I want to add that I want to see Sims 4's numbers grow, but I want that to be through them reaching out and making game play that is appealing to more people. In the past, they did it by having an engaging game that catered to a large number of play styles. I honestly think they completely misread their audience. While they improved from "a majority of our players are teen girls" to "half our players are female," they still need to reach out to all of their fans and get a grasp on their actual market (which is diverse).
People who love a game will tolerate bugs, and programmers in that number will try to fix said bugs. But if you don't have the initial engagement there on a large scale, you're going to just not have the sales.
Actually, I just peeked in the gallery and saw there were 14.8K people logged on. There are 17.4k in Skyrim on line on Steam atm to give some perspective. I know Skyrim is still popular, but it's also quite old.
Edit: Heh, there are 12k on Steam on line for the Witcher 3, but I have no clue how many are playing it on Origin (you can get that one on either platform). The difference between Skyrim and Witcher 3, though, is that the majority of their sales are on consoles.
Nvidia was giving away the witcher on gog for those who bought a new 900 series card a while back. My son got it free.
With the ones bought through GoG, do they have to have a steam or origin login? I missed that promo, unfortunately, when I got my video card.
Edit: The answer is No. GoG and Amazon copies are DRM free. So probably that 12k logged onto Steam and playing represents a small number of actual people playing Witcher 3 on PC.
See, I read the same shareholder report and I found this line discouraging (and they're not about to say in this report that things are doing poorly -- that Sims 4 picked up a bit more than they expected with GTW doesn't say much other than they're not scrapping the series yet). "The Sims 4 play community continues to grow and engage deeply with the game as we deliver more update and new content, and we saw game play hours in our mobile hit, The Sims FreePlay, increase 85% year over year. In addition, our EA Sports ultimate team modes averaged over 2 million players per day in Q1, up nearly 20% year over year."
Why toss in games from two different divisions (at the time) where one is doing well, and only talk about the improvement of one of them. Obviously Sims 4 is not hitting an impressive number, or else that would have been the one with the growth mentioned. Sims 4 is growing. Freeplay play hours are increasing by 85%!
I wonder why they're not mentioning the 15k-25k players of the Sims 4 on line at any time (just what I've observed when I open the game). Maybe because, even if that's up from where it was, it's not considered impressive for a new game that sold over 1 million copies.
"Selected Operating Highlights and Metrics:
• At E3, EA titles earned 132 awards including four of the 2015 E3 Game Critic Awards: Star WarsTM BattlefrontTM for Best Action Game and Best Online Multiplayer, Need for SpeedTM for Best Racing Game and EA SPORTSTM FIFA 16 for Best Sports Game.
• Trailers, gameplay and livestreams of EA's games were viewed over 53 million times throughout the week of E3.
• Players in Battlefield 4TM and BattlefieldTM Hardline logged more than 170 million online gameplay hours combined in Q1.
• Monthly active users for EA’s mobile titles averaged more than 150 million in Q1.
• More than 16 million matches of FIFA 15 were played on average per day in Q1.
Selected Financial Highlights:
• For the quarter, non-GAAP net revenue of $693 million was above our guidance of $640 million. Diluted non-GAAP EPS of $0.15 was above our guidance of $0.00.
• EA increased fiscal 2016 non-GAAP net revenue guidance by $50 million to $4.450 billion and diluted non-GAAP EPS guidance by $0.10 to $2.85 per share.
• Operating cash flow of $992 million was a record high for any trailing twelve month Q1 period.
• EA repurchased 2.2 million shares in Q1 for $132 million."
This worried me because the Sims games aren't mentioned at all. This would be unthinkable just a few years ago where the Sims 2 or the Sims 3 usually were mentioned as EA's most profitable games. But now several other games seems to be much more important for EA.
EA's net profit was gone under the financial crisis. But now EA has a high and growing income again. TS4 doesn't seem to be their most profitable game at all. So they could stop the series. But it actually seems to be profitable enough to give TS5 a chance to be released too.
Finally finished reading it was a lot to get through,lol. I will be playing FO4 on console and for the first time on this series it will be modable. That was exciting news for me. Can't wait to see how that works with the console version.
See, I read the same shareholder report and I found this line discouraging (and they're not about to say in this report that things are doing poorly -- that Sims 4 picked up a bit more than they expected with GTW doesn't say much other than they're not scrapping the series yet). "The Sims 4 play community continues to grow and engage deeply with the game as we deliver more update and new content, and we saw game play hours in our mobile hit, The Sims FreePlay, increase 85% year over year. In addition, our EA Sports ultimate team modes averaged over 2 million players per day in Q1, up nearly 20% year over year."
Why toss in games from two different divisions (at the time) where one is doing well, and only talk about the improvement of one of them. Obviously Sims 4 is not hitting an impressive number, or else that would have been the one with the growth mentioned. Sims 4 is growing. Freeplay play hours are increasing by 85%!
I wonder why they're not mentioning the 15k-25k players of the Sims 4 on line at any time (just what I've observed when I open the game). Maybe because, even if that's up from where it was, it's not considered impressive for a new game that sold over 1 million copies.
"Selected Operating Highlights and Metrics:
• At E3, EA titles earned 132 awards including four of the 2015 E3 Game Critic Awards: Star WarsTM BattlefrontTM for Best Action Game and Best Online Multiplayer, Need for SpeedTM for Best Racing Game and EA SPORTSTM FIFA 16 for Best Sports Game.
• Trailers, gameplay and livestreams of EA's games were viewed over 53 million times throughout the week of E3.
• Players in Battlefield 4TM and BattlefieldTM Hardline logged more than 170 million online gameplay hours combined in Q1.
• Monthly active users for EA’s mobile titles averaged more than 150 million in Q1.
• More than 16 million matches of FIFA 15 were played on average per day in Q1.
Selected Financial Highlights:
• For the quarter, non-GAAP net revenue of $693 million was above our guidance of $640 million. Diluted non-GAAP EPS of $0.15 was above our guidance of $0.00.
• EA increased fiscal 2016 non-GAAP net revenue guidance by $50 million to $4.450 billion and diluted non-GAAP EPS guidance by $0.10 to $2.85 per share.
• Operating cash flow of $992 million was a record high for any trailing twelve month Q1 period.
• EA repurchased 2.2 million shares in Q1 for $132 million."
This worried me because the Sims games aren't mentioned at all. This would be unthinkable just a few years ago where the Sims 2 or the Sims 3 usually were mentioned as EA's most profitable games. But now several other games seems to be much more important for EA.
EA's net profit was gone under the financial crisis. But now EA has a high and growing income again. TS4 doesn't seem to be their most profitable game at all. So they could stop the series. But it actually seems to be profitable enough to give TS5 a chance to be released too.
I don't think anyone wants the Sims to fail. What we want is a game that is fun and engaging for our various play styles. And in truth, that is what will save the series, not more trying to appeal to a narrow demographic when your actual market is much, much larger.
I think Sims 4 main problem is it's shallow. I can't even quite put my finger on it, but I can give a lot of examples where it is just missing depth, from interactions, to building tools, to character creation. It's possible to simplify the front end while still keeping a robust system going, but I don't think they managed to do this.
An example I use a lot when discussing this is thought bubbles. In previous games, they were germain. Sometimes they were shocking, but they always seemed to be relevant. In Sims 4, while they're there, they seem generic and random. This in turn loses a bit of depth for the sims themselves.
