cause people responding here have no insights into what's actually going on
& gurus will rather shut this thread down than respond, EA's policy about TS4 is to stay as silent about it as possible
if you don't find threads discussing such matters then you know why
i won't be participating in the forums & the gallery anymore - thanks EA
@jackjack_k can you provide a source for your claims that Maxis has hired a lot of new staff recently? And also one for your claim that they have moved staff off teams to work on other projects?
This is a genuine question (not trying to be snarky) because if you can provide evidence of the above, that surely indicates that Maxis must be doing okay as one would not imagine them hiring new staff for The Sims if it was doing badly.
I just did a search of EA job openings, narrowed to Maxis, Maxis-Mobile, and Sims. There are currently 5 Sims-specific openings, and several other openings that are non-game-specific but also not specifically mobile. Games that are winding down aren't hiring that many new people. (I once worked in a company division that was being shuttered: those of us on annual contracts gradually got not renewed, though renewal had been the norm; those on on long-term term employment got laid off bit by bit as fewer of them were needed; there was no new hiring.)
EA CREATOR NETWORK MEMBER — Want to be notified of patches, new Broken Mods threads, and urgent Sims 4 news? Follow me at https://www.patreon.com/luthienrising.
@blueturtleotter Sorry to impede on your question, but I know that two new people were recently hired. @SimGuruNick and @SimGuruArvin have been hired to help with bug investigations. I made a welcome thread for them a while back after seeing their names and checking twitter.
I'm not worried, at all. We had moments in Sims 3 where we didn't hear all too much and it was okay. The only reason people are scared now is that lots of older players don't like the game, not realising that a lot of new players are introduced to the Sims 4.
I'm okay with a bit of silence, I admit it was a bit too much lately but they're slowly picking it up again, why would they pick it up if it's dying. When Simcity was failing they didn't put any effort at all anymore, atleast we keep hearing things now. Not to mention it was said that they're planning content for atleast three more years, the only thing is we aren't able to hear what's coming long term and that might be a better idea since most of us like knowing what's coming.
Again, not worried, i'm still hopefull for the future.
@blueturtleotter Sorry to impede on your question, but I know that two new people were recently hired. @SimGuruNick and @SimGuruArvin have been hired to help with bug investigations. I made a welcome thread for them a while back after seeing their names and checking twitter.
Actually, I think both had been with Sims for a long time but not publically active
EA CREATOR NETWORK MEMBER — Want to be notified of patches, new Broken Mods threads, and urgent Sims 4 news? Follow me at https://www.patreon.com/luthienrising.
The Sims 3 went through the exact same phrase during Late 2010 to Late 2011.
After Late Night, it there was barely anything happening, after 9 months we got an Expansion Pack about the size of a Game Pack, and it looked like EA were downgrading Sims 3 down to a much smaller level.
Suddenly Pets was announced and bam. Everything sped back up.
It's normal for a game to go through a quiet patch, that doesn't mean it's bad.
EA announced like two days ago, that The Sims 4 has grown two thirds in the last 12 months, and 12 months ago they said The Sims 4 was their biggest game.
It's very clear it's not going anywhere.
LOL
Memories, imaginary friends, reputarion system, chemestry, tons if family interactions, playground equipment, day care active career, prom, driving classes etc.
@blueturtleotter Sorry to impede on your question, but I know that two new people were recently hired. @SimGuruNick and @SimGuruArvin have been hired to help with bug investigations. I made a welcome thread for them a while back after seeing their names and checking twitter.
The Sims 3 went through the exact same phrase during Late 2010 to Late 2011.
After Late Night, it there was barely anything happening, after 9 months we got an Expansion Pack about the size of a Game Pack, and it looked like EA were downgrading Sims 3 down to a much smaller level.
Suddenly Pets was announced and bam. Everything sped back up.
It's normal for a game to go through a quiet patch, that doesn't mean it's bad.
EA announced like two days ago, that The Sims 4 has grown two thirds in the last 12 months, and 12 months ago they said The Sims 4 was their biggest game.
