TS3 sells a lot better than TS4 in general. That's why it's still full price because there is still a good level of demand for it such that the market can bear the product at full price.
LOL. TS3 doesn't go on sale anymore because almost nobody is buying it anymore. EA can make more money by charging the few people who are still buying it a higher price. It's the same reason why TS4 stuff packs rarely go on sale. Hint: it's not because SPs sell better than EPs.
Digital goods simply don't work the same way as physical goods do. When a physical store is having trouble selling an item, the item would take up valuable shelf space so the store has no choice but slashing its price to sell it. The same thing absolutely does not apply to digital goods, which take no inventory space.
TS4 is the best selling game of the franchise, having made close to $1.5 billion in revenue by now, easily the most money a Sims game has made. Quite embarrassing for TS3 considering that game had thousands of dollars' worth of store content, and yet it got outsold by TS4 easily.
TS3 sells a lot better than TS4 in general. That's why it's still full price because there is still a good level of demand for it such that the market can bear the product at full price.
LOL. TS3 doesn't go on sale anymore because almost nobody is buying it anymore. EA can make more money by charging the few people who are still buying it a higher price. It's the same reason why TS4 stuff packs rarely go on sale. Hint: it's not because SPs sell better than EPs.
TS4 is the best selling game of the franchise, having made close to $1.5 billion in revenue by now, easily the most money a Sims game has made. Quite embarrassing for TS3 considering that game had thousands of dollars' worth of store content, and yet it got outsold by TS4 easily.
@elelunicy Okay now let's just take it down a notch and kinda take a look at how The Sims 4 works, if I am not mistaken the lifetime revenue includes the DLC as well:
-Recently it was reported that The Sims 4 had reached 20 million players. That doesn't however equal copies sold. Especially with The Sims 4 being given out for free for players on previous occasions there is major influence in the number of registered players from that.
-Another factor of The Sims 4 selling better than previous games is the marketing model they are using for it. Like I said the game could be found for free or for as little as 4,99 on previous occasions. This leads to people who wouldn't have normally bought the game to try it out. Generating more sales where there would have been none. Don't forget companies wouldn't put their games on crazy sales like that if they didn't pay off, sales might look customer-friendly but they are actually very revenue friendly as well, especially in Sims 4's case. Why that is? Because once you enter the game you are greeted by a ridiculous amount of offers for DLC, that is also on sale most of the time.
That results to more base game and additional DLC copies sold to people who would have normally not spend a penny on the game to spend a moderate amount of money because every single thing is on sale!
-The Sims 4 is marketed as a more casual game/low spec game and that attracts a lot of people who have 10 year old PCs and play Bejeweled to pass the time to actually get the game even though they don't consider themselves "gamers"
-Also the Stuff Packs in the Sims 4 are almost the same as Sims 3 Store Content. EA just noticed that their store content didn't sell because of the Points system so they turned it into Stuff packs and dropped the price so more people buy it. Leading to a lot more DLC than previous titles and as you might have guessed a lot more revenue
- A generational shift towards a more digitalized world and the gaming industry in general making more and more money every year could also be a factor. Especially when you consider it has been over a decade since The Sims 3 came out. Times change
-Finally watch out when you can The Sims 3 "embarrasing" because The Sims 4 outsold it yet EA is just making profit and they are not investing in making the game better. If the Sims 4 is making so much money why are the devs constantly complaining about budget and time limitations? Now that's what I call embarrasing...
Generating more sales where there would have been none.
“Where there would have been none”... ?
I assume that’s why businesses have marketing models. To try and sell their goods.
I can grow whatever quality tomatoes, but if I don’t go out there and try to sell them, i can guess how much profit that will generate. None. Nada. Zilch. Not a sausage.
Quality or no quality, that’s beside the point when we’re looking at the numbers. Those sales were still generated...because of a marketing model none of the other games had.
Those numbers are there, no matter how you twist it or turn it.
Generating more sales where there would have been none.
“Where there would have been none”... ?
I assume that’s why businesses have marketing models. To try and sell their goods.
I can grow whatever quality tomatoes, but if I don’t go out there and try to sell them, i can guess how much profit that will generate. None. Nada. Zilch. Not a sausage.
Quality or no quality, that’s beside the point when we’re looking at the numbers. Those sales were still generated...because of a marketing model none of the other games had.
Those numbers are there, no matter how you twist it or turn it.
@CAPTAIN_NXR7 Of course but I am only analyzing why it happens more with The Sims 4 than with the Sims 3.
Also your example isn't the best one because if we take tomatoes then I'm not saying exactly that. It's not just going out there and trying to sell them. With The Sims 4 marketing model you have the equivalent of being a vegetable merchant and trying to sell tomatoes to someone who isn't looking for tomatoes and eventually going "My tomatoes are 75% off right now, they are so cheap". If the customer was only looking for let's say zucchinis he would suddenly be interested in getting the tomatoes since they are ridiculously cheap. That customer wouldn't have bought them otherwise since he didn't have tomatoes in his shopping list and would have spent 0$ on tomatoes normally. It's the low price that generates the income. Because it makes you rethink buying something you normally didn't really want/need.
Also the Sims 4 lately is kind of the equivalent of the merchant going "I'll give you these tomatoes for free as long as you take a look at all the other stuff I'm offering, some of it is even on sale". Who knows, normally the customer wouldn't have even stopped at that merchant's table, but because he was giving the tomatoes out for free he ends up going there, grabbing some and then taking a look at his other products that he normally wouldn't have paid attention too and eventually spending money. Otherwise the person could have easily walked by and he wouldn't have spent a penny.
I'm not saying this strategy is a bad thing, I'm just pointing out the difference in The Sims 3 marketing with The Sims 4 and how they managed to generate some of that crazy amount of income they did with the Sims 4.
TS4 is only selling well because they keep marking it down. I strongly believe if they did the same with TS3 it would have selled more. Imagine if they never marked down TS4 like they don't with TS3. I truly believe TS4 wouldn't be the "best selling".
-Recently it was reported that The Sims 4 had reached 20 million players. That doesn't however equal copies sold. Especially with The Sims 4 being given out for free for players on previous occasions there is major influence in the number of registered players from that.
Did anyone say otherwise?
I like how you're presenting this as if it's something very insightful, when in fact anyone with a brain would know that.
-Another factor of The Sims 4 selling better than previous games is the marketing model they are using for it. Like I said the game could be found for free or for as little as 4,99 on previous occasions. This leads to people who wouldn't have normally bought the game to try it out. Generating more sales where there would have been none. Don't forget companies wouldn't put their games on crazy sales like that if they didn't pay off, sales might look customer-friendly but they are actually very revenue friendly as well, especially in Sims 4's case. Why that is? Because once you enter the game you are greeted by a ridiculous amount of offers for DLC, that is also on sale most of the time.
That results to more base game and additional DLC copies sold to people who would have normally not spend a penny on the game to spend a moderate amount of money because every single thing is on sale!
Lmao do you seriously think TS4 is the only game with this model, when that's basically how it always worked?
TS3 for example went on sale all the time on Origin before TS4 was released. It still goes on sale on Steam very often (since the entire Steam store goes on sale during their annual sales), with the TS3 base game going as low as $2.99.