See, I read the same shareholder report and I found this line discouraging (and they're not about to say in this report that things are doing poorly -- that Sims 4 picked up a bit more than they expected with GTW doesn't say much other than they're not scrapping the series yet). "The Sims 4 play community continues to grow and engage deeply with the game as we deliver more update and new content, and we saw game play hours in our mobile hit, The Sims FreePlay, increase 85% year over year. In addition, our EA Sports ultimate team modes averaged over 2 million players per day in Q1, up nearly 20% year over year."
Why toss in games from two different divisions (at the time) where one is doing well, and only talk about the improvement of one of them. Obviously Sims 4 is not hitting an impressive number, or else that would have been the one with the growth mentioned. Sims 4 is growing. Freeplay play hours are increasing by 85%!
I wonder why they're not mentioning the 15k-25k players of the Sims 4 on line at any time (just what I've observed when I open the game). Maybe because, even if that's up from where it was, it's not considered impressive for a new game that sold over 1 million copies.
"Selected Operating Highlights and Metrics:
• At E3, EA titles earned 132 awards including four of the 2015 E3 Game Critic Awards: Star WarsTM BattlefrontTM for Best Action Game and Best Online Multiplayer, Need for SpeedTM for Best Racing Game and EA SPORTSTM FIFA 16 for Best Sports Game.
• Trailers, gameplay and livestreams of EA's games were viewed over 53 million times throughout the week of E3.
• Players in Battlefield 4TM and BattlefieldTM Hardline logged more than 170 million online gameplay hours combined in Q1.
• Monthly active users for EA’s mobile titles averaged more than 150 million in Q1.
• More than 16 million matches of FIFA 15 were played on average per day in Q1.
Selected Financial Highlights:
• For the quarter, non-GAAP net revenue of $693 million was above our guidance of $640 million. Diluted non-GAAP EPS of $0.15 was above our guidance of $0.00.
• EA increased fiscal 2016 non-GAAP net revenue guidance by $50 million to $4.450 billion and diluted non-GAAP EPS guidance by $0.10 to $2.85 per share.
• Operating cash flow of $992 million was a record high for any trailing twelve month Q1 period.
• EA repurchased 2.2 million shares in Q1 for $132 million."
This worried me because the Sims games aren't mentioned at all. This would be unthinkable just a few years ago where the Sims 2 or the Sims 3 usually were mentioned as EA's most profitable games. But now several other games seems to be much more important for EA.
EA's net profit was gone under the financial crisis. But now EA has a high and growing income again. TS4 doesn't seem to be their most profitable game at all. So they could stop the series. But it actually seems to be profitable enough to give TS5 a chance to be released too.
Sure, that's what we want - the Sims franchise to fail because that's why @sparkfairy1 spent so much of her own time collating information and sent it to whoever it was within EA/Maxis (on their request remember!) and has continued to spend much of her own time communicating with other Simmers regardless of game preference to continue to plead our case with EA/Maxis for honest, open communication.
You are a prime example of what has been an ongoing problem in these forums. You deliberately misrepresent what others have said, speak as if you are the mouthpiece of EA/Maxis and your opinion is the only correct one out there.
No true fan of the franchise wants to see it go under, we all want the same thing which is an immersive game to enjoy and share our stories and have a giggle at some of the mad things our Sims have done. It is not the fans fault for the direction the game has taken and it will not be the fans fault if the franchise does eventually go under, the blame for that lies squarely with those who pushed the game in a direction that no-one asked for.
As much as you think that spark has a "campaign against Sims 4", I think you have a problem with anyone who likes to voice an opinion that differs to yours. You're an adult and have stated you are a teacher I believe? You should be ashamed of yourself for trying to silence debate when it is healthy, non-abusive and open to all.
See, I read the same shareholder report and I found this line discouraging (and they're not about to say in this report that things are doing poorly -- that Sims 4 picked up a bit more than they expected with GTW doesn't say much other than they're not scrapping the series yet). "The Sims 4 play community continues to grow and engage deeply with the game as we deliver more update and new content, and we saw game play hours in our mobile hit, The Sims FreePlay, increase 85% year over year. In addition, our EA Sports ultimate team modes averaged over 2 million players per day in Q1, up nearly 20% year over year."
Why toss in games from two different divisions (at the time) where one is doing well, and only talk about the improvement of one of them. Obviously Sims 4 is not hitting an impressive number, or else that would have been the one with the growth mentioned. Sims 4 is growing. Freeplay play hours are increasing by 85%!
I wonder why they're not mentioning the 15k-25k players of the Sims 4 on line at any time (just what I've observed when I open the game). Maybe because, even if that's up from where it was, it's not considered impressive for a new game that sold over 1 million copies.
"Selected Operating Highlights and Metrics:
• At E3, EA titles earned 132 awards including four of the 2015 E3 Game Critic Awards: Star WarsTM BattlefrontTM for Best Action Game and Best Online Multiplayer, Need for SpeedTM for Best Racing Game and EA SPORTSTM FIFA 16 for Best Sports Game.
• Trailers, gameplay and livestreams of EA's games were viewed over 53 million times throughout the week of E3.
• Players in Battlefield 4TM and BattlefieldTM Hardline logged more than 170 million online gameplay hours combined in Q1.
• Monthly active users for EA’s mobile titles averaged more than 150 million in Q1.
• More than 16 million matches of FIFA 15 were played on average per day in Q1.
Selected Financial Highlights:
• For the quarter, non-GAAP net revenue of $693 million was above our guidance of $640 million. Diluted non-GAAP EPS of $0.15 was above our guidance of $0.00.
• EA increased fiscal 2016 non-GAAP net revenue guidance by $50 million to $4.450 billion and diluted non-GAAP EPS guidance by $0.10 to $2.85 per share.
• Operating cash flow of $992 million was a record high for any trailing twelve month Q1 period.
• EA repurchased 2.2 million shares in Q1 for $132 million."
This worried me because the Sims games aren't mentioned at all. This would be unthinkable just a few years ago where the Sims 2 or the Sims 3 usually were mentioned as EA's most profitable games. But now several other games seems to be much more important for EA.
EA's net profit was gone under the financial crisis. But now EA has a high and growing income again. TS4 doesn't seem to be their most profitable game at all. So they could stop the series. But it actually seems to be profitable enough to give TS5 a chance to be released too.
Sure, that's what we want - the Sims franchise to fail because that's why @sparkfairy1 spent so much of her own time collating information and sent it to whoever it was within EA/Maxis (on their request remember!) and has continued to spend much of her own time communicating with other Simmers regardless of game preference to continue to plead our case with EA/Maxis for honest, open communication.
You are a prime example of what has been an ongoing problem in these forums. You deliberately misrepresent what others have said, speak as if you are the mouthpiece of EA/Maxis and your opinion is the only correct one out there.
No true fan of the franchise wants to see it go under, we all want the same thing which is an immersive game to enjoy and share our stories and have a giggle at some of the mad things our Sims have done. It is not the fans fault for the direction the game has taken and it will not be the fans fault if the franchise does eventually go under, the blame for that lies squarely with those who pushed the game in a direction that no-one asked for.
As much as you think that spark has a "campaign against Sims 4", I think you have a problem with anyone who likes to voice an opinion that differs to yours. You're an adult and have stated you are a teacher I believe? You should be ashamed of yourself for trying to silence debate when it is healthy, non-abusive and open to all.
And thank you @CherbitDip@Erpe clearly you have a personal problem with me when you hide behind accusations about me personally.
