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The Sims 4 Marketing has gone too far
bixters
Posts: 2,299 Member
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OywxHhshICASo now, every time you open the Sims 4, a pop up will come up, showing you a random DLC you don't own, and telling you to buy it, even with a timer at the bottom. The items are completely random and not on sale
What do you think about this?
I think it's horribly intrusive and unnecessary. It really shows where this company's priorities are- MONEY!
Why don't they work on improving the actual game rather than trying to sell their overpriced DLC??
I thought Ubisoft was bad, this might be a new low!
This video is based on this article from the Sims Community: https://simscommunity.info/2020/04/17/the-sims-4s-main-menu-is-now-reminding-players-that-they-dont-own-certain-packs/
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Also, you know when there were the pictures of the latest released packs, right? Like the box art or whatever it is called on the main menu. A couple of months ago it started to show the packs I don't own instead and it says something like: We think you would like this pack!
And they literally show me the packs I absolutely don't want and that I avoid - Vampires, Strangerville, Island Living and Get to Work. What do these have in common? Occults or just something "extraterrestrial". One would have thought such advertisment would be personalized.
Yes. I've had that recently too. If it was on sale, I'd understand it as a marketing choice, even though it's pushy, but when it's not on sale, I definitely don't want it coming up like that.
I don't play Sims Mobile but you can complete the events in Freeplay without spending any money.
They should just accept the fact that there are some players that won't want some DLC. Like when you're into a toy line as a kid, you have some kids who get (or bug their parents to oblivion trying to get) everything that comes out for it, because they want the complete set. Then, you have other kids who are content to just have all of their favorite characters, one or two of the better vehicles, and one minor playset, because that's all they need. The toy company can put the whole set on the back of the package with a big "Collect Em' All!" stamped on it all they want, but the customers will only buy what they want, no more, no less. That's Business 101. You can't make someone buy something they don't want. The best you can do is sell the thing someone doesn't want in a double/multi/bargain pack with the thing(s) they do want to move that junk inventory a little faster or discount the less popular items really heavily and break even or sell them at a loss as a result.
Man, I'd hate to see the college transcripts of EA's marketing team, because the way they've been marketing TS4, it looks like they barely passed all of their major courses...
I don't want the packs I haven't bought for a reason. Some I still want, but I'm waiting for a good enough sale because I like some parts of it but don't think worth full price (looking at you, expansion packs).
But certainly the shameless plug for more cash on their end is in such bad taste right now because um, hello? Global pandemic. Millions have lost jobs and even more are probably short on money now, and your going to try and get them to spend more in such a...distasteful way? No way. Obviously from a marketing standpoint they're like "lots of people are home now, we can totally get more sales" which is true but there's a line between tasteful, honest advertising that fulfills a need and advertising whose only intent is to take advantage of a situation.
Anyway, end rant. TLDR: the ads are annoying and I hate them
And it isn't the only time that was done. It was done in The Sims 3 as mentioned in the video, but also in The Sims 2. If you own an expansion pack or stuff pack but don't own the packs that came before it, you'll notice unclickable buttons in neighborhood screen, build/buy modes, and live mode. Hovering over them shows a message that this feature is from a pack you don't own.
Yeah, knowing there's a timer sounds pretty questionable to me. I don't like it either.
Yeah, I guess The Sims has always had this sort of marketing for quite some time. I guess this one is really pushing people's buttons because it's so -in-your-face. Pop-ups are always annoying, eh?
Really, the checklist type things are much more tasteful than the pop-ups. You can ignore those graphics and the little store icons in TS3 if you're not interested, but pop-ups are just plain obnoxious. There's a reason why they were immediately branded a blight among internet users in the late 90's through the 2000's. No one likes to have an add pop up and blocking your view of the thing that you're actually interested in interacting with.
It is very pushy. I think the greyed out icons on the main screen should have been enough.
I just opened my game and had it pop up with the stuff pack I already own. Plus the picture next to it didn't match (I was advertised Tiny Living, the picture next to it was Perfect Patio).
I seriously had to post it on my YouTube community page. Seriously EA?
https://www.youtube.com/post/UgyTjVX_uE7ZLsfmf194AaABCQ?app=desktop
Seriously EA, [removed by EA_Mai - keep it polite].
That's a good point. I know when I was in the US visiting, Tumblr had posts on the dash that were actually ads. I never saw those when I was in Canada. Maybe depending on your IP address, there's a chance you'll see these pop-ups when you open the game.
Yeah, overpriced game. I only buy it when it's on sale. The EP is supposed to be $20, GP $10, SP maybe $3-$5.
EA is on a stock market, I guess they really care about the profit or the financial report won't look good for investor and hence their stock price may drop. They keep on releasing new packs every few months, just to earn more money to pay their employee and the rest of it is profit.
It's not SimGuru fault when the game lack of content and depth, it's the marketing part that wanted to generate more money, spending most of the time on creating new packs to sell, instead of fixing the broken game (cause fixing game ain't generate $cash$). I don't believe they care about us until they fix and add the features the community asks.
I’d bet when TS5 comes around, TS4’s main menu will have it enlarged front and center every time you boot up the game, just like the packs are presently.
Personally, I think it’s unnecessary. People will buy or not buy regardless.