-The Sims 4 is marketed as a more casual game/low spec game and that attracts a lot of people who have 10 year old PCs and play Bejeweled to pass the time to actually get the game even though they don't consider themselves "gamers"
TS4 is NOT marketed as a low spec game (show me any marketing materials from EA that call the game "easy tor run" or "low spec friendly"). The game simply speaks for itself by running well on low spec machines.
This is the exact opposite of TS3. TS3 was NOT marketed as a "high spec" game. In fact, its minimum requirements is actually lower than TS4. The game simply spoke for itself by running poorly, regardless of the specs.
TS3 was just all-around poorly coded, especially its C# code which causes intermittent freezes when it gets overloaded. No amount of world fixing, routing fixing, error trapping, cache clearing, etc. can fix TS3's intermittent freezes.
-Also the Stuff Packs in the Sims 4 are almost the same as Sims 3 Store Content. EA just noticed that their store content didn't sell because of the Points system so they turned it into Stuff packs and dropped the price so more people buy it. Leading to a lot more DLC than previous titles and as you might have guessed a lot more revenue
That's exactly why it's embarrassing for TS3. TS4 only has $160 worth of stuff packs, while TS3 had thousands of dollars' worth of store content. And somehow TS4 has already made more money than TS3
- A generational shift towards a more digitalized world and the gaming industry in general making more and more money every year could also be a factor. Especially when you consider it has been over a decade since The Sims 3 came out. Times change
The industry as a whole is making more money through things like micro-transactions, loot boxes, and subscriptions. TS4 does none of that and is making more money than ever.
-Finally watch out when you can The Sims 3 "embarrassing" because The Sims 4 outsold it yet EA is just making profit and they are not investing in making the game better. If the Sims 4 is making so much money why are the devs constantly complaining about budget and time limitations? Now that's what I call embarrassing...
All properly managed video game productions have budget and time limitations. Many indie game projects fail precisely because they don't have the budget and time limitations that they should have. These games get delayed over and over again. They may eventually run out of funds and never come out at the end.
Yes, it will be annouced within 1 year (by mid-2021)
@elelunicy To be honest with you this has become too much text and too off-topic but there was never in any Sims game DLC listed in the main menu of the game with sales up to 75% almost every week. FYI I can't even find a single EP for The Sims 3 under 10 Euros in used condition let alone a new one. Not even Store content is ever on sale. You basically said yourself The Sims 3 doesn't go on sale anymore.
The thing about the 20 million I said for people who might not understand this believe me there are plenty out the who compare copies sold with players registered and they have brains thanks.
Bash The Sims 3 all you want at least it brought innovation, something The Sims 4 has failed to do.
About the store content I explained to you exactly why it didn't sell and EA decided to call it something familiar and made it into Stuff Packs so people don't have to make accounts, buy points and btw in 2009-2013 a lot less people were brave enough to use their credit cards online. At least in my country.
Lol, when the devs themselves complain about the limited budget and time then there is a big problem. For a game that sells so much there should be more money invested in making it better. With limitations to keep it under control sure but still more. You know where all our money goes to? To freaking Vanessa Hudgens and all those other celebs that get paid to advertise the game. EA is spending so much cash on advertisments they could spend some in the actual game as well.
Also let's not forget The Sims 4 was delayed as well
The Sims 4 is good in selling itself it is however lacking in other areas.
Generating more sales where there would have been none.
“Where there would have been none”... ?
I assume that’s why businesses have marketing models. To try and sell their goods.
I can grow whatever quality tomatoes, but if I don’t go out there and try to sell them, i can guess how much profit that will generate. None. Nada. Zilch. Not a sausage.
Quality or no quality, that’s beside the point when we’re looking at the numbers. Those sales were still generated...because of a marketing model none of the other games had.
Those numbers are there, no matter how you twist it or turn it.
@CAPTAIN_NXR7 Of course but I am only analyzing why it happens more with The Sims 4 than with the Sims 3.
Also your example isn't the best one because if we take tomatoes then I'm not saying exactly that. It's not just going out there and trying to sell them. With The Sims 4 marketing model you have the equivalent of being a vegetable merchant and trying to sell tomatoes to someone who isn't looking for tomatoes and eventually going "My tomatoes are 75% off right now, they are so cheap". If the customer was only looking for let's say zucchinis he would suddenly be interested in getting the tomatoes since they are ridiculously cheap. That customer wouldn't have bought them otherwise since he didn't have tomatoes in his shopping list and would have spent 0$ on tomatoes normally. It's the low price that generates the income. Because it makes you rethink buying something you normally didn't really want/need.
Also the Sims 4 lately is kind of the equivalent of the merchant going "I'll give you these tomatoes for free as long as you take a look at all the other stuff I'm offering, some of it is even on sale". Who knows, normally the customer wouldn't have even stopped at that merchant's table, but because he was giving the tomatoes out for free he ends up going there, grabbing some and then taking a look at his other products that he normally wouldn't have paid attention too and eventually spending money. Otherwise the person could have easily walked by and he wouldn't have spent a penny.
I'm not saying this strategy is a bad thing, I'm just pointing out the difference in The Sims 3 marketing with The Sims 4 and how they managed to generate some of that crazy amount of income they did with the Sims 4.
This freebie strategy is mainly targeted towards potential new players though. Players who are unfamiliar with the franchise. By luring them in with free donuts, or better still, have a celebrity lure them in with free donuts, they may get interested in what else the company has to offer. It has worked wonders for a lot of companies out there.
Using social media to sell their product is the intelligent thing to do as it’s quite affordable and it’s exactly where the target audience hangs out.
TS4 is lucky that way: it would have cost much more to do the same for TS3 because of how platforms are used in this day and age.
Unlike a lot of new simmers, many veteran simmers do know what they want from the franchise. Often these are features available in previous Titles. It takes a lot more to win over their hearts with whatever is being offered.
But buying something you don’t want/need says more about the customer than the business who’s trying to make a profit.
Generating more sales where there would have been none.
“Where there would have been none”... ?
I assume that’s why businesses have marketing models. To try and sell their goods.
I can grow whatever quality tomatoes, but if I don’t go out there and try to sell them, i can guess how much profit that will generate. None. Nada. Zilch. Not a sausage.
Quality or no quality, that’s beside the point when we’re looking at the numbers. Those sales were still generated...because of a marketing model none of the other games had.
Those numbers are there, no matter how you twist it or turn it.
@CAPTAIN_NXR7 Of course but I am only analyzing why it happens more with The Sims 4 than with the Sims 3.
Also your example isn't the best one because if we take tomatoes then I'm not saying exactly that. It's not just going out there and trying to sell them. With The Sims 4 marketing model you have the equivalent of being a vegetable merchant and trying to sell tomatoes to someone who isn't looking for tomatoes and eventually going "My tomatoes are 75% off right now, they are so cheap". If the customer was only looking for let's say zucchinis he would suddenly be interested in getting the tomatoes since they are ridiculously cheap. That customer wouldn't have bought them otherwise since he didn't have tomatoes in his shopping list and would have spent 0$ on tomatoes normally. It's the low price that generates the income. Because it makes you rethink buying something you normally didn't really want/need.
Also the Sims 4 lately is kind of the equivalent of the merchant going "I'll give you these tomatoes for free as long as you take a look at all the other stuff I'm offering, some of it is even on sale". Who knows, normally the customer wouldn't have even stopped at that merchant's table, but because he was giving the tomatoes out for free he ends up going there, grabbing some and then taking a look at his other products that he normally wouldn't have paid attention too and eventually spending money. Otherwise the person could have easily walked by and he wouldn't have spent a penny.