Perhaps you didn't know that I've spend literally days collating surveys the gurus saw me write and asked for as I wrote them to be neutral. I had to scour pages and pages, approach people for permission to pass it on directly to the team and copy and paste each into a word document with a link to the relevant page then sent directly to the studio.
I have run a successful peaceful thread where people are respectful of one another regardless of their opinions of the game and have been complimented for this many times by real sims staff. It's taken a lot of my personal time to do all this-and I continue to do so because I care about the game, about the gurus I know personally and who I am fond of and for the wonderful sims fans of every opinion who appreciate each others opinions and support each other every day. They show day in, day out that disagreeing isn't any reason to be arguementative and be mean!
If I didn't care I wouldn't waste my time. Perhaps instead of making up your own narrative about me and trying to share it to 'shame' me you might like to educate yourself and quit it. If you don't like me? I don't care. I'm not going to worry about that. Just put me on ignore. But you are absolutely not welcome to say such things to try to put me down.
See, I read the same shareholder report and I found this line discouraging (and they're not about to say in this report that things are doing poorly -- that Sims 4 picked up a bit more than they expected with GTW doesn't say much other than they're not scrapping the series yet). "The Sims 4 play community continues to grow and engage deeply with the game as we deliver more update and new content, and we saw game play hours in our mobile hit, The Sims FreePlay, increase 85% year over year. In addition, our EA Sports ultimate team modes averaged over 2 million players per day in Q1, up nearly 20% year over year."
Why toss in games from two different divisions (at the time) where one is doing well, and only talk about the improvement of one of them. Obviously Sims 4 is not hitting an impressive number, or else that would have been the one with the growth mentioned. Sims 4 is growing. Freeplay play hours are increasing by 85%!
I wonder why they're not mentioning the 15k-25k players of the Sims 4 on line at any time (just what I've observed when I open the game). Maybe because, even if that's up from where it was, it's not considered impressive for a new game that sold over 1 million copies.
"Selected Operating Highlights and Metrics:
• At E3, EA titles earned 132 awards including four of the 2015 E3 Game Critic Awards: Star WarsTM BattlefrontTM for Best Action Game and Best Online Multiplayer, Need for SpeedTM for Best Racing Game and EA SPORTSTM FIFA 16 for Best Sports Game.
• Trailers, gameplay and livestreams of EA's games were viewed over 53 million times throughout the week of E3.
• Players in Battlefield 4TM and BattlefieldTM Hardline logged more than 170 million online gameplay hours combined in Q1.
• Monthly active users for EA’s mobile titles averaged more than 150 million in Q1.
• More than 16 million matches of FIFA 15 were played on average per day in Q1.
Selected Financial Highlights:
• For the quarter, non-GAAP net revenue of $693 million was above our guidance of $640 million. Diluted non-GAAP EPS of $0.15 was above our guidance of $0.00.
• EA increased fiscal 2016 non-GAAP net revenue guidance by $50 million to $4.450 billion and diluted non-GAAP EPS guidance by $0.10 to $2.85 per share.
• Operating cash flow of $992 million was a record high for any trailing twelve month Q1 period.
• EA repurchased 2.2 million shares in Q1 for $132 million."
This worried me because the Sims games aren't mentioned at all. This would be unthinkable just a few years ago where the Sims 2 or the Sims 3 usually were mentioned as EA's most profitable games. But now several other games seems to be much more important for EA.
EA's net profit was gone under the financial crisis. But now EA has a high and growing income again. TS4 doesn't seem to be their most profitable game at all. So they could stop the series. But it actually seems to be profitable enough to give TS5 a chance to be released too.
I don't think anyone wants the Sims to fail. What we want is a game that is fun and engaging for our various play styles. And in truth, that is what will save the series, not more trying to appeal to a narrow demographic when your actual market is much, much larger.
I think Sims 4 main problem is it's shallow. I can't even quite put my finger on it, but I can give a lot of examples where it is just missing depth, from interactions, to building tools, to character creation. It's possible to simplify the front end while still keeping a robust system going, but I don't think they managed to do this.
An example I use a lot when discussing this is thought bubbles. In previous games, they were germain. Sometimes they were shocking, but they always seemed to be relevant. In Sims 4, while they're there, they seem generic and random. This in turn loses a bit of depth for the sims themselves.
I agree that TS4 is too shallow (that is the reason why I don't play it). But so was TS2 and TS3. I would love more depth in the game. But alas that is unlikely to happen because the target audience are primarily teen girls who aren't used to big complicated games. EA wants to make the games so attractive for such new simmers as possible.
So our problem is that we aren't the target audience at all. Even though people in this forum are mainly adults (and also for probably most of us used to other big games) we still are way too few to pay EA's bills. Therefore EA can't change the game in our way and EA can't even accept an M rating for the game instead of a T rating.
I agree that nobody probably wants the whole Sims series to fail so badly that EA will stop it. But too many act like TS4 was the only game that matters for EA and therefore think that EA's only choice will be to give them toddlers and other things if the game fails. But the decision makers in EA don't even play the game or see it as principally more important than any of all EA's other games. If sales numbers for TS4 fail badly then EA's top won't give the game many chances but instead cut their losses. EA has never thrown more money after a game which fails! They have always just stopped such series. The only thing that could make EA motivated to use more money on any game is if the game gives EA a good profit because then EA wants the game to do even better. So by boycotting TS4 or giving it a bad reputation simmers actually work against their own interests.
@Erpe again, you continue to miss the point and you make your arguments utterly ridiculous. I don't believe the game is targeted to teen girls as you have asserted numerous times, I think they try to market it to as broad an audience as possible but seem to think that audience isn't interested in challenging gameplay and that error is costing them.
I haven't read any posts from other Simmers that think Sims 4 is the only game that matters to EA, we are well aware of how low on the list we stand, that has been quite clear for a number of years. Happy to take the cash but not to take that audience too seriously.
I see you've immediately backtracked on your previous statement about there being those that want to see the franchise fail, the decent thing to do now would be to apologise to spark, you know fine well how ridiculous your previous statements were.
Your last sentence about boycotting and giving Sims 4 a bad reputation? Might want to look a bit closer at those who actually designed the game and released it, they have managed to give it a bad name all by themselves. Stop pointing the finger at fans.
The following statements are from Blake Jorgensen, EA, only 2 months ago:
"In the first quarter, EA Sports FIFA 15, Battlefield Hardline, and The Sims 4 drove solid revenue and delivered excellent margins. This demonstrates the power of our deep catalog of popular IP, which delivers a base of stable revenue throughout the year. The revenue and margin beat versus guidance were driven by better-than-expected performance from FIFA Ultimate Team and The Sims 4."
"Moving on to gross margin, our non-GAAP gross margin for the quarter was 76.8%, an increase from last year's 70.2% and better than our guidance of 74.5%. Growth over the prior year was driven by product mix, the shift to digital, and FIFA Online 3 in China. We exceeded guidance largely through better-than-expected performance from FIFA Ultimate Team and the continued success of The Sims 4, which delivers very high margins by virtue of being a PC title based on wholly-owned IP."
"Guidance for our second quarter is for non-GAAP net revenue to be $1.075 billion, 12% lower than last year's $1.22 billion. In this quarter, we are launching Madden NFL, FIFA, Rory McIlroy PGA TOUR, NHL, and NBA LIVE. While last year's Q2 saw the launches of our major sports titles, it also included The Sims 4."