It's very clear it's not going anywhere.
LOL
Memories, imaginary friends, reputarion system, chemestry, tons if family interactions, playground equipment, day care active career, prom, driving classes etc.
It's funny how, after TS4, the hive-mind has completely changed their view of TS3. Back on the TS3 Ideas & Feedback forum, there was a lot of criticism that was reminiscent of what is going on now in the forums, except for different reasons, but I digress.
I distinctly recall, because that was when I started to frequent TS3: Ideas & Feedback, TS3: Generations was constantly called a glorified stuff pack. And I still think that holds true. The pack itself felt very much like a modern day game pack. A lot of the content was not at all major, but just small bits of content spread out. I did like some of the content it added, but it was definitely worth half of what I paid, IMHO.
I don't think the game is going downhill at all. I think they are doing alright with TS4 and it has been selling better now that they have ep's out(I think this slow period may have been a wait to see how the game did last quarter and see what type of budget they should give it.) I'm not sure how they put ep/gp/sp into their sales equations though, if they lump them in with TS4 as a whole or if they are considered their own. I would assume it's all lumped into TS4 as a whole though. I don't think it's doing exceptional like some of their other games but it seems sales have gotten better overall. This is just my opinion though, gathered from some information I've read in their quarterly earnings reports and articles.
@GabbyGirlJ This person cannot provide you with a quote where EA said "the sims 4 is our biggest game." I've already gone over that with them and they linked me a conference call from summer 2015 that said the game was "doing better then expected." Myself and another went over this in another thread with them and thought it was not accurate to say this and very misleading. You can read the conversation if you'd like, I gave pretty good evidence of it not being their biggest game.
The Sims 3 went through the exact same phrase during Late 2010 to Late 2011.
After Late Night, it there was barely anything happening, after 9 months we got an Expansion Pack about the size of a Game Pack, and it looked like EA were downgrading Sims 3 down to a much smaller level.
Suddenly Pets was announced and bam. Everything sped back up.
It's normal for a game to go through a quiet patch, that doesn't mean it's bad.
EA announced like two days ago, that The Sims 4 has grown two thirds in the last 12 months, and 12 months ago they said The Sims 4 was their biggest game.
It's very clear it's not going anywhere.
Generations came out 7 months after Late Night, not 9. Up until Supernatural there was an average of 5 - 7 months between EPs, so this wasn't any bigger than say, the gap between WA and Ambitions. And we did get a Stuff Pack shortly after Gen.
When did EA say that The Sims 4 was their "biggest game?" I don't remember that quote. I'd really like to check it out if you have the source.
I don't know if I it's clear to me that it's "not going anywhere." Simply because they're so tight-lipped about content. And, nothing's certain in the world of gaming anyway. Franchises end, studios close, etc. It's business. Something that you thought would always be around could very well be gone tomorrow with no warning. I've seen games get shut down shortly after sharing their plans for future content with their fans.
I think it's good news for the franchise that the audience has grown. That's probably the most positive news that I've heard about TS4 in a while. However, we don't know anything about what their goals are and if they're being met. We don't know anything about any content that may come after this quarter or how far ahead they've planned. We're just too much in the dark for any educated guesses. And I agree with @Piperbird . Hearing that they are doing "fine" is, well, fine. But it doesn't tell us much about the future. And they can't tell us more, which I understand.
They said in the FR this time last year it was their biggest game. Google "The Sims 4 Earnings Call Snippet Q1 2016". It says the Sims 4 was EA's biggest source of Revenue. B
@jackjack_k can you provide a source for your claims that Maxis has hired a lot of new staff recently? And also one for your claim that they have moved staff off teams to work on other projects?
This is a genuine question (not trying to be snarky) because if you can provide evidence of the above, that surely indicates that Maxis must be doing okay as one would not imagine them hiring new staff for The Sims if it was doing badly.