I'm not saying this strategy is a bad thing, I'm just pointing out the difference in The Sims 3 marketing with The Sims 4 and how they managed to generate some of that crazy amount of income they did with the Sims 4.
This freebie strategy is mainly targeted towards potential new players though. Players who are unfamiliar with the franchise. By luring them in with free donuts, or better still, have a celebrity lure them in with free donuts, they may get interested in what else the company has to offer. It has worked wonders for a lot of companies out there.
Using social media to sell their product is the intelligent thing to do as it’s quite affordable and it’s exactly where the target audience hangs out.
TS4 is lucky that way: it would have cost much more to do the same for TS3 because of how platforms are used in this day and age.
Unlike a lot of new simmers, many veteran simmers do know what they want from the franchise. Often these are features available in previous Titles. It takes a lot more to win over their hearts with whatever is being offered.
But buying something you don’t want/need says more about the customer than the business who’s trying to make a profit.
That freebee strategy was never used for the TS3 to sell well. Or for any legendary game.
The freebee strategy is only used for failing games. I ought to know, the frugal side of me LOVES free games and I always get them when offered, but when I install the games and play them, I can see why they're free. They're simply not fun to play.
No amount of spin about TS4 is working, despite all the efforts of EA on here to make it look otherwise, like polling and all the silly explaining or fibbing about its success. People have seen the tactics and no one really believes any of it anymore. Everytime I see these tactics it's just so eye-rolling and "Next!...."
Watch when TS4's run ends and EA is no longer trying to sell it - all the real facts will come out at how poorly it and its packs have done.
Generating more sales where there would have been none.
“Where there would have been none”... ?
I assume that’s why businesses have marketing models. To try and sell their goods.
I can grow whatever quality tomatoes, but if I don’t go out there and try to sell them, i can guess how much profit that will generate. None. Nada. Zilch. Not a sausage.
Quality or no quality, that’s beside the point when we’re looking at the numbers. Those sales were still generated...because of a marketing model none of the other games had.
Those numbers are there, no matter how you twist it or turn it.
@CAPTAIN_NXR7 Of course but I am only analyzing why it happens more with The Sims 4 than with the Sims 3.
Also your example isn't the best one because if we take tomatoes then I'm not saying exactly that. It's not just going out there and trying to sell them. With The Sims 4 marketing model you have the equivalent of being a vegetable merchant and trying to sell tomatoes to someone who isn't looking for tomatoes and eventually going "My tomatoes are 75% off right now, they are so cheap". If the customer was only looking for let's say zucchinis he would suddenly be interested in getting the tomatoes since they are ridiculously cheap. That customer wouldn't have bought them otherwise since he didn't have tomatoes in his shopping list and would have spent 0$ on tomatoes normally. It's the low price that generates the income. Because it makes you rethink buying something you normally didn't really want/need.
Also the Sims 4 lately is kind of the equivalent of the merchant going "I'll give you these tomatoes for free as long as you take a look at all the other stuff I'm offering, some of it is even on sale". Who knows, normally the customer wouldn't have even stopped at that merchant's table, but because he was giving the tomatoes out for free he ends up going there, grabbing some and then taking a look at his other products that he normally wouldn't have paid attention too and eventually spending money. Otherwise the person could have easily walked by and he wouldn't have spent a penny.
I'm not saying this strategy is a bad thing, I'm just pointing out the difference in The Sims 3 marketing with The Sims 4 and how they managed to generate some of that crazy amount of income they did with the Sims 4.
This freebie strategy is mainly targeted towards potential new players though. Players who are unfamiliar with the franchise. By luring them in with free donuts, or better still, have a celebrity lure them in with free donuts, they may get interested in what else the company has to offer. It has worked wonders for a lot of companies out there.
Using social media to sell their product is the intelligent thing to do as it’s quite affordable and it’s exactly where the target audience hangs out.
TS4 is lucky that way: it would have cost much more to do the same for TS3 because of how platforms are used in this day and age.
Unlike a lot of new simmers, many veteran simmers do know what they want from the franchise. Often these are features available in previous Titles. It takes a lot more to win over their hearts with whatever is being offered.
But buying something you don’t want/need says more about the customer than the business who’s trying to make a profit.
That freebee strategy was never used for the TS3 to sell well. Or for any legendary game.
The freebee strategy is only used for failing games. I ought to know, the frugal side of me LOVES free games and I always get them when offered, but when I install the games and play them, I can see why they're free. They're simply not fun to play.
No amount of spin about TS4 is working, despite all the efforts of EA on here to make it look otherwise, like polling and all the silly explaining or fibbing about its success. People have seen the tactics and no one really believes any of it anymore. Everytime I see these tactics it's just so eye-rolling and "Next!...."
Watch when TS4's run ends and EA is no longer trying to sell it - all the real facts will come out at how poorly it and its packs have done.
Yes, the change in strategy may have been a direct effect of TS4’s very bumpy start, because a lot of long time simmers were not happy with what they were seeing. Initially the target audience was the already established fan base. Those same simmers may be able to see through all these fireworks tactics because no matter what EA is saying about their game, many will argue that the quality of the game has dropped, compared to previous titles.
But there are two different generations of simmers now. The ‘old’ generation who is familiar with the classics and can compare TS4 with previous titles and there is the ‘new’ generation who can compare it to none.
In order to set things right, that new generation of simmers had to be established, which EA did and seemingly it worked. For now. Because right now it’s the best selling sims game.
So when you say:
“Watch when TS4's run ends and EA is no longer trying to sell it - all the real facts will come out at how poorly it and its packs have done.”
Numbers in sales will tell that the TS4 and it’s packs have done well so far, which for EA is a fact and that’s what the company will be boasting about.
Anyone with a spark of intelligence will also know that the quality of a product does not equal numbers in sales.
Therefore, and since TS4 has caught up with itself, that what happens behind the scenes in development is now more important than ever. How can a game with a subpar engine still add elements that the old generation is looking for, without losing the new generation and vice versa?
What is now important is to keep the audience. That’s why polls and surveys have been more frequent. Keep everyone engaged.
And to go back on topic, this is why it is more important than ever not to make the same mistakes with TS5. What will the company really take away from it all?
Only EA knows.
Therefore, and since TS4 has caught up with itself, that what happens behind the scenes in development is now more important than ever. How can a game with a subpar engine still add elements that the old generation is looking for, without losing the new generation and vice versa
A factor that plays a role in this: Monopoly
And I'm not talking about the board game. This unique concept and the legacy that was created by Will Wright and they creators of The Sims 2 is what has kept a lot of people invested. Including me, I don't love the Sims 4. I love the Sims and sadly there is nothing like this anywhere else.
No amount of spin about TS4 is working, despite all the efforts of EA on here to make it look otherwise, like polling and all the silly explaining or fibbing about its success. People have seen the tactics and no one really believes any of it anymore. Everytime I see these tactics it's just so eye-rolling and "Next!...."
Watch when TS4's run ends and EA is no longer trying to sell it - all the real facts will come out at how poorly it and its packs have done.
No amount of spinning can change the fact that TS4 is the best selling, most successful Sims game to date, no matter how desperate some people want to deny it.
That freebee strategy was never used for the TS3 to sell well. Or for any legendary game.
Oh really then why did Origin give out Town Life Stuff for free?
That's $20 worth of a stuff pack, equivalent to giving out an entire TS4 game pack for free.