"Sure, so first on gross margin, the gross margin -- a couple things to remember in just year-over-year comparisons. One, last year, both Titanfall and UFC are royalty-bearing titles, so they have dampened last year's gross margin a little bit.
But the real driver for us was the strength, as you noted, FIFA Online 3. Obviously, some of that deferred revenue, so coming in at very nice gross margins.
But second, and probably more importantly, the strength of The Sims 4. And I'd just give people a reminder. Last year, The Sims started a little slow relative to our thinking. We talked about that in our Q2 earnings, but 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 we were in a situation where many consumers were comparing the original Sims 4 game to The Sims 3 game with a long series of expansion packs. And as we now start to bring out expansion packs, they are starting to see the power of The Sims 4 game play and the excitement around it. And we sold more Sims 4 this quarter than we thought, and we think that trend will continue and we are very excited about it, not just because of the franchise, but because of the power that drives to the gross margin."
And the following statements were made at the same event by EA's CEO Andrew Wilson:
"Our Q1 results were excellent, with revenue, margins, and earnings above our guidance. Our top games and large services, including EA SPORTS FIFA 15, Battlefield Hardline, The Sims 4, are engaging players around the world with fresh new experiences. We see continued strength in our mobile titles, with new games coming later this year."
"The Sims 4 play community continues to grow and engage deeply with the game as we deliver more update and new content, and we saw game play hours in our mobile hit, The Sims FreePlay, increase 85% year over year. In addition, our EA Sports ultimate team modes averaged over 2 million players per day in Q1, up nearly 20% year over year."
So apparently TS4 is doing much better than people think. We still don't really have the exact sales numbers though.
That was the Earning report from July. It is all kinds of sad that a Financial Officer and an Executive Officer is making excuses for poor consumer response. These reps of EA were trying to convince Traders and Trade reporters that the EA stock was solid.
See, I read the same shareholder report and I found this line discouraging (and they're not about to say in this report that things are doing poorly -- that Sims 4 picked up a bit more than they expected with GTW doesn't say much other than they're not scrapping the series yet). "The Sims 4 play community continues to grow and engage deeply with the game as we deliver more update and new content, and we saw game play hours in our mobile hit, The Sims FreePlay, increase 85% year over year. In addition, our EA Sports ultimate team modes averaged over 2 million players per day in Q1, up nearly 20% year over year."
Why toss in games from two different divisions (at the time) where one is doing well, and only talk about the improvement of one of them. Obviously Sims 4 is not hitting an impressive number, or else that would have been the one with the growth mentioned. Sims 4 is growing. Freeplay play hours are increasing by 85%!
I wonder why they're not mentioning the 15k-25k players of the Sims 4 on line at any time (just what I've observed when I open the game). Maybe because, even if that's up from where it was, it's not considered impressive for a new game that sold over 1 million copies.
My opinion based from experience in working with Corp heads: When a Corp Officer throws numbers in together as in this event, it is to confuse the listener. By embedding strong financial data into the same statement as weak data, the speaker is meaning for the listener to hear certain words: TS4...grow....deeply...game play hours...increase 85%...over 2 million players...up 20%... Anyone looking for a reason to care is going to pick up these words and come to the conclusion that TS4 is being played by millions of players. The speaker deliberately left out transitional phrases because they want the listener to jump to conclusions.
Since this transcript is of a conference call with stock analyst, I do believe that the executive officers from EA were dismissing past performance and deliberately trying to sugar-coat the future performance. TS4 would not have been mentioned in an earnings report had there not be a questions regarding its future.
See, I read the same shareholder report and I found this line discouraging (and they're not about to say in this report that things are doing poorly -- that Sims 4 picked up a bit more than they expected with GTW doesn't say much other than they're not scrapping the series yet). "The Sims 4 play community continues to grow and engage deeply with the game as we deliver more update and new content, and we saw game play hours in our mobile hit, The Sims FreePlay, increase 85% year over year. In addition, our EA Sports ultimate team modes averaged over 2 million players per day in Q1, up nearly 20% year over year."
Why toss in games from two different divisions (at the time) where one is doing well, and only talk about the improvement of one of them. Obviously Sims 4 is not hitting an impressive number, or else that would have been the one with the growth mentioned. Sims 4 is growing. Freeplay play hours are increasing by 85%!
I wonder why they're not mentioning the 15k-25k players of the Sims 4 on line at any time (just what I've observed when I open the game). Maybe because, even if that's up from where it was, it's not considered impressive for a new game that sold over 1 million copies.
"Selected Operating Highlights and Metrics:
• At E3, EA titles earned 132 awards including four of the 2015 E3 Game Critic Awards: Star WarsTM BattlefrontTM for Best Action Game and Best Online Multiplayer, Need for SpeedTM for Best Racing Game and EA SPORTSTM FIFA 16 for Best Sports Game.
• Trailers, gameplay and livestreams of EA's games were viewed over 53 million times throughout the week of E3.
• Players in Battlefield 4TM and BattlefieldTM Hardline logged more than 170 million online gameplay hours combined in Q1.
• Monthly active users for EA’s mobile titles averaged more than 150 million in Q1.
• More than 16 million matches of FIFA 15 were played on average per day in Q1.
Selected Financial Highlights:
• For the quarter, non-GAAP net revenue of $693 million was above our guidance of $640 million. Diluted non-GAAP EPS of $0.15 was above our guidance of $0.00.
• EA increased fiscal 2016 non-GAAP net revenue guidance by $50 million to $4.450 billion and diluted non-GAAP EPS guidance by $0.10 to $2.85 per share.
• Operating cash flow of $992 million was a record high for any trailing twelve month Q1 period.
• EA repurchased 2.2 million shares in Q1 for $132 million."
This worried me because the Sims games aren't mentioned at all. This would be unthinkable just a few years ago where the Sims 2 or the Sims 3 usually were mentioned as EA's most profitable games. But now several other games seems to be much more important for EA.
EA's net profit was gone under the financial crisis. But now EA has a high and growing income again. TS4 doesn't seem to be their most profitable game at all. So they could stop the series. But it actually seems to be profitable enough to give TS5 a chance to be released too.
While previewing the stats please remember that revenue is NOT profit. Revenue less expenses is profit. None of these numbers relate to profit.
GAAP means Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. Non-GAAP means that EA's report is inclusive of data that is generally not accepted as reasonable way to report financial data. This does not mean they are lying or cheating someone, it only means they are using a different method of accounting that what would be used to report to the SEC or income tax.
...
I agree that TS4 is too shallow (that is the reason why I don't play it). But so was TS2 and TS3. I would love more depth in the game. But alas that is unlikely to happen because the target audience are primarily teen girls who aren't used to big complicated games. EA wants to make the games so attractive for such new simmers as possible.
So our problem is that we aren't the target audience at all. Even though people in this forum are mainly adults (and also for probably most of us used to other big games) we still are way too few to pay EA's bills. Therefore EA can't change the game in our way and EA can't even accept an M rating for the game instead of a T rating.
I agree that nobody probably wants the whole Sims series to fail so badly that EA will stop it. But too many act like TS4 was the only game that matters for EA and therefore think that EA's only choice will be to give them toddlers and other things if the game fails. But the decision makers in EA don't even play the game or see it as principally more important than any of all EA's other games. If sales numbers for TS4 fail badly then EA's top won't give the game many chances but instead cut their losses. EA has never thrown more money after a game which fails! They have always just stopped such series. The only thing that could make EA motivated to use more money on any game is if the game gives EA a good profit because then EA wants the game to do even better. So by boycotting TS4 or giving it a bad reputation simmers actually work against their own interests.