There was a bunch of staff that have started over the last few months, and they recently announced they moved to a new floor. It's all out there.
The Sims 3 went through the exact same phrase during Late 2010 to Late 2011.
After Late Night, it there was barely anything happening, after 9 months we got an Expansion Pack about the size of a Game Pack, and it looked like EA were downgrading Sims 3 down to a much smaller level.
Suddenly Pets was announced and bam. Everything sped back up.
It's normal for a game to go through a quiet patch, that doesn't mean it's bad.
EA announced like two days ago, that The Sims 4 has grown two thirds in the last 12 months, and 12 months ago they said The Sims 4 was their biggest game.
It's very clear it's not going anywhere.
LOL
Memories, imaginary friends, reputarion system, chemestry, tons if family interactions, playground equipment, day care active career, prom, driving classes etc.
All of which could be achieved in a Game Pack.
And when you say "Tons" of family interactions, you realise Toddlers and Babies literally got one object each and were otherwise forgotten. It was tiny.
The Sims 3 went through the exact same phrase during Late 2010 to Late 2011.
After Late Night, it there was barely anything happening, after 9 months we got an Expansion Pack about the size of a Game Pack, and it looked like EA were downgrading Sims 3 down to a much smaller level.
Suddenly Pets was announced and bam. Everything sped back up.
It's normal for a game to go through a quiet patch, that doesn't mean it's bad.
EA announced like two days ago, that The Sims 4 has grown two thirds in the last 12 months, and 12 months ago they said The Sims 4 was their biggest game.
It's very clear it's not going anywhere.
LOL
Memories, imaginary friends, reputarion system, chemestry, tons if family interactions, playground equipment, day care active career, prom, driving classes etc.
It's funny how, after TS4, the hive-mind has completely changed their view of TS3. Back on the TS3 Ideas & Feedback forum, there was a lot of criticism that was reminiscent of what is going on now in the forums, except for different reasons, but I digress.
I distinctly recall, because that was when I started to frequent TS3: Ideas & Feedback, TS3: Generations was constantly called a glorified stuff pack. And I still think that holds true. The pack itself felt very much like a modern day game pack. A lot of the content was not at all major, but just small bits of content spread out. I did like some of the content it added, but it was definitely worth half of what I paid, IMHO.
I feel like Glorified Stuff Pack is going a bit far, but it's definitely in the realms of a Game Pack. Adding a few new things, but you don't notice the new content unless you search for it. It kinda plumped up the base game, but didn't add anything "new" to the game as it were.
If you had the base game and Generations installed and that was all, you'd forget you had an EP installed after a while.
first Maxis was the original creator of The Sims franchise, not only Simcity
Second, don't take all of the negativity on the forums to heart. If they were going to stop making content for The Sims 4 because it flopped, they would have done it in 2014 when it released as utter flop. It's obvious that EA is trying really hard to make sure that the franchise doesn't go under and it seems to be working (2/3 extra sales in 2015).
--- Side note: Something that I noticed is that tweets, and things in general by not so popular simmer do not seem to get noticed as much. I messaged @SimGuruDrake 2 months ago about a thread I believe it got deleted without any notice. I then messaged her again later and still nothing. I do understand that she is probably flooded with messages, and it might take awhile for her to go through every each message and notification. This is an opinion, do not take my word as a matter of fact. But it seems to me that a tweet or comment by a popular simmer will have a higher chance to receive a reply ----
I've noticed this too, but it seems like they're trying to turn this around - I've seen The Sims on facebook advertise more and more small youtube channel simmers and while it will never be me, I'm just glad that those that actually need advertising are finally getting it
I have been reading the forums, comments, tweets, pretty much anything and everyone seems to be very negative about the future of The Sims.
Don't take what goes on here on the forums as proof of anything.
When "news" sites pass off our posts as confirmation of rumors that tells you everything you need to know. The forums in general are overdramatic. They take anything posted on Twitter as a game hint. They take no news as a sign the end is near.