Giving out base game for free to make more money through DLC at least makes business sense. Giving out $20 worth of a pack for free is just pathetic.
Lol, the fact that greedy EA is only willing to give away a TS3 stuff pack for free just tells me that they think the TS3 basegame is doing too well for them to want to give it away. Also giving that particular TS3 stuffpack away just confirmed to me that EA only gives away stuff that isn't selling well - the Townlife SP, although a good stuff pack, wasn't a stuff pack that a lot of people thought was essential.
Even when they gave away the TS4 basegame, it still didn't work. People still didn't want buy the packs for the game. Everyone knows how buggy the packs are by now and adding them to your savegame messes them up. That's why EA is now begging people on the main screen of the game to buy the packs that they hadn't bought yet.
PS: When was the Town Life SP free??? It's not free on Origin right now. If it was, I would have posted it to the TS3 section of this forum, since nothing of TS3 is on in the summer sale this time (so it doesn't outshine and steal sales away from the inferior TS4, lol!).
PPS: And it's not $20 anymore - greedy EA raised the price of that stuff pack and everything else that's TS3. Not bad for an 11-year old game!
No amount of spinning can change the fact that TS4 is the best selling, most successful Sims game to date, no matter how desperate some people want to deny it.
*Rolling eyes* Yeah, no one believes that anymore. Next!
Lol, the fact that greedy EA is only willing to give away a TS3 stuff pack for free just tells me that they think the TS3 basegame is doing too well for them to want to give it away. Also giving that particular TS3 stuffpack away just confirmed to me that EA only gives away stuff that isn't selling well - the Townlife SP, although a good stuff pack, wasn't a stuff pack that a lot of people didn't think was essential.
"Only" a stuff pack lol. You realize that a TS3 stuff pack costs the same as a TS4 game pack, right?
And Town Life was merely 2.5 years old when EA gave it away for free. Both Outdoor Retreat and Spa Day are 5 years old now and have never been free
*Rolling eyes* Yeah, no one believes that anymore. Next!
Lol SimGurus flat out told us that TS4 is the "best selling, most successful Sims game to date". What's your evidence for accusing them of lying?
Oh wait you don't have any evidence. You're just in denial. "No no no! How could my precious TS3 get outsold by TS4! I'm so angry!! I don't wanna believe it's true!!!"
@elelunicy To be honest with you this has become too much text and too off-topic but there was never in any Sims game DLC listed in the main menu of the game with sales up to 75% almost every week. FYI I can't even find a single EP for The Sims 3 under 10 Euros in used condition let alone a new one. Not even Store content is ever on sale. You basically said yourself The Sims 3 doesn't go on sale anymore.
Lol TS3 EPs can be found for $5 easily back when people were still play that game. You think 75% off is a lot? $5 is a whopping 88% off when you consider EPs were originally $40 each.
Also, TS3 EPs all had permanent price reduction from $40 to $20 within a few years of their releases. Get to Work is over 5 years old now and its full price is still $40.
About the store content I explained to you exactly why it didn't sell and EA decided to call it something familiar and made it into Stuff Packs so people don't have to make accounts, buy points and btw in 2009-2013 a lot less people were brave enough to use their credit cards online. At least in my country.
Amazing. EA was desperate enough to put store ads straight into CAS/build mode, and yet it still didn't sell
Lol, when the devs themselves complain about the limited budget and time then there is a big problem. For a game that sells so much there should be more money invested in making it better. With limitations to keep it under control sure but still more. You know where all our money goes to? To freaking Vanessa Hudgens and all those other celebs that get paid to advertise the game. EA is spending so much cash on advertisments they could spend some in the actual game as well.
The devs are not complaining; they're educating people who're clueless about game development about budget and time restrictions, which exist in all properly managed video game projects.
@elelunicy To be honest with you this has become too much text and too off-topic but there was never in any Sims game DLC listed in the main menu of the game with sales up to 75% almost every week. FYI I can't even find a single EP for The Sims 3 under 10 Euros in used condition let alone a new one. Not even Store content is ever on sale. You basically said yourself The Sims 3 doesn't go on sale anymore.
Lol TS3 EPs can be found for $5 easily back when people were still play that game. You think 75% off is a lot? $5 is a whopping 88% off when you consider EPs were originally $40 each.
Also, TS3 EPs all had permanent price reduction from $40 to $20 within a few years of their releases. Get to Work is over 5 years old now and its full price is still $40.
About the store content I explained to you exactly why it didn't sell and EA decided to call it something familiar and made it into Stuff Packs so people don't have to make accounts, buy points and btw in 2009-2013 a lot less people were brave enough to use their credit cards online. At least in my country.
Amazing. EA was desperate enough to put store ads straight into CAS/build mode, and yet it still didn't sell
Lol, when the devs themselves complain about the limited budget and time then there is a big problem. For a game that sells so much there should be more money invested in making it better. With limitations to keep it under control sure but still more. You know where all our money goes to? To freaking Vanessa Hudgens and all those other celebs that get paid to advertise the game. EA is spending so much cash on advertisments they could spend some in the actual game as well.
The devs are not complaining; they're educating people who're clueless about game development about budget and time restrictions, which exist in all properly managed video game projects.
The Sims 4 is good in selling itself it is however lacking in other areas.
TS2 & TS3 were lacking in sales AND many other areas.
That's steam and online, when I bought the sims 3 I knew nothing about steam and bought most of the cds in stores and the games are still at 19.99 plus the expansions. A lot people still prefer to buy physical copies of a game instead digital download and will grab what is the closet to them unless they have no choice but to buy offline. Did you forget that sims 4 just copy and pasted the conservation career out island living just to make eco lifestyles and slapped 40 dollar price tag on it? For the 20th birthday they gave you a recolored hot tub and have snatched a lot decor items and clothing out packs and recolored them so you cant call out sims 2 or 3 for that when sims 4 is doing the same. In fact, ifsims 4 had a color wheel they wouldnt feel the to copy, recolor items so much. Sims 4 is also recycling animation..And yes the color wheel and open world were great innovations even though they had issues. Compared to sims 4. The sims 2 and 3 were definitely not lacking in sales when they were first released and sold millions within their first days/week of released and still selling. The sims 4 are no were close if wasnt for the game constantly going on sale, been given away for free, and dropped in price multiple times throughout its 6 years of life. It took them 10 years to give away sims 2 and sims 3 still hasn't been released at all. So even at an 88 percent discount on steam/online it's still to much for a game that old. There should been a complete sims 3 collection at 5 to 10 or just free.
That's steam and online, when I bought the sims 3 I knew nothing about steam and bought most of the cds in stores and the games are still at 19.99 plus the expansions. A lot people still prefer to buy physical copies of a game instead digital download and will grab what is the closet to them unless they have no choice but to buy offline.
LOL are you seriously suggesting that TS3 only went on sale online and not in stores?
Don't forget TS3 EPs were originally $40 each. The $20 permanent price reduction applied to physical copies as well. Think TS4 EPs are on sale too often? TS3 EPs were literally on sale permanently for 50% off just after a few short years.
Into The Future was permanently reduced to $20 in less than one year. 5.5 years later Get to Work's full price is still $40
Did you forget that sims 4 just copy and pasted the conservation career out island living just to make eco lifestyles and slapped 40 dollar price tag on it?