TS3 was not Shallow.
"...teen girls who aren't used to big complicated games." This is so many shades of wrong. If a company to took this attitude toward a target audience, it would be a serious misstep.
It is my understanding that the reduction in graphic quality and the omission of selected content was done to allow the game, TS4, to be played on low-end computers (laptops.) The reality of this is respective as those gamers that drop a couple hundred dollars on games, subs, DLC, in-game stores, and VAC (value-added content, aka vanity items) consider upgrades to their PC to gain the desired gaming experience as a reasonable and acceptable expense. Spending a thousand or so dollars on a computer every five years is minor compared to the thousand spent annually on gaming.
Yeah I never trust Non-GAAP figures over GAAP figures. It is basically like another way the company decided to do their accounting. I do think EA is earning quite a decent profit off of the Sims Freeplay. Anyway info about GAAP vs. Non-GAAP: http://www.businessinsider.com/gaap-vs-non-gaap-earnings-eps-2013-12
“Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.” –Helen Keller
Yeah I never trust Non-GAAP figures over GAAP figures. It is basically like another way the company decided to do their accounting. I do think EA is earning quite a decent profit off of the Sims Freeplay. Anyway info about GAAP vs. Non-GAAP: http://www.businessinsider.com/gaap-vs-non-gaap-earnings-eps-2013-12
In GAAP financial reports, there is a section to explain unusually activities that might weigh what is considered normal operating costs. Non-GAAP would be similar to a common soul stating: IF we did not have that huge, unexpected medical bill, we would be financially secure.
In truth, I feel that consumers should not focus on EA's financial reports. For the most part, EA will supply funds where they believe that money will do the most good for the company. Better for the consumer to focus on the gaming experience and the content of that game as it is promised and/or delivered.
Yeah I never trust Non-GAAP figures over GAAP figures. It is basically like another way the company decided to do their accounting. I do think EA is earning quite a decent profit off of the Sims Freeplay. Anyway info about GAAP vs. Non-GAAP: http://www.businessinsider.com/gaap-vs-non-gaap-earnings-eps-2013-12
In GAAP financial reports, there is a section to explain unusually activities that might weigh what is considered normal operating costs. Non-GAAP would be similar to a common soul stating: IF we did not have that huge, unexpected medical bill, we would be financially secure.
In truth, I feel that consumers should not focus on EA's financial reports. For the most part, EA will supply funds where they believe that money will do the most good for the company. Better for the consumer to focus on the gaming experience and the content of that game as it is promised and/or delivered.
Very true. It pretty much seems EA pools profit from all their games and puts it where it needs to be, so we shouldn't worry about the financial stuff. I mean even Sims 3 is still making money for them. I admit I do like viewing the financial reports just because of being an accountant. Financial reports are like reading enjoyable books for me, but in number version.
All we have to worry about is the content on whether we like it or not. I do think both feedback from all sorts of Simmers is needed in order for the Sims 4 to succeed.
“Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.” –Helen Keller
See, I read the same shareholder report and I found this line discouraging (and they're not about to say in this report that things are doing poorly -- that Sims 4 picked up a bit more than they expected with GTW doesn't say much other than they're not scrapping the series yet). "The Sims 4 play community continues to grow and engage deeply with the game as we deliver more update and new content, and we saw game play hours in our mobile hit, The Sims FreePlay, increase 85% year over year. In addition, our EA Sports ultimate team modes averaged over 2 million players per day in Q1, up nearly 20% year over year."
Why toss in games from two different divisions (at the time) where one is doing well, and only talk about the improvement of one of them. Obviously Sims 4 is not hitting an impressive number, or else that would have been the one with the growth mentioned. Sims 4 is growing. Freeplay play hours are increasing by 85%!
I wonder why they're not mentioning the 15k-25k players of the Sims 4 on line at any time (just what I've observed when I open the game). Maybe because, even if that's up from where it was, it's not considered impressive for a new game that sold over 1 million copies.
"Selected Operating Highlights and Metrics:
• At E3, EA titles earned 132 awards including four of the 2015 E3 Game Critic Awards: Star WarsTM BattlefrontTM for Best Action Game and Best Online Multiplayer, Need for SpeedTM for Best Racing Game and EA SPORTSTM FIFA 16 for Best Sports Game.
• Trailers, gameplay and livestreams of EA's games were viewed over 53 million times throughout the week of E3.
• Players in Battlefield 4TM and BattlefieldTM Hardline logged more than 170 million online gameplay hours combined in Q1.
• Monthly active users for EA’s mobile titles averaged more than 150 million in Q1.
• More than 16 million matches of FIFA 15 were played on average per day in Q1.
Selected Financial Highlights:
• For the quarter, non-GAAP net revenue of $693 million was above our guidance of $640 million. Diluted non-GAAP EPS of $0.15 was above our guidance of $0.00.
• EA increased fiscal 2016 non-GAAP net revenue guidance by $50 million to $4.450 billion and diluted non-GAAP EPS guidance by $0.10 to $2.85 per share.
• Operating cash flow of $992 million was a record high for any trailing twelve month Q1 period.
• EA repurchased 2.2 million shares in Q1 for $132 million."
This worried me (but will probably instead please Sparkfairy1 in her campaign against TS4) because the Sims games aren't mentioned at all. This would be unthinkable just a few years ago where the Sims 2 or the Sims 3 usually were mentioned as EA's most profitable games. But now several other games seems to be much more important for EA.
EA's net profit was gone under the financial crisis. But now EA has a high and growing income again. TS4 doesn't seem to be their most profitable game at all. So they could stop the series. But it actually seems to be profitable enough to give TS5 a chance to be released too. (I want that and I want it to have as large a budget as possible which is my reason for not agreeing with Sparkfairy1 and her followers in their wishes about TS4 failing badly because then TS5 probably won't be released at all or just made from a much smaller budget.)
While previewing the stats please remember that revenue is NOT profit. Revenue less expenses is profit. None of these numbers relate to profit.
GAAP means Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. Non-GAAP means that EA's report is inclusive of data that is generally not accepted as reasonable way to report financial data. This does not mean they are lying or cheating someone, it only means they are using a different method of accounting that what would be used to report to the SEC or income tax.
I know all that. But you are missing my point.
EA's net revenue is about $4.5 billion a year. People in this forum seem to think that if a few hundreds forum users don't buy a few Sims 4 expansions then EA's board must use valuable time to solve this "problem". But even if a few hundreds really should stop purchasing the expansions then EA's revenue won't even fall as much as just one of EA's 8400 employees are paid in wages each year. Therefore EA's board has much more important things to consider than what a few hundred people in this forum want.
If we are in this forum a lot of time then we can easily fall victim to the illusion that the few hundred people here should be the most important matter to EA. But each game is usually sold in at 1 to 4 million copies. We probably don't even buy 1% of those copies.
Also we are not the typical customers for the game because all the other customers are probably mostly much younger than us and they don't use their game nearly as much as we do. The main target group seems to still be 12 to 14 years girls even though they probably are a minority among the customers - but still probably a group who buys more copies of the game than any other similar age group (or get the games as presents for their birthday or Christmas). But even so young teens aren't likely to play their games for nearly as long time as we do.
