* I would have uninstalled it in an instant.
I'm a girl who likes to play with boys, what can I say...
“Instead of putting players in the role of Luke Skywalker, or Frodo Baggins, I'd rather put them in the role of George Lucas.”Will Wright.
I was just reading an article about the original Sims game and in it I ran across a statement from one of the designers.
"the Sims team had to survive a management push to make the game more like a Hollywood sitcom, featuring pre-scripted story lines and characters who were exclusively young adults. "
So this had me thinking. Ms Franklin said that TS4 was going to return to TS roots yet she has also been known to say it's going to be like a soap opera or reality TV.
So the original team resisted the push to make it like a sitcom but now it's actually more like one according to Ms. Franklin.
I guess it all got confused in the developing.
I also was surprised to read that the original Sims target audience was gender neutral. In fact until a few EPs came out the players who registered games were 85% male. I believe the article said that after Hot Date was released was the first time the female audience went over 50%.
Yeah when I heard the Sims 4 referred to like reality TV or a soap opera in that interview, I really feared for the vague "vision" of the game.
Anyways, there was actually a stat for the Sims 3 I think being like 49% male and 51% female, so it was pretty gender neutral.
“Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.” –Helen Keller
You know...I've been thinking about that quote from @PHOEBESMOM601 about management wanting ts4 to be more like a sitcom....
How? Nothing ever happens in the game? Apart from sims dying of laughter. heck, we've only just had jealousy tweaked so that now we cna occasionally get autonomous slapping... I mean where's the drama? Epic fail management team. Booo
This has me feeling really angry, weirdly... I mean how do you get from ts2 to trying to make the sims 4 to be a sitcom??? What the heck?
I'm a girl who likes to play with boys, what can I say...
“Instead of putting players in the role of Luke Skywalker, or Frodo Baggins, I'd rather put them in the role of George Lucas.”Will Wright.
You know...I've been thinking about that quote from @PHOEBESMOM601 about management wanting ts4 to be more like a sitcom....
How? Nothing ever happens in the game? Apart from sims dying of laughter. heck, we've only just had jealousy tweaked so that now we cna occasionally get autonomous slapping... I mean where's the drama? Epic fail management team. Booo
This has me feeling really angry, weirdly... I mean how do you get from ts2 to trying to make the sims 4 to be a sitcom??? What the heck?
You know...I've been thinking about that quote from @PHOEBESMOM601 about management wanting ts4 to be more like a sitcom....
How? Nothing ever happens in the game? Apart from sims dying of laughter. heck, we've only just had jealousy tweaked so that now we cna occasionally get autonomous slapping... I mean where's the drama? Epic fail management team. Booo
This has me feeling really angry, weirdly... I mean how do you get from ts2 to trying to make the sims 4 to be a sitcom??? What the heck?
That actually does sound like most of the sitcoms I've ever tried to watch. I die every time I hear a laugh track and the things that are supposed to be funny remind me a lot of the Three Stooges which I only ever found lame, not remotely funny.
I can understand it taking a while for women to get into Sims. Games have always had a heavy male player base with the majority of women not going for it. It would take a while for the word to spread and get females really involved.
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Comments
See that's the thing about hearsay....anybody can say anything and someone can hear it. Doesn't mean it's accurate. Only EA/Maxis can tell if it's a success or not. You might see a blog that says it sold two million (or insert whatever number) copies but if they expected to sell 10 million it's not doing well. Only time will tell us.
Please, just stop.
Straight from EA fiscal report : "the continued success of The Sims 4", "As well as frontline success, we sought ongoing strength from our catalog, particularly The Sims 4, and Battlefield".
Those are the ones that explicitely mentionned "success", there's a lot more about strong sales and solid revenue.