Oh really then I guess TS3 just copy & pasted the time machine & SimBots from Ambitions and made it Into The Future & slapped 40 dollar price tag on it.
For the 20th birthday they gave you a recolored hot tub and have snatched a lot decor items and clothing out packs and recolored them so you cant call out sims 2 or 3 for that when sims 4 is doing the same.
Oh really I didn't realize a few recolored items are the same thing as a $20 pack. How generous of EA to give us a whole game pack worth of content for free
And yes the color wheel and open world were great innovations even though they had issues
Just because something wasn't in TS1/TS2 does NOT mean it's an innovation. If that were the case, TS4 would have tons of innovation as there are many, many features in TS4 that were not in TS1/TS2/TS3.
Open world and color wheel were not innovations just for the simple fact that they had been done to death in other games. Innovations require new, original, and unique ideas. TS3 meanwhile was just copying other games. Even games from the 90s had open world and/or color wheel. TS3 was late to the party, and yet still implemented them so horribly and caused so many issues to the point EA had to remove them in TS4. The whole thing was just a complete failure.
Compared to sims 4. The sims 2 and 3 were definitely not lacking in sales when they were first released and sold millions within their first days/week of released and still selling. The sims 4 are no were close if wasnt for the game constantly going on sale, been given away for free, and dropped in price multiple times throughout its 6 years of life.
TS4 has generated the most revenue of any Sims game at close to $1.5 billion. Your excuse "but but TS4 was on sale and given for free!!" doesn't even matter as copies on sale don't generate as much revenue, and free copies don't generate revenue at all.
Oh and don't forget both TS2 and TS3 were on sale all the time and had price reduced more times than TS4. Even 6 years later EA has only permanently reduced TS4 base game's price from $60 and $40. Meanwhile TS3 base game and all TS3 EPs were permanently reduced to $20 in a much shorter span of time.
As Andrew said the TS4 community keep on growing year after year, so The Sims 4 is extended by 5 or 6 years
2014
2015 (64-bit)
2016
2017 (Console)
2018
2019(Rebranded) (Legacy Edition and 64-bit only/macOS Catalina)
2020 (Steam)
2021
2022
2023
(2024) ???
Yes, they've already said that there's years left and that was what 6 mnts ago.
They're just saying all that so you'll keep buying The Sims 4 stuff until the very last minute. I'm glad I didn't get pulled into that, lol!
That doesn't even make sense.
Do you want me to spell it for you? Really?
It wasn't a question, it was a statement. Don't bother trying to explain, I'm not interested in hearing another disingenuous conspiracy based on fantasy, not facts or truth.
That's steam and online, when I bought the sims 3 I knew nothing about steam and bought most of the cds in stores and the games are still at 19.99 plus the expansions. A lot people still prefer to buy physical copies of a game instead digital download and will grab what is the closet to them unless they have no choice but to buy offline.
LOL are you seriously suggesting that TS3 only went on sale online and not in stores?
Don't forget TS3 EPs were originally $40 each. The $20 permanent price reduction applied to physical copies as well. Think TS4 EPs are on sale too often? TS3 EPs were literally on sale permanently for 50% off just after a few short years.
Into The Future was permanently reduced to $20 in less than one year. 5.5 years later Get to Work's full price is still $40
Did you forget that sims 4 just copy and pasted the conservation career out island living just to make eco lifestyles and slapped 40 dollar price tag on it?
Oh really then I guess TS3 just copy & pasted the time machine & SimBots from Ambitions and made it Into The Future & slapped 40 dollar price tag on it.
For the 20th birthday they gave you a recolored hot tub and have snatched a lot decor items and clothing out packs and recolored them so you cant call out sims 2 or 3 for that when sims 4 is doing the same.
Oh really I didn't realize a few recolored items are the same thing as a $20 pack. How generous of EA to give us a whole game pack worth of content for free
And yes the color wheel and open world were great innovations even though they had issues
Just because something wasn't in TS1/TS2 does NOT mean it's an innovation. If that were the case, TS4 would have tons of innovation as there are many, many features in TS4 that were not in TS1/TS2/TS3.
Open world and color wheel were not innovations just for the simple fact that they had been done to death in other games. Innovations require new, original, and unique ideas. TS3 meanwhile was just copying other games. Even games from the 90s had open world and/or color wheel. TS3 was late to the party, and yet still implemented them so horribly and caused so many issues to the point EA had to remove them in TS4. The whole thing was just a complete failure.
Compared to sims 4. The sims 2 and 3 were definitely not lacking in sales when they were first released and sold millions within their first days/week of released and still selling. The sims 4 are no were close if wasnt for the game constantly going on sale, been given away for free, and dropped in price multiple times throughout its 6 years of life.
TS4 has generated the most revenue of any Sims game at close to $1.5 billion. Your excuse "but but TS4 was on sale and given for free!!" doesn't even matter as copies on sale don't generate as much revenue, and free copies don't generate revenue at all.
Oh and don't forget both TS2 and TS3 were on sale all the time and had price reduced more times than TS4. Even 6 years later EA has only permanently reduced TS4 base game's price from $60 and $40. Meanwhile TS3 base game and all TS3 EPs were permanently reduced to $20 in a much shorter span of time.
I'm just gonna say, they didn't "remove" those features in Sims 4. Sims 4 was supposed to be an online game, not a main Sims game, hence why it has instanced lots and had no color wheels, open worlds, etc, and had no toddlers, pools, etc. at launch. They didn't "remove" the features because it was a failure, "Sims 4" was supposed to be an online game. It's also why the sims themselves feel more hollow (which they're supposedly going to fix). YOU were supposed to be the avatar.
I'm just gonna say, they didn't "remove" those features in Sims 4. Sims 4 was supposed to be an online game, not a main Sims game, hence why it has instanced lots and had no color wheels, open worlds, etc, and had no toddlers, pools, etc. at launch. They didn't "remove" the features because it was a failure, "Sims 4" was supposed to be an online game.
Just no lol.
First, open world and color wheels have absolutely nothing to do with whether a game is online or not. There are many, many online games that are open world and/or have color wheels. Pools and toddlers also have nothing to with the game being online, especially since the decision to not include pools and toddlers were made well after the game was announced as a single player game only. For example SimGuruGrant said in an interview in September 2013 that the base game was going to have toddlers. Clearly the decision to not include toddlers was made well after that.
Second, being an online game is one of the concepts they explored during TS4's pre-production, and the idea was killed before the game went into full production, effectively meaning that it had no effects on the game at the end. If you're not sure what pre-production/full production means, I've explained it in a different thread.
Game development is largely divided into two phases:
Pre-Production: This stage is when a small team of producers, designers, and artists create the initial designs and looks of the game. This is a very lengthy process as they will explore many different options, such as different looks and different gameplay mechanics. There will be many debates over what direction the game will take. The plans will be constantly reworked and refined as the higher-ups approve/reject them. Games can spend years in pre-production. For example, EA's Anthem spent over 5 years in pre-production, and TS4 spent over 3 years in pre-production.
Full production: This is when the game has been designed and approved. The whole team will start working following the design documents wrote by designers: engineers will start coding, animators will start animating, artists start creating art assets, etc. This stage of development is very expensive as the entire team is working on the game, so generally it will only last like 12-18 months.
Why does it work this way? Because the full production is very expensive and they cannot change the direction of game in the middle of full production. You simply cannot have engineers coding for 6 months straight, and then ask them to scrap everything they wrote and start over. That'd be a huge waste of money. This is why they need to have everything planned out & approved during the pre-production so that by the time the game enters full production, they know for sure what kind of game they are going to make.