My guess is that most of the game copies are sold to teens while we in this forum nearly exclusively are adults. Nearly all of us compare TS4 with all the previous games. But teens don't - and especially they don't if TS4 is their first Sims game. Therefore toddlers, closed world and similar things don't mean anything important for them. They just play their new game shortly and then they move on unless they get some new exiting content - which is why EA now attempts to release new content for the game every month to keep them interested.
I don't believe that TS4 is selling as well as TS3 or TS2. But EA probably sees this as natural because there now are fewer PC gamers and because it now is more difficult than earlier to give the game enough new content to motivate the customers from the earlier version to buy the game one more time. EA will of course still make Sims games though as long as this is profitable. But lower sales numbers will make it more important for EA to reduce costs to still get a profit.
No @Erpe I don't think @Shadoza2 missed your point at all but you do seem to miss everyone else's point! You seem to have an extremely low opinion of your fellow Simmers and, bizarrely, teenagers too. I wish it was possible to have a reasonable conversation/debate with you but that's clearly never going to happen. Shame really.
...
I agree that TS4 is too shallow (that is the reason why I don't play it). But so was TS2 and TS3. I would love more depth in the game. But alas that is unlikely to happen because the target audience are primarily teen girls who aren't used to big complicated games. EA wants to make the games so attractive for such new simmers as possible.
So our problem is that we aren't the target audience at all. Even though people in this forum are mainly adults (and also for probably most of us used to other big games) we still are way too few to pay EA's bills. Therefore EA can't change the game in our way and EA can't even accept an M rating for the game instead of a T rating.
I agree that nobody probably wants the whole Sims series to fail so badly that EA will stop it. But too many act like TS4 was the only game that matters for EA and therefore think that EA's only choice will be to give them toddlers and other things if the game fails. But the decision makers in EA don't even play the game or see it as principally more important than any of all EA's other games. If sales numbers for TS4 fail badly then EA's top won't give the game many chances but instead cut their losses. EA has never thrown more money after a game which fails! They have always just stopped such series. The only thing that could make EA motivated to use more money on any game is if the game gives EA a good profit because then EA wants the game to do even better. So by boycotting TS4 or giving it a bad reputation simmers actually work against their own interests.
TS3 was not Shallow.
"...teen girls who aren't used to big complicated games." This is so many shades of wrong. If a company to took this attitude toward a target audience, it would be a serious misstep.
It is my understanding that the reduction in graphic quality and the omission of selected content was done to allow the game, TS4, to be played on low-end computers (laptops.) The reality of this is respective as those gamers that drop a couple hundred dollars on games, subs, DLC, in-game stores, and VAC (value-added content, aka vanity items) consider upgrades to their PC to gain the desired gaming experience as a reasonable and acceptable expense. Spending a thousand or so dollars on a computer every five years is minor compared to the thousand spent annually on gaming.
That's also why there is hardly any simulation. That data requires a lot of processing power which isn't available on low end machines.
Hello everyone! I am dropping in to remind everyone that while I welcome you to have debates attacking or naming / shaming is not and will not be allowed. Please remember that you can make a point without belittling your fellow members.
Yes, I kinda think @Erpe is misunderstanding some of the numbers. That's why everyone keeps asking how well Sims 4 is selling. Sims 3 and the other games proudly declared sales of millions within a week. The download chart for sims 4 showed pre-sales of about 500,000. Even EA has declared that they know the game has disappointed and the figures are low and that's why they put their faith in dlc, and why the game has been at half price every single month since it launched in October. That's not a couple of hundred people, and across the internet you hear many people saying their dissatisfied and they aint buying. This is a first for our Sims game series - so many dissatisfied people.
We also have the example of simcity. I'm sure there were only a couple of hundreds in the forums showing distisfaction. But the result, maxis redwood shut down, further expansions cancelled, everyone off to buy city skylines and Simcity is dead and history.
To say that consumers didn't cause this and there's no point in complaining is not realistic. Complaining is effecting EA, that's why "Get Together" is delayed as the "Add additional stuff about groups" which they previously (somehow forgot) People are fed up of the "party" emphasis, and EA is listening and responding.
It's a crowded game market, especially now the indies are on board and can publish a game themself as customers are will to fund them through kickstarters and early access (prison architect). No AAA company is safe, either they produce good stuff or watch their customers walk away.
SIMS 3:YOU’VE NEVER SEEN THE SIMS LIKE THIS BEFORE! This #1 bestselling award-winner* is better than ever on iPhone and iPod. Contains direct links to the Internet; Collects data though third party ad serving analytics technology. EA may retire online features and services after 30 days’ notice.
Hello everyone! I am dropping in to remind everyone that while I welcome you to have debates attacking or naming / shaming is not and will not be allowed. Please remember that you can make a point without belittling your fellow members.
Ouch - sorry, responded before reminder. Erpe has brought a lot of good ideas to the table, and I was responding based on that, no malice meant. There is a lot of sense about business ideas and how the gaming market is changing.
SIMS 3:YOU’VE NEVER SEEN THE SIMS LIKE THIS BEFORE! This #1 bestselling award-winner* is better than ever on iPhone and iPod. Contains direct links to the Internet; Collects data though third party ad serving analytics technology. EA may retire online features and services after 30 days’ notice.
See, I read the same shareholder report and I found this line discouraging (and they're not about to say in this report that things are doing poorly -- that Sims 4 picked up a bit more than they expected with GTW doesn't say much other than they're not scrapping the series yet). "The Sims 4 play community continues to grow and engage deeply with the game as we deliver more update and new content, and we saw game play hours in our mobile hit, The Sims FreePlay, increase 85% year over year. In addition, our EA Sports ultimate team modes averaged over 2 million players per day in Q1, up nearly 20% year over year."
Why toss in games from two different divisions (at the time) where one is doing well, and only talk about the improvement of one of them. Obviously Sims 4 is not hitting an impressive number, or else that would have been the one with the growth mentioned. Sims 4 is growing. Freeplay play hours are increasing by 85%!
I wonder why they're not mentioning the 15k-25k players of the Sims 4 on line at any time (just what I've observed when I open the game). Maybe because, even if that's up from where it was, it's not considered impressive for a new game that sold over 1 million copies.
"Selected Operating Highlights and Metrics:
• At E3, EA titles earned 132 awards including four of the 2015 E3 Game Critic Awards: Star WarsTM BattlefrontTM for Best Action Game and Best Online Multiplayer, Need for SpeedTM for Best Racing Game and EA SPORTSTM FIFA 16 for Best Sports Game.
• Trailers, gameplay and livestreams of EA's games were viewed over 53 million times throughout the week of E3.
• Players in Battlefield 4TM and BattlefieldTM Hardline logged more than 170 million online gameplay hours combined in Q1.
• Monthly active users for EA’s mobile titles averaged more than 150 million in Q1.
• More than 16 million matches of FIFA 15 were played on average per day in Q1.
Selected Financial Highlights:
• For the quarter, non-GAAP net revenue of $693 million was above our guidance of $640 million. Diluted non-GAAP EPS of $0.15 was above our guidance of $0.00.
• EA increased fiscal 2016 non-GAAP net revenue guidance by $50 million to $4.450 billion and diluted non-GAAP EPS guidance by $0.10 to $2.85 per share.
• Operating cash flow of $992 million was a record high for any trailing twelve month Q1 period.
• EA repurchased 2.2 million shares in Q1 for $132 million."