First of all that was the fiscial report from the first year the game came out - there are new earning calls every quarter and believe me they are not even mentioning Sims 4 in the last two. As for the final 4th quarter for the fiscial year we just completed - the meeting is schedualled May 17th at 8:30 am (Investor Day) so we will not have the yearly report and minutes of the meeting until that meeting has came and gone. The Fiscial year just ended - and so far all we have is the over view - basically - just numbers overall for the year - not a mention of Sims 4. If any mention is forthcoming it will be said during the May 17th meeting. But you can't keep going around reporting that same old first report... or really shouldn't. I do know the last two quarterly earnings call not a word was brought up on Sims 4. All talk was about Titanfall, Star Wars, Battlefield, Madden, Fifa, Ravel, and the Apps - Free Play and Build It. No Sims 4 anything - not even a whisper.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
In dreams - I LIVE!
In REALITY, I simply exist.....
Well of course most come from the first year the game came out, most fiscal reports are from the first year, there's only 6 reports available, and 4 of them are in the first year.
Q2 2016 mentionned Sims 4 by the way, though mostly about its launch :
"Last year's Q2 gross margin was exceptionally strong, due to The Sims 4.",
"The quarter's revenue was 6% lower than the prior year's, as a result of an FX headwind of $110 million, and The Sims 4 launch last year"
" At constant currency, this revenue would have increased, as the growth in console downloads more than offset the absence of The Sims 4 this year"
I'm a bit surprised to see TS4 being mentionned that much to be honest, I looked at the reports during the TS3 era and TS3 was mentionned only at launch, then it was all about TS3 console, TS Freeplay, and other games of the franchise. And frankly between Starwars Battlefront and a TS4 EP, which one do you think have the highest interest for the investors ? I doubt TS4 EPs have as big a budget as Starwars Battlefront. And they mentionned in Q1 2016 that TS4 was basically gaining momentum with the EPs, and that they expected the trend to continue, so unless something changes, I doubt they are going to talk a lot about it.
Well TitanFall 2, Star Wars, Mirrors Edge are all big in the talks, Need for Speed, DA, and of course EA Mobile. Always lots of info on Madden, Fifa, and other sports games are always mentioned and of course killing it. But you are talking games that are making their EA predicted sales which are often 9-13 million units their first quarter- compared to our little Sims 4 taking nearly 5 quarters to reach 1 and a half million with additional packs added (that I believe was just physical sales and not digital). Even Sims 3 got mentioned - but Sims 4 did not at the 3rd quarter earning call - well for one Sims 3 was being added to that game card play thing and the Sims 3 mobile eps were doing good, as well as the game itself was again selling good at the EA store. You would think if Sims 4 was doing anything in 14 pages of that transcript on how all were doing - they might have gotten a mention. I was not surprised to all of a sudden to see the Gurus suddenly starting to talk again - never mind posting and asking for info from fans on toddlers and then on the retail business post.
But I can't say for sure that is why - I just find it suspect when suddenly there was nothing said about Sims 4 in the last two quarters... on top of it they are suddenly having the Guru's working all kinds of hours and actually again caring what we think after weeks and weeks of total silence.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
In dreams - I LIVE!
In REALITY, I simply exist.....
Are you saying TS3 was not doing as expected ?
I think they are mentionning what holds the most weight at a given moment. In Q2 2016/Q3 2016, we were just before/in the holiday season, which is the moment where all those big games with big budget are released. Don't you think the investors are more interested in knowing how well those games went rather than the n-th pack for a game that sells all year long, and that they were already told was growing and gaining momentum, because it's all about the layering of packs.
I don't know, it seems to me like you expect a TV sport show to focus on the middle of the marathon, and not show the 100m sprint finish line.
Oh and TS3 is apparently still doing fine.
http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/ERTS/0x0x872356/7F962E69-55E5-4A23-AB6A-F513DBCAF89D/EA-Transcript-2016-01-28T22_00.pdf
Here - see if you can read this. This was the January Conference call transcript - it includes the question and answer segment. I don't see any mention of Sims 4 at all. They generally don't say much, but the usually mention it was doing as projected or something along those lines - no mention that I can see. Like I said I could not sit through the live call due to weather conditions keeping me off the net - so all I got was the transcript.
Here you want to read some of the others - as you can see they come out every quarter -
http://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/ea/call-transcripts
ETA - the next one will be interesting as it is an Investors Day Earnings call meeting on May 17 at 8:30 am (PT) - the company that holds my hubbies portfolio should be at this one...