TS4 did not enter full production until early 2013 and the idea of being an online was already killed by the time it entered full production. None of the TS4's shortcomings have anything to do with the online game concept. The online concept only existed in mock-up videos and have never made into an actual game.
I'm sorry had to laugh at showing steam.Because that was a steam sale.Acousre the prices are reduced to 20.00 dollars.Its a ten year old game.
Lol did you seriously think TS3's price was reduced recently?
Into the Future for example was released in October 2013 and its price was permanently reduced to $20 in September 2014, less than a year later. I guess EA knew that people weren't going to buy TS3 packs anymore after TS4 came out so they were forced to reduce its less-than-one-year-old EP to just $20
I'm just gonna say, they didn't "remove" those features in Sims 4. Sims 4 was supposed to be an online game, not a main Sims game, hence why it has instanced lots and had no color wheels, open worlds, etc, and had no toddlers, pools, etc. at launch. They didn't "remove" the features because it was a failure, "Sims 4" was supposed to be an online game.
Just no lol.
First, open world and color wheels have absolutely nothing to do with whether a game is online or not. There are many, many online games that are open world and/or have color wheels. Pools and toddlers also have nothing to with the game being online, especially since the decision to not include pools and toddlers were made well after the game was announced as a single player game only. For example SimGuruGrant said in an interview in September 2013 that the base game was going to have toddlers. Clearly the decision to not include toddlers was made well after that.
Second, being an online game is one of the concepts they explored during TS4's pre-production, and the idea was killed before the game went into full production, effectively meaning that it had no effects on the game at the end. If you're not sure what pre-production/full production means, I've explained it in a different thread.
Game development is largely divided into two phases:
Pre-Production: This stage is when a small team of producers, designers, and artists create the initial designs and looks of the game. This is a very lengthy process as they will explore many different options, such as different looks and different gameplay mechanics. There will be many debates over what direction the game will take. The plans will be constantly reworked and refined as the higher-ups approve/reject them. Games can spend years in pre-production. For example, EA's Anthem spent over 5 years in pre-production, and TS4 spent over 3 years in pre-production.
Full production: This is when the game has been designed and approved. The whole team will start working following the design documents wrote by designers: engineers will start coding, animators will start animating, artists start creating art assets, etc. This stage of development is very expensive as the entire team is working on the game, so generally it will only last like 12-18 months.
Why does it work this way? Because the full production is very expensive and they cannot change the direction of game in the middle of full production. You simply cannot have engineers coding for 6 months straight, and then ask them to scrap everything they wrote and start over. That'd be a huge waste of money. This is why they need to have everything planned out & approved during the pre-production so that by the time the game enters full production, they know for sure what kind of game they are going to make.
TS4 did not enter full production until early 2013 and the idea of being an online was already killed by the time it entered full production. None of the TS4's shortcomings have anything to do with the online game concept. The online concept only existed in mock-up videos and have never made into an actual game.
I'm sorry had to laugh at showing steam.Because that was a steam sale.Acousre the prices are reduced to 20.00 dollars.Its a ten year old game.
Lol did you seriously think TS3's price was reduced recently?
Into the Future for example was released in October 2013 and its price was permanently reduced to $20 in September 2014, less than a year later. I guess EA knew that people weren't going to buy TS3 packs anymore after TS4 came out so they were forced to reduce its less-than-one-year-old EP to just $20
No, but there is point your forgetting.The reason it was reduce was because it also was 5-6 year old game this happens all the time.When 5 is release 4 is going be reduced.Its not because they thought the game was not going to sell.Due to the fact three is still on steam, and store website has not been shutdown.5 year's later.Irs good indicator that Ea stillgets profit from sims 3.
Comments
LOL. TS3 doesn't go on sale anymore because almost nobody is buying it anymore. EA can make more money by charging the few people who are still buying it a higher price. It's the same reason why TS4 stuff packs rarely go on sale. Hint: it's not because SPs sell better than EPs.
Digital goods simply don't work the same way as physical goods do. When a physical store is having trouble selling an item, the item would take up valuable shelf space so the store has no choice but slashing its price to sell it. The same thing absolutely does not apply to digital goods, which take no inventory space.
TS4 is the best selling game of the franchise, having made close to $1.5 billion in revenue by now, easily the most money a Sims game has made. Quite embarrassing for TS3 considering that game had thousands of dollars' worth of store content, and yet it got outsold by TS4 easily.
@elelunicy Okay now let's just take it down a notch and kinda take a look at how The Sims 4 works, if I am not mistaken the lifetime revenue includes the DLC as well:
-Recently it was reported that The Sims 4 had reached 20 million players. That doesn't however equal copies sold. Especially with The Sims 4 being given out for free for players on previous occasions there is major influence in the number of registered players from that.
-Another factor of The Sims 4 selling better than previous games is the marketing model they are using for it. Like I said the game could be found for free or for as little as 4,99 on previous occasions. This leads to people who wouldn't have normally bought the game to try it out. Generating more sales where there would have been none. Don't forget companies wouldn't put their games on crazy sales like that if they didn't pay off, sales might look customer-friendly but they are actually very revenue friendly as well, especially in Sims 4's case. Why that is? Because once you enter the game you are greeted by a ridiculous amount of offers for DLC, that is also on sale most of the time.
That results to more base game and additional DLC copies sold to people who would have normally not spend a penny on the game to spend a moderate amount of money because every single thing is on sale!
-The Sims 4 is marketed as a more casual game/low spec game and that attracts a lot of people who have 10 year old PCs and play Bejeweled to pass the time to actually get the game even though they don't consider themselves "gamers"
-Also the Stuff Packs in the Sims 4 are almost the same as Sims 3 Store Content. EA just noticed that their store content didn't sell because of the Points system so they turned it into Stuff packs and dropped the price so more people buy it. Leading to a lot more DLC than previous titles and as you might have guessed a lot more revenue
- A generational shift towards a more digitalized world and the gaming industry in general making more and more money every year could also be a factor. Especially when you consider it has been over a decade since The Sims 3 came out. Times change
-Finally watch out when you can The Sims 3 "embarrasing" because The Sims 4 outsold it yet EA is just making profit and they are not investing in making the game better. If the Sims 4 is making so much money why are the devs constantly complaining about budget and time limitations? Now that's what I call embarrasing...
“Where there would have been none”... ?
I assume that’s why businesses have marketing models. To try and sell their goods.
I can grow whatever quality tomatoes, but if I don’t go out there and try to sell them, i can guess how much profit that will generate. None. Nada. Zilch. Not a sausage.
Quality or no quality, that’s beside the point when we’re looking at the numbers. Those sales were still generated...because of a marketing model none of the other games had.
Those numbers are there, no matter how you twist it or turn it.
@CAPTAIN_NXR7 Of course but I am only analyzing why it happens more with The Sims 4 than with the Sims 3.
Also your example isn't the best one because if we take tomatoes then I'm not saying exactly that. It's not just going out there and trying to sell them. With The Sims 4 marketing model you have the equivalent of being a vegetable merchant and trying to sell tomatoes to someone who isn't looking for tomatoes and eventually going "My tomatoes are 75% off right now, they are so cheap". If the customer was only looking for let's say zucchinis he would suddenly be interested in getting the tomatoes since they are ridiculously cheap. That customer wouldn't have bought them otherwise since he didn't have tomatoes in his shopping list and would have spent 0$ on tomatoes normally. It's the low price that generates the income. Because it makes you rethink buying something you normally didn't really want/need.