This worried me (but will probably instead please Sparkfairy1 in her campaign against TS4) because the Sims games aren't mentioned at all. This would be unthinkable just a few years ago where the Sims 2 or the Sims 3 usually were mentioned as EA's most profitable games. But now several other games seems to be much more important for EA.
EA's net profit was gone under the financial crisis. But now EA has a high and growing income again. TS4 doesn't seem to be their most profitable game at all. So they could stop the series. But it actually seems to be profitable enough to give TS5 a chance to be released too. (I want that and I want it to have as large a budget as possible which is my reason for not agreeing with Sparkfairy1 and her followers in their wishes about TS4 failing badly because then TS5 probably won't be released at all or just made from a much smaller budget.)
While previewing the stats please remember that revenue is NOT profit. Revenue less expenses is profit. None of these numbers relate to profit.
GAAP means Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. Non-GAAP means that EA's report is inclusive of data that is generally not accepted as reasonable way to report financial data. This does not mean they are lying or cheating someone, it only means they are using a different method of accounting that what would be used to report to the SEC or income tax.
I know all that. But you are missing my point.
EA's net revenue is about $4.5 billion a year. People in this forum seem to think that if a few hundreds forum users don't buy a few Sims 4 expansions then EA's board must use valuable time to solve this "problem". But even if a few hundreds really should stop purchasing the expansions then EA's revenue won't even fall as much as just one of EA's 8400 employees are paid in wages each year. Therefore EA's board has much more important things to consider than what a few hundred people in this forum want.
If we are in this forum a lot of time then we can easily fall victim to the illusion that the few hundred people here should be the most important matter to EA. But each game is usually sold in at 1 to 4 million copies. We probably don't even buy 1% of those copies.
Also we are not the typical customers for the game because all the other customers are probably mostly much younger than us and they don't use their game nearly as much as we do. The main target group seems to still be 12 to 14 years girls even though they probably are a minority among the customers - but still probably a group who buys more copies of the game than any other similar age group (or get the games as presents for their birthday or Christmas). But even so young teens aren't likely to play their games for nearly as long time as we do.
My guess is that most of the game copies are sold to teens while we in this forum nearly exclusively are adults. Nearly all of us compare TS4 with all the previous games. But teens don't - and especially they don't if TS4 is their first Sims game. Therefore toddlers, closed world and similar things don't mean anything important for them. They just play their new game shortly and then they move on unless they get some new exiting content - which is why EA now attempts to release new content for the game every month to keep them interested.
I don't believe that TS4 is selling as well as TS3 or TS2. But EA probably sees this as natural because there now are fewer PC gamers and because it now is more difficult than earlier to give the game enough new content to motivate the customers from the earlier version to buy the game one more time. EA will of course still make Sims games though as long as this is profitable. But lower sales numbers will make it more important for EA to reduce costs to still get a profit.
I wasn't commenting so much on your point but rather was meaning to point out that revenue is not the same as profits. A company can bring in billions in revenue and still show a loss. And, that there is a difference between GAAP and non-GAAP. I believed a little clarity for those who are not familiar with account practices would help to put things into perspective.
Yeah there is a big difference between revenue and net profit. Revenue is basically profit without the expenses. But it was pretty interesting reading the earnings report and seeing that a huge part of their expenses is going into the marketing of the Sims 4. I really do think Maxis is trying to get the game to appeal to more players through marketing. I mean the game time event things they have probably do help. I just wish the game was more fun and kept be entertained for longer than a couple months. Oh well. At least I can go back and play the Sims 3 again which I am enjoying. I just can't believe how much fun I had in CAS alone. XD
“Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.” –Helen Keller
Comments
People who love a game will tolerate bugs, and programmers in that number will try to fix said bugs. But if you don't have the initial engagement there on a large scale, you're going to just not have the sales.
Yes you are correct with gog it is DRM free
"Selected Operating Highlights and Metrics:
• At E3, EA titles earned 132 awards including four of the 2015 E3 Game Critic Awards: Star WarsTM BattlefrontTM for Best Action Game and Best Online Multiplayer, Need for SpeedTM for Best Racing Game and EA SPORTSTM FIFA 16 for Best Sports Game.
• Trailers, gameplay and livestreams of EA's games were viewed over 53 million times throughout the week of E3.
• Players in Battlefield 4TM and BattlefieldTM Hardline logged more than 170 million online gameplay hours combined in Q1.
• Monthly active users for EA’s mobile titles averaged more than 150 million in Q1.
• More than 16 million matches of FIFA 15 were played on average per day in Q1.
Selected Financial Highlights:
• For the quarter, non-GAAP net revenue of $693 million was above our guidance of $640 million. Diluted non-GAAP EPS of $0.15 was above our guidance of $0.00.
• EA increased fiscal 2016 non-GAAP net revenue guidance by $50 million to $4.450 billion and diluted non-GAAP EPS guidance by $0.10 to $2.85 per share.
• Operating cash flow of $992 million was a record high for any trailing twelve month Q1 period.
• EA repurchased 2.2 million shares in Q1 for $132 million."
This worried me because the Sims games aren't mentioned at all. This would be unthinkable just a few years ago where the Sims 2 or the Sims 3 usually were mentioned as EA's most profitable games. But now several other games seems to be much more important for EA.
EA's net profit was gone under the financial crisis. But now EA has a high and growing income again. TS4 doesn't seem to be their most profitable game at all. So they could stop the series. But it actually seems to be profitable enough to give TS5 a chance to be released too.
Once again great article @sparkfairy1 .
I don't think anyone wants the Sims to fail. What we want is a game that is fun and engaging for our various play styles. And in truth, that is what will save the series, not more trying to appeal to a narrow demographic when your actual market is much, much larger.
I think Sims 4 main problem is it's shallow. I can't even quite put my finger on it, but I can give a lot of examples where it is just missing depth, from interactions, to building tools, to character creation. It's possible to simplify the front end while still keeping a robust system going, but I don't think they managed to do this.
An example I use a lot when discussing this is thought bubbles. In previous games, they were germain. Sometimes they were shocking, but they always seemed to be relevant. In Sims 4, while they're there, they seem generic and random. This in turn loses a bit of depth for the sims themselves.
Sure, that's what we want - the Sims franchise to fail because that's why @sparkfairy1 spent so much of her own time collating information and sent it to whoever it was within EA/Maxis (on their request remember!) and has continued to spend much of her own time communicating with other Simmers regardless of game preference to continue to plead our case with EA/Maxis for honest, open communication.
You are a prime example of what has been an ongoing problem in these forums. You deliberately misrepresent what others have said, speak as if you are the mouthpiece of EA/Maxis and your opinion is the only correct one out there.
No true fan of the franchise wants to see it go under, we all want the same thing which is an immersive game to enjoy and share our stories and have a giggle at some of the mad things our Sims have done. It is not the fans fault for the direction the game has taken and it will not be the fans fault if the franchise does eventually go under, the blame for that lies squarely with those who pushed the game in a direction that no-one asked for.
As much as you think that spark has a "campaign against Sims 4", I think you have a problem with anyone who likes to voice an opinion that differs to yours. You're an adult and have stated you are a teacher I believe? You should be ashamed of yourself for trying to silence debate when it is healthy, non-abusive and open to all.
And thank you @CherbitDip
Perhaps you didn't know that I've spend literally days collating surveys the gurus saw me write and asked for as I wrote them to be neutral. I had to scour pages and pages, approach people for permission to pass it on directly to the team and copy and paste each into a word document with a link to the relevant page then sent directly to the studio.