Whatever. I'm actually quite used to not hearing communication in between releases so this doesn't bother me at all.
"That person who helps others simply because it should or must be done, and because it is the right thing to do, is indeed without a doubt, a real superhero." - Stan Lee
This saddens me, because even If we wanted to try to stop the studio from doing us wrong, we're still a small proportion out of 3 million people who bought the game. Which means that there's not that many people on the forum compared to the many people who buy the game, who keep funding them, I don't think we're going to get anywhere with this.
Now If there was a more bigger proportion of us on this forum, I think that would really change some visuals around.
The Sims 3 went through the exact same phrase during Late 2010 to Late 2011.
After Late Night, it there was barely anything happening, after 9 months we got an Expansion Pack about the size of a Game Pack, and it looked like EA were downgrading Sims 3 down to a much smaller level.
Suddenly Pets was announced and bam. Everything sped back up.
It's normal for a game to go through a quiet patch, that doesn't mean it's bad.
EA announced like two days ago, that The Sims 4 has grown two thirds in the last 12 months, and 12 months ago they said The Sims 4 was their biggest game.
It's very clear it's not going anywhere.
Generations came out 7 months after Late Night, not 9. Up until Supernatural there was an average of 5 - 7 months between EPs, so this wasn't any bigger than say, the gap between WA and Ambitions. And we did get a Stuff Pack shortly after Gen.
When did EA say that The Sims 4 was their "biggest game?" I don't remember that quote. I'd really like to check it out if you have the source.
I don't know if I it's clear to me that it's "not going anywhere." Simply because they're so tight-lipped about content. And, nothing's certain in the world of gaming anyway. Franchises end, studios close, etc. It's business. Something that you thought would always be around could very well be gone tomorrow with no warning. I've seen games get shut down shortly after sharing their plans for future content with their fans.
I think it's good news for the franchise that the audience has grown. That's probably the most positive news that I've heard about TS4 in a while. However, we don't know anything about what their goals are and if they're being met. We don't know anything about any content that may come after this quarter or how far ahead they've planned. We're just too much in the dark for any educated guesses. And I agree with @Piperbird . Hearing that they are doing "fine" is, well, fine. But it doesn't tell us much about the future. And they can't tell us more, which I understand.
They said in the FR this time last year it was their biggest game. Google "The Sims 4 Earnings Call Snippet Q1 2016". It says the Sims 4 was EA's biggest source of Revenue. B
Thanks. Well, they sound positive about it in this particular report. But I don't see where it says that it's their biggest game. It does list it among other titles.
"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."
"The Sims 4 play community continues to grow and engage deeply with the game as we deliver more update and new content"
"In the first quarter, EA Sports FIFA 15, Battlefield Hardline, and The Sims 4 drove solid revenue and delivered excellent margins. This demonstratesthe 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."
The part that gives me the most hope, actually is when they say "better-than-expected performance" still vague because we don't know what their expectations were after the kind of shaky launch. But, that means more to me than terms like one of several "top games" since they don't give out numbers on TS4.
The Sims 3 went through the exact same phrase during Late 2010 to Late 2011.
After Late Night, it there was barely anything happening, after 9 months we got an Expansion Pack about the size of a Game Pack, and it looked like EA were downgrading Sims 3 down to a much smaller level.
Suddenly Pets was announced and bam. Everything sped back up.
It's normal for a game to go through a quiet patch, that doesn't mean it's bad.
EA announced like two days ago, that The Sims 4 has grown two thirds in the last 12 months, and 12 months ago they said The Sims 4 was their biggest game.
It's very clear it's not going anywhere.
Generations came out 7 months after Late Night, not 9. Up until Supernatural there was an average of 5 - 7 months between EPs, so this wasn't any bigger than say, the gap between WA and Ambitions. And we did get a Stuff Pack shortly after Gen.
When did EA say that The Sims 4 was their "biggest game?" I don't remember that quote. I'd really like to check it out if you have the source.