Also the Sims 4 lately is kind of the equivalent of the merchant going "I'll give you these tomatoes for free as long as you take a look at all the other stuff I'm offering, some of it is even on sale". Who knows, normally the customer wouldn't have even stopped at that merchant's table, but because he was giving the tomatoes out for free he ends up going there, grabbing some and then taking a look at his other products that he normally wouldn't have paid attention too and eventually spending money. Otherwise the person could have easily walked by and he wouldn't have spent a penny.
I'm not saying this strategy is a bad thing, I'm just pointing out the difference in The Sims 3 marketing with The Sims 4 and how they managed to generate some of that crazy amount of income they did with the Sims 4.
Did anyone say otherwise?
I like how you're presenting this as if it's something very insightful, when in fact anyone with a brain would know that.
Lmao do you seriously think TS4 is the only game with this model, when that's basically how it always worked?
TS3 for example went on sale all the time on Origin before TS4 was released. It still goes on sale on Steam very often (since the entire Steam store goes on sale during their annual sales), with the TS3 base game going as low as $2.99.
TS4 is NOT marketed as a low spec game (show me any marketing materials from EA that call the game "easy tor run" or "low spec friendly"). The game simply speaks for itself by running well on low spec machines.
This is the exact opposite of TS3. TS3 was NOT marketed as a "high spec" game. In fact, its minimum requirements is actually lower than TS4. The game simply spoke for itself by running poorly, regardless of the specs.
TS3 was just all-around poorly coded, especially its C# code which causes intermittent freezes when it gets overloaded. No amount of world fixing, routing fixing, error trapping, cache clearing, etc. can fix TS3's intermittent freezes.
That's exactly why it's embarrassing for TS3. TS4 only has $160 worth of stuff packs, while TS3 had thousands of dollars' worth of store content. And somehow TS4 has already made more money than TS3
The industry as a whole is making more money through things like micro-transactions, loot boxes, and subscriptions. TS4 does none of that and is making more money than ever.
All properly managed video game productions have budget and time limitations. Many indie game projects fail precisely because they don't have the budget and time limitations that they should have. These games get delayed over and over again. They may eventually run out of funds and never come out at the end.
The thing about the 20 million I said for people who might not understand this believe me there are plenty out the who compare copies sold with players registered and they have brains thanks.
Bash The Sims 3 all you want at least it brought innovation, something The Sims 4 has failed to do.
About the store content I explained to you exactly why it didn't sell and EA decided to call it something familiar and made it into Stuff Packs so people don't have to make accounts, buy points and btw in 2009-2013 a lot less people were brave enough to use their credit cards online. At least in my country.
Lol, when the devs themselves complain about the limited budget and time then there is a big problem. For a game that sells so much there should be more money invested in making it better. With limitations to keep it under control sure but still more. You know where all our money goes to? To freaking Vanessa Hudgens and all those other celebs that get paid to advertise the game. EA is spending so much cash on advertisments they could spend some in the actual game as well.
Also let's not forget The Sims 4 was delayed as well
The Sims 4 is good in selling itself it is however lacking in other areas.
This freebie strategy is mainly targeted towards potential new players though. Players who are unfamiliar with the franchise. By luring them in with free donuts, or better still, have a celebrity lure them in with free donuts, they may get interested in what else the company has to offer. It has worked wonders for a lot of companies out there.
Using social media to sell their product is the intelligent thing to do as it’s quite affordable and it’s exactly where the target audience hangs out.
TS4 is lucky that way: it would have cost much more to do the same for TS3 because of how platforms are used in this day and age.
Unlike a lot of new simmers, many veteran simmers do know what they want from the franchise. Often these are features available in previous Titles. It takes a lot more to win over their hearts with whatever is being offered.
But buying something you don’t want/need says more about the customer than the business who’s trying to make a profit.
That freebee strategy was never used for the TS3 to sell well. Or for any legendary game.
The freebee strategy is only used for failing games. I ought to know, the frugal side of me LOVES free games and I always get them when offered, but when I install the games and play them, I can see why they're free. They're simply not fun to play.
No amount of spin about TS4 is working, despite all the efforts of EA on here to make it look otherwise, like polling and all the silly explaining or fibbing about its success. People have seen the tactics and no one really believes any of it anymore. Everytime I see these tactics it's just so eye-rolling and "Next!...."
Watch when TS4's run ends and EA is no longer trying to sell it - all the real facts will come out at how poorly it and its packs have done.
Yes, the change in strategy may have been a direct effect of TS4’s very bumpy start, because a lot of long time simmers were not happy with what they were seeing. Initially the target audience was the already established fan base. Those same simmers may be able to see through all these fireworks tactics because no matter what EA is saying about their game, many will argue that the quality of the game has dropped, compared to previous titles.
But there are two different generations of simmers now. The ‘old’ generation who is familiar with the classics and can compare TS4 with previous titles and there is the ‘new’ generation who can compare it to none.
In order to set things right, that new generation of simmers had to be established, which EA did and seemingly it worked. For now. Because right now it’s the best selling sims game.
So when you say:
“Watch when TS4's run ends and EA is no longer trying to sell it - all the real facts will come out at how poorly it and its packs have done.”
Numbers in sales will tell that the TS4 and it’s packs have done well so far, which for EA is a fact and that’s what the company will be boasting about.
Anyone with a spark of intelligence will also know that the quality of a product does not equal numbers in sales.
Therefore, and since TS4 has caught up with itself, that what happens behind the scenes in development is now more important than ever. How can a game with a subpar engine still add elements that the old generation is looking for, without losing the new generation and vice versa?
What is now important is to keep the audience. That’s why polls and surveys have been more frequent. Keep everyone engaged.
And to go back on topic, this is why it is more important than ever not to make the same mistakes with TS5. What will the company really take away from it all?
Only EA knows.
When will TS5 be announced?
Only EA knows.
A factor that plays a role in this: Monopoly
And I'm not talking about the board game. This unique concept and the legacy that was created by Will Wright and they creators of The Sims 2 is what has kept a lot of people invested. Including me, I don't love the Sims 4. I love the Sims and sadly there is nothing like this anywhere else.
Oh really then why did Origin give out Town Life Stuff for free?
That's $20 worth of a stuff pack, equivalent to giving out an entire TS4 game pack for free.
Giving out base game for free to make more money through DLC at least makes business sense. Giving out $20 worth of a pack for free is just pathetic.
No amount of spinning can change the fact that TS4 is the best selling, most successful Sims game to date, no matter how desperate some people want to deny it.
Lol, the fact that greedy EA is only willing to give away a TS3 stuff pack for free just tells me that they think the TS3 basegame is doing too well for them to want to give it away. Also giving that particular TS3 stuffpack away just confirmed to me that EA only gives away stuff that isn't selling well - the Townlife SP, although a good stuff pack, wasn't a stuff pack that a lot of people thought was essential.
Even when they gave away the TS4 basegame, it still didn't work. People still didn't want buy the packs for the game. Everyone knows how buggy the packs are by now and adding them to your savegame messes them up. That's why EA is now begging people on the main screen of the game to buy the packs that they hadn't bought yet.