I have run a successful peaceful thread where people are respectful of one another regardless of their opinions of the game and have been complimented for this many times by real sims staff. It's taken a lot of my personal time to do all this-and I continue to do so because I care about the game, about the gurus I know personally and who I am fond of and for the wonderful sims fans of every opinion who appreciate each others opinions and support each other every day. They show day in, day out that disagreeing isn't any reason to be arguementative and be mean!
If I didn't care I wouldn't waste my time. Perhaps instead of making up your own narrative about me and trying to share it to 'shame' me you might like to educate yourself and quit it. If you don't like me? I don't care. I'm not going to worry about that. Just put me on ignore. But you are absolutely not welcome to say such things to try to put me down.
https://twitter.com/sparkfairy1
So our problem is that we aren't the target audience at all. Even though people in this forum are mainly adults (and also for probably most of us used to other big games) we still are way too few to pay EA's bills. Therefore EA can't change the game in our way and EA can't even accept an M rating for the game instead of a T rating.
I agree that nobody probably wants the whole Sims series to fail so badly that EA will stop it. But too many act like TS4 was the only game that matters for EA and therefore think that EA's only choice will be to give them toddlers and other things if the game fails. But the decision makers in EA don't even play the game or see it as principally more important than any of all EA's other games. If sales numbers for TS4 fail badly then EA's top won't give the game many chances but instead cut their losses. EA has never thrown more money after a game which fails! They have always just stopped such series. The only thing that could make EA motivated to use more money on any game is if the game gives EA a good profit because then EA wants the game to do even better. So by boycotting TS4 or giving it a bad reputation simmers actually work against their own interests.
I haven't read any posts from other Simmers that think Sims 4 is the only game that matters to EA, we are well aware of how low on the list we stand, that has been quite clear for a number of years. Happy to take the cash but not to take that audience too seriously.
I see you've immediately backtracked on your previous statement about there being those that want to see the franchise fail, the decent thing to do now would be to apologise to spark, you know fine well how ridiculous your previous statements were.
Your last sentence about boycotting and giving Sims 4 a bad reputation? Might want to look a bit closer at those who actually designed the game and released it, they have managed to give it a bad name all by themselves. Stop pointing the finger at fans.
That was the Earning report from July. It is all kinds of sad that a Financial Officer and an Executive Officer is making excuses for poor consumer response. These reps of EA were trying to convince Traders and Trade reporters that the EA stock was solid.
My opinion based from experience in working with Corp heads: When a Corp Officer throws numbers in together as in this event, it is to confuse the listener. By embedding strong financial data into the same statement as weak data, the speaker is meaning for the listener to hear certain words: TS4...grow....deeply...game play hours...increase 85%...over 2 million players...up 20%... Anyone looking for a reason to care is going to pick up these words and come to the conclusion that TS4 is being played by millions of players. The speaker deliberately left out transitional phrases because they want the listener to jump to conclusions.
Since this transcript is of a conference call with stock analyst, I do believe that the executive officers from EA were dismissing past performance and deliberately trying to sugar-coat the future performance. TS4 would not have been mentioned in an earnings report had there not be a questions regarding its future.
While previewing the stats please remember that revenue is NOT profit. Revenue less expenses is profit. None of these numbers relate to profit.
GAAP means Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. Non-GAAP means that EA's report is inclusive of data that is generally not accepted as reasonable way to report financial data. This does not mean they are lying or cheating someone, it only means they are using a different method of accounting that what would be used to report to the SEC or income tax.
TS3 was not Shallow.
"...teen girls who aren't used to big complicated games." This is so many shades of wrong. If a company to took this attitude toward a target audience, it would be a serious misstep.
It is my understanding that the reduction in graphic quality and the omission of selected content was done to allow the game, TS4, to be played on low-end computers (laptops.) The reality of this is respective as those gamers that drop a couple hundred dollars on games, subs, DLC, in-game stores, and VAC (value-added content, aka vanity items) consider upgrades to their PC to gain the desired gaming experience as a reasonable and acceptable expense. Spending a thousand or so dollars on a computer every five years is minor compared to the thousand spent annually on gaming.
In GAAP financial reports, there is a section to explain unusually activities that might weigh what is considered normal operating costs. Non-GAAP would be similar to a common soul stating: IF we did not have that huge, unexpected medical bill, we would be financially secure.
In truth, I feel that consumers should not focus on EA's financial reports. For the most part, EA will supply funds where they believe that money will do the most good for the company. Better for the consumer to focus on the gaming experience and the content of that game as it is promised and/or delivered.
All we have to worry about is the content on whether we like it or not. I do think both feedback from all sorts of Simmers is needed in order for the Sims 4 to succeed.
EA's net revenue is about $4.5 billion a year. People in this forum seem to think that if a few hundreds forum users don't buy a few Sims 4 expansions then EA's board must use valuable time to solve this "problem". But even if a few hundreds really should stop purchasing the expansions then EA's revenue won't even fall as much as just one of EA's 8400 employees are paid in wages each year. Therefore EA's board has much more important things to consider than what a few hundred people in this forum want.
If we are in this forum a lot of time then we can easily fall victim to the illusion that the few hundred people here should be the most important matter to EA. But each game is usually sold in at 1 to 4 million copies. We probably don't even buy 1% of those copies.
Also we are not the typical customers for the game because all the other customers are probably mostly much younger than us and they don't use their game nearly as much as we do. The main target group seems to still be 12 to 14 years girls even though they probably are a minority among the customers - but still probably a group who buys more copies of the game than any other similar age group (or get the games as presents for their birthday or Christmas). But even so young teens aren't likely to play their games for nearly as long time as we do.
My guess is that most of the game copies are sold to teens while we in this forum nearly exclusively are adults. Nearly all of us compare TS4 with all the previous games. But teens don't - and especially they don't if TS4 is their first Sims game. Therefore toddlers, closed world and similar things don't mean anything important for them. They just play their new game shortly and then they move on unless they get some new exiting content - which is why EA now attempts to release new content for the game every month to keep them interested.
I don't believe that TS4 is selling as well as TS3 or TS2. But EA probably sees this as natural because there now are fewer PC gamers and because it now is more difficult than earlier to give the game enough new content to motivate the customers from the earlier version to buy the game one more time. EA will of course still make Sims games though as long as this is profitable. But lower sales numbers will make it more important for EA to reduce costs to still get a profit.
That's also why there is hardly any simulation. That data requires a lot of processing power which isn't available on low end machines.
We also have the example of simcity. I'm sure there were only a couple of hundreds in the forums showing distisfaction. But the result, maxis redwood shut down, further expansions cancelled, everyone off to buy city skylines and Simcity is dead and history.
To say that consumers didn't cause this and there's no point in complaining is not realistic. Complaining is effecting EA, that's why "Get Together" is delayed as the "Add additional stuff about groups" which they previously (somehow forgot) People are fed up of the "party" emphasis, and EA is listening and responding.
It's a crowded game market, especially now the indies are on board and can publish a game themself as customers are will to fund them through kickstarters and early access (prison architect). No AAA company is safe, either they produce good stuff or watch their customers walk away.
Thank you
https://twitter.com/sparkfairy1
I wasn't commenting so much on your point but rather was meaning to point out that revenue is not the same as profits. A company can bring in billions in revenue and still show a loss. And, that there is a difference between GAAP and non-GAAP. I believed a little clarity for those who are not familiar with account practices would help to put things into perspective.