I don't know if I it's clear to me that it's "not going anywhere." Simply because they're so tight-lipped about content. And, nothing's certain in the world of gaming anyway. Franchises end, studios close, etc. It's business. Something that you thought would always be around could very well be gone tomorrow with no warning. I've seen games get shut down shortly after sharing their plans for future content with their fans.
I think it's good news for the franchise that the audience has grown. That's probably the most positive news that I've heard about TS4 in a while. However, we don't know anything about what their goals are and if they're being met. We don't know anything about any content that may come after this quarter or how far ahead they've planned. We're just too much in the dark for any educated guesses. And I agree with @Piperbird . Hearing that they are doing "fine" is, well, fine. But it doesn't tell us much about the future. And they can't tell us more, which I understand.
They said in the FR this time last year it was their biggest game. Google "The Sims 4 Earnings Call Snippet Q1 2016". It says the Sims 4 was EA's biggest source of Revenue. B
@jackjack_k can you provide a source for your claims that Maxis has hired a lot of new staff recently? And also one for your claim that they have moved staff off teams to work on other projects?
This is a genuine question (not trying to be snarky) because if you can provide evidence of the above, that surely indicates that Maxis must be doing okay as one would not imagine them hiring new staff for The Sims if it was doing badly.
There was a bunch of staff that have started over the last few months, and they recently announced they moved to a new floor. It's all out there.
The Sims 3 went through the exact same phrase during Late 2010 to Late 2011.
After Late Night, it there was barely anything happening, after 9 months we got an Expansion Pack about the size of a Game Pack, and it looked like EA were downgrading Sims 3 down to a much smaller level.
Suddenly Pets was announced and bam. Everything sped back up.
It's normal for a game to go through a quiet patch, that doesn't mean it's bad.
EA announced like two days ago, that The Sims 4 has grown two thirds in the last 12 months, and 12 months ago they said The Sims 4 was their biggest game.
It's very clear it's not going anywhere.
LOL
Memories, imaginary friends, reputarion system, chemestry, tons if family interactions, playground equipment, day care active career, prom, driving classes etc.
All of which could be achieved in a Game Pack.
And when you say "Tons" of family interactions, you realise Toddlers and Babies literally got one object each and were otherwise forgotten. It was tiny.
The Sims 3 went through the exact same phrase during Late 2010 to Late 2011.
After Late Night, it there was barely anything happening, after 9 months we got an Expansion Pack about the size of a Game Pack, and it looked like EA were downgrading Sims 3 down to a much smaller level.
Suddenly Pets was announced and bam. Everything sped back up.
It's normal for a game to go through a quiet patch, that doesn't mean it's bad.
EA announced like two days ago, that The Sims 4 has grown two thirds in the last 12 months, and 12 months ago they said The Sims 4 was their biggest game.
It's very clear it's not going anywhere.
LOL
Memories, imaginary friends, reputarion system, chemestry, tons if family interactions, playground equipment, day care active career, prom, driving classes etc.
It's funny how, after TS4, the hive-mind has completely changed their view of TS3. Back on the TS3 Ideas & Feedback forum, there was a lot of criticism that was reminiscent of what is going on now in the forums, except for different reasons, but I digress.
I distinctly recall, because that was when I started to frequent TS3: Ideas & Feedback, TS3: Generations was constantly called a glorified stuff pack. And I still think that holds true. The pack itself felt very much like a modern day game pack. A lot of the content was not at all major, but just small bits of content spread out. I did like some of the content it added, but it was definitely worth half of what I paid, IMHO.
I feel like Glorified Stuff Pack is going a bit far, but it's definitely in the realms of a Game Pack. Adding a few new things, but you don't notice the new content unless you search for it. It kinda plumped up the base game, but didn't add anything "new" to the game as it were.
If you had the base game and Generations installed and that was all, you'd forget you had an EP installed after a while.
I have been reading the forums, comments, tweets, pretty much anything and everyone seems to be very negative about the future of The Sims.
Don't take what goes on here on the forums as proof of anything.