PS: When was the Town Life SP free??? It's not free on Origin right now. If it was, I would have posted it to the TS3 section of this forum, since nothing of TS3 is on in the summer sale this time (so it doesn't outshine and steal sales away from the inferior TS4, lol!).
PPS: And it's not $20 anymore - greedy EA raised the price of that stuff pack and everything else that's TS3. Not bad for an 11-year old game!
*Rolling eyes* Yeah, no one believes that anymore. Next!
"Only" a stuff pack lol. You realize that a TS3 stuff pack costs the same as a TS4 game pack, right?
And Town Life was merely 2.5 years old when EA gave it away for free. Both Outdoor Retreat and Spa Day are 5 years old now and have never been free
Didn't work according to who? You?
Imagine pulling things out of thin air and expecting people to believe you
Both EA CEO and CFO were happy that the base game giveaway boosted Island Living' sales, making it one of the best-selling EPs just after one month.
Lol SimGurus flat out told us that TS4 is the "best selling, most successful Sims game to date". What's your evidence for accusing them of lying?
Oh wait you don't have any evidence. You're just in denial. "No no no! How could my precious TS3 get outsold by TS4! I'm so angry!! I don't wanna believe it's true!!!"
Stuff packs in The Sims 3 had a lot more "stuff" than in the Sims 4. That's what explains the price.
@elelunicy also I gave you several factors of how the marketing is affecting the game's sales and you still negate them.
Also better sales doesn't equal better game. I'll sign that for you.
Lol TS3 EPs can be found for $5 easily back when people were still play that game. You think 75% off is a lot? $5 is a whopping 88% off when you consider EPs were originally $40 each.
Also, TS3 EPs all had permanent price reduction from $40 to $20 within a few years of their releases. Get to Work is over 5 years old now and its full price is still $40.
What innovations? Don't say Open World or Create-A-Style cause that's gonna make me laugh
So much stuff in TS3 base game like objects and animations were literally copy & pasted from TS2 and it's honestly beyond embarrassing.
Amazing. EA was desperate enough to put store ads straight into CAS/build mode, and yet it still didn't sell
The devs are not complaining; they're educating people who're clueless about game development about budget and time restrictions, which exist in all properly managed video game projects.
TS2 & TS3 were lacking in sales AND many other areas.
That's steam and online, when I bought the sims 3 I knew nothing about steam and bought most of the cds in stores and the games are still at 19.99 plus the expansions. A lot people still prefer to buy physical copies of a game instead digital download and will grab what is the closet to them unless they have no choice but to buy offline. Did you forget that sims 4 just copy and pasted the conservation career out island living just to make eco lifestyles and slapped 40 dollar price tag on it? For the 20th birthday they gave you a recolored hot tub and have snatched a lot decor items and clothing out packs and recolored them so you cant call out sims 2 or 3 for that when sims 4 is doing the same. In fact, ifsims 4 had a color wheel they wouldnt feel the to copy, recolor items so much. Sims 4 is also recycling animation..And yes the color wheel and open world were great innovations even though they had issues. Compared to sims 4. The sims 2 and 3 were definitely not lacking in sales when they were first released and sold millions within their first days/week of released and still selling. The sims 4 are no were close if wasnt for the game constantly going on sale, been given away for free, and dropped in price multiple times throughout its 6 years of life. It took them 10 years to give away sims 2 and sims 3 still hasn't been released at all. So even at an 88 percent discount on steam/online it's still to much for a game that old. There should been a complete sims 3 collection at 5 to 10 or just free.
LOL are you seriously suggesting that TS3 only went on sale online and not in stores?
Don't forget TS3 EPs were originally $40 each. The $20 permanent price reduction applied to physical copies as well. Think TS4 EPs are on sale too often? TS3 EPs were literally on sale permanently for 50% off just after a few short years.
Into The Future was permanently reduced to $20 in less than one year. 5.5 years later Get to Work's full price is still $40
Oh really then I guess TS3 just copy & pasted the time machine & SimBots from Ambitions and made it Into The Future & slapped 40 dollar price tag on it.
Oh really I didn't realize a few recolored items are the same thing as a $20 pack. How generous of EA to give us a whole game pack worth of content for free
Just because something wasn't in TS1/TS2 does NOT mean it's an innovation. If that were the case, TS4 would have tons of innovation as there are many, many features in TS4 that were not in TS1/TS2/TS3.
Open world and color wheel were not innovations just for the simple fact that they had been done to death in other games. Innovations require new, original, and unique ideas. TS3 meanwhile was just copying other games. Even games from the 90s had open world and/or color wheel. TS3 was late to the party, and yet still implemented them so horribly and caused so many issues to the point EA had to remove them in TS4. The whole thing was just a complete failure.
TS4 has generated the most revenue of any Sims game at close to $1.5 billion. Your excuse "but but TS4 was on sale and given for free!!" doesn't even matter as copies on sale don't generate as much revenue, and free copies don't generate revenue at all.
Oh and don't forget both TS2 and TS3 were on sale all the time and had price reduced more times than TS4. Even 6 years later EA has only permanently reduced TS4 base game's price from $60 and $40. Meanwhile TS3 base game and all TS3 EPs were permanently reduced to $20 in a much shorter span of time.
It wasn't a question, it was a statement. Don't bother trying to explain, I'm not interested in hearing another disingenuous conspiracy based on fantasy, not facts or truth.
I'm just gonna say, they didn't "remove" those features in Sims 4. Sims 4 was supposed to be an online game, not a main Sims game, hence why it has instanced lots and had no color wheels, open worlds, etc, and had no toddlers, pools, etc. at launch. They didn't "remove" the features because it was a failure, "Sims 4" was supposed to be an online game. It's also why the sims themselves feel more hollow (which they're supposedly going to fix). YOU were supposed to be the avatar.
Just no lol.
First, open world and color wheels have absolutely nothing to do with whether a game is online or not. There are many, many online games that are open world and/or have color wheels. Pools and toddlers also have nothing to with the game being online, especially since the decision to not include pools and toddlers were made well after the game was announced as a single player game only. For example SimGuruGrant said in an interview in September 2013 that the base game was going to have toddlers. Clearly the decision to not include toddlers was made well after that.
Second, being an online game is one of the concepts they explored during TS4's pre-production, and the idea was killed before the game went into full production, effectively meaning that it had no effects on the game at the end. If you're not sure what pre-production/full production means, I've explained it in a different thread.
TS4 did not enter full production until early 2013 and the idea of being an online was already killed by the time it entered full production. None of the TS4's shortcomings have anything to do with the online game concept. The online concept only existed in mock-up videos and have never made into an actual game.
Both TS2 and TS3 Sims are far hollower, despite the fact that TS2/TS3 were never online games.
Lol did you seriously think TS3's price was reduced recently?
Into the Future for example was released in October 2013 and its price was permanently reduced to $20 in September 2014, less than a year later. I guess EA knew that people weren't going to buy TS3 packs anymore after TS4 came out so they were forced to reduce its less-than-one-year-old EP to just $20
Would have to disagree, TS2 and even TS3 sims had a lot more personality and seemed more human than TS4 sims.
No, but there is point your forgetting.The reason it was reduce was because it also was 5-6 year old game this happens all the time.When 5 is release 4 is going be reduced.Its not because they thought the game was not going to sell.Due to the fact three is still on steam, and store website has not been shutdown.5 year's later.Irs good indicator that Ea stillgets profit from sims 3.