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
In dreams - I LIVE!
In REALITY, I simply exist.....
In Q2/Q3 2016, there was a lot of talk about Star Wars, with the movie going out and several EA games on the Star Wars IP (Star Wars Battlefront, SWTOR, Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes).
I didn't see your edit above so to add to it, there's one thing to keep in mind, it's that Sims games are really more marathoners than sprinters. It was mentionned just before TS3 launch that TS2 had a really long tail, it continued to sell well during several years ("Our last big launch, The Sims 2, shipped in 2004 with a very long tail – selling over 4M copies of the base game each year for three years in a row"), and that's rather unusual for video games. They said that "the strength of The Sims franchise is the layering in of expansion packs that really fuel not just the expansion pack revenue, but bring people into the core game", and I think that's something to keep in mind when it's competing for attention with other games which are more seasonal.
We'll see in May if they talk about it.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
In dreams - I LIVE!
In REALITY, I simply exist.....
We'll see TS4 future a bit more clearly next tuesday at least. The big game changer EPs are usually not the very first ones, but now that we're almost at the third one, it will soon be really interesting to see what they have in store
I'm really glad SimGuruGraham mentionned both Seasons and Pets as classic themes likely to return (or at least more than WA
The problem with the Sims games is that they always have been a kind of dollhouse simulations which always have been targeted primarily at very young teen girls who otherwise only can be expected to have played small free casual games. So even though the Sims games also are played by many adults they are targeted at a group who can't be expected to have strong gaming computers.
Which in fact is the reason why I am playing. It keeps me ever young. LOL
I play games mainly to keep me young too. But not just Sims games because I actually believe that playing any game will do that
“Instead of putting players in the role of Luke Skywalker, or Frodo Baggins, I'd rather put them in the role of George Lucas.”Will Wright.
"the Sims team had to survive a management push to make the game more like a Hollywood sitcom, featuring pre-scripted story lines and characters who were exclusively young adults. "
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/magazine/2002/04/14/guys-and-digital-dolls/9437243f-b5a4-4827-929d-9208ece7dd70/
So this had me thinking. Ms Franklin said that TS4 was going to return to TS roots yet she has also been known to say it's going to be like a soap opera or reality TV.
So the original team resisted the push to make it like a sitcom but now it's actually more like one according to Ms. Franklin.
I guess it all got confused in the developing.
I also was surprised to read that the original Sims target audience was gender neutral. In fact until a few EPs came out the players who registered games were 85% male. I believe the article said that after Hot Date was released was the first time the female audience went over 50%.
“Instead of putting players in the role of Luke Skywalker, or Frodo Baggins, I'd rather put them in the role of George Lucas.”Will Wright.
Anyways, there was actually a stat for the Sims 3 I think being like 49% male and 51% female, so it was pretty gender neutral.
How? Nothing ever happens in the game? Apart from sims dying of laughter. heck, we've only just had jealousy tweaked so that now we cna occasionally get autonomous slapping... I mean where's the drama? Epic fail management team. Booo
This has me feeling really angry, weirdly... I mean how do you get from ts2 to trying to make the sims 4 to be a sitcom??? What the heck?
“Instead of putting players in the role of Luke Skywalker, or Frodo Baggins, I'd rather put them in the role of George Lucas.”Will Wright.
https://www.google.com/search?q=sims+chart&safe=active&espv=2&biw=1280&bih=667&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiHk67bjpLMAhVJ7GMKHTTZBMQQ_AUIBygC#safe=active&tbm=isch&q=sims+chart+will+wright&imgrc=stW_gWshp9TAoM:
I guess it fits with this thread title. The Sims 4 isn't coded for failure. XD
Sigh, sorry it's Friday and I'm punchy from being tired.
That actually does sound like most of the sitcoms I've ever tried to watch. I die every time I hear a laugh track and the things that are supposed to be funny remind me a lot of the Three Stooges which I only ever found lame, not remotely funny.
I can understand it taking a while for women to get into Sims. Games have always had a heavy male player base with the majority of women not going for it. It would take a while for the word to spread and get females really involved.