@Gruffman I do not actually think The Sims is doing bad, I know it grew two-thirds, but I start wondering about the future, and wondering "what if". And I keep seeing so much negativity. But that is true.. There are people are just going to be negative and that doesn't mean anything about a franchise
I have been reading the forums, comments, tweets, pretty much anything and everyone seems to be very negative about the future of The Sims.
Don't take what goes on here on the forums as proof of anything.
@Gruffman I do not actually think The Sims is doing bad, I know it grew two-thirds, but I start wondering about the future, and wondering "what if". And I keep seeing so much negativity. But that is true.. There are people are just going to be negative and that doesn't mean anything about a franchise
Well it does mean *something*. Generally people aren't 'negative' for the sake of it-they often have articulated very clear reasons why they feel disappointed in the hope the situation will improve for how they enjoy the product.
I really dislike the assumption that feedback that isn't praise equals negativity.
People who didn't care about the game wouldn't bother. They would drop the game and be unconcerned about the future of the game. The passion this community (whether from those who like TS4 to those who don't and everyone in between!) shows towards The Sims means that it's important to a great many people. That should be appreciated and cherished. That sort of passion and commitment is very valuable and very difficult to recapture if it's lost.
cause people responding here have no insights into what's actually going on
& gurus will rather shut this thread down than respond, EA's policy about TS4 is to stay as silent about it as possible
if you don't find threads discussing such matters then you know why
lol.. I am asking the people. I like to speculate and see other people's point of view. I always thought that The Sims was only going to go uphill since the launch. The updates, gp, ep would all improve the gameplay and I always thought The Sims only needed time. But idk the fact they won't show up at EA PLAY disappointed me. But maybe it is because they have plans for Gamescom.
I made this cause I wanted to know the community feeling towards the future of The Sims better. I know that what I wrote can be misleading, it was 4 am when I wrote that (lmao). But if any Gurus feels this becomes too negative and full of pointless speculation, I would be fine for them to shut this down.
I was kind of upset of all the attacking negative threads I saw in the community. People attacking SimGuruDrake and other people in the development team and I wanted to write about that, then I saw the EA PLAY and wrote this. I wanted to add as many different views as possible in my text, lot of things I say there is not actually my point of view, but only stuff I read. But I might make a separate thread about the disrespect later on.
Well it does mean *something*. Generally people aren't 'negative' for the sake of it-they often have articulated very clear reasons why they feel disappointed in the hope the situation will improve for how they enjoy the product.
I really dislike the assumption that feedback that isn't praise equals negativity.
People who didn't care about the game wouldn't bother. They would drop the game and be unconcerned about the future of the game. The passion this community (whether from those who like TS4 to those who don't and everyone in between!) shows towards The Sims means that it's important to a great many people. That should be appreciated and cherished. That sort of passion and commitment is very valuable and very difficult to recapture if it's lost.
the only problem is that every single reiteration of The Sims is so different that it attracted a completely different audience to each. And that audience does not necessarily like other games in the series.
Person A liked The sims 1 to 4
Person B likes The Sims 2 only
Person C likes The Sims 3 only
Person D likes The Sims 1 to 3
Person E likes The sims 4
Person F likes The Sims 4 and The Sims 2
The problem arises when people B to D want to change The Sims 4 to something that they like, because they hate what it currently is. "Well how is that a problem?" you may say. It's a problem when what B to D dislikes is what E and F specifically like. So yes, B to D are very passionate in hating, but at the same time if B to D was listened to E and F will be sitting here hating. The Sims is such a broad franchise that it can't possibly satisfy everyone.
Well it does mean *something*. Generally people aren't 'negative' for the sake of it-they often have articulated very clear reasons why they feel disappointed in the hope the situation will improve for how they enjoy the product.
I really dislike the assumption that feedback that isn't praise equals negativity.
People who didn't care about the game wouldn't bother. They would drop the game and be unconcerned about the future of the game. The passion this community (whether from those who like TS4 to those who don't and everyone in between!) shows towards The Sims means that it's important to a great many people. That should be appreciated and cherished. That sort of passion and commitment is very valuable and very difficult to recapture if it's lost.
the only problem is that every single reiteration of The Sims is so different that it attracted a completely different audience to each. And that audience does not necessarily like other games in the series.
Person A liked The sims 1 to 4
Person B likes The Sims 2 only
Person C likes The Sims 3 only
Person D likes The Sims 1 to 3
Person E likes The sims 4
Person F likes The Sims 4 and The Sims 2
The problem arises when people B to D want to change The Sims 4 to something that they like, because they hate what it currently is. "Well how is that a problem?" you may say. It's a problem when what B to D dislikes is what E and F specifically like. So yes, B to D are very passionate in hating, but at the same time if B to D was listened to E and F will be sitting here hating. The Sims is such a broad franchise that it can't possibly satisfy everyone.
I see. That is actually very true. There are always going to be people that think the gameplay is not right for them but that does not mean that there is a problem.
Well it does mean *something*. Generally people aren't 'negative' for the sake of it-they often have articulated very clear reasons why they feel disappointed in the hope the situation will improve for how they enjoy the product.
I really dislike the assumption that feedback that isn't praise equals negativity.
People who didn't care about the game wouldn't bother. They would drop the game and be unconcerned about the future of the game. The passion this community (whether from those who like TS4 to those who don't and everyone in between!) shows towards The Sims means that it's important to a great many people. That should be appreciated and cherished. That sort of passion and commitment is very valuable and very difficult to recapture if it's lost.
the only problem is that every single reiteration of The Sims is so different that it attracted a completely different audience to each. And that audience does not necessarily like other games in the series.
Person A liked The sims 1 to 4
Person B likes The Sims 2 only
Person C likes The Sims 3 only
Person D likes The Sims 1 to 3
Person E likes The sims 4
Person F likes The Sims 4 and The Sims 2
The problem arises when people B to D want to change The Sims 4 to something that they like, because they hate what it currently is. "Well how is that a problem?" you may say. It's a problem when what B to D dislikes is what E and F specifically like. So yes, B to D are very passionate in hating, but at the same time if B to D was listened to E and F will be sitting here hating. The Sims is such a broad franchise that it can't possibly satisfy everyone.
It's not about 'changing TS4' to remove something from others. It's about everyone having the opportunity to respectfully ask for consideration for how they play.
It's perfectly possible for different types of players to support each other. It happens here every day. It is not the case that any change is to upset another player or that it would-and given that TS4 is described by Rachel Franklin as a 'live service' no one knows what's coming in the future and if things will continue as they have or change direction. Evidenced by players like @kremesch73 who was very happy with the game for a long while until multiple patches changed things so much that she began to enjoy the game less.
It is the responsibility of Maxis to decide and when the decisions are made its not the 'fault' of fellow customers either if they change something. Again Maxis make the decisions.
No one here gets to tell another user they can't give their feedback no matter how they feel about the game. It's in the rules. You get your say and others get theirs. It is how it works.
The Sims 3 went through the exact same phrase during Late 2010 to Late 2011.
After Late Night, it there was barely anything happening, after 9 months we got an Expansion Pack about the size of a Game Pack, and it looked like EA were downgrading Sims 3 down to a much smaller level.
Suddenly Pets was announced and bam. Everything sped back up.
It's normal for a game to go through a quiet patch, that doesn't mean it's bad.
EA announced like two days ago, that The Sims 4 has grown two thirds in the last 12 months, and 12 months ago they said The Sims 4 was their biggest game.
It's very clear it's not going anywhere.
@jackjack_k Thanks! I was not aware of that. Well that sounds awesome then. Then they are probably busy working on new content. That is what I thought, but I started to read some negative stuff and I started wondering.
I have been reading the forums, comments, tweets, pretty much anything and everyone seems to be very negative about the future of The Sims.
Don't take what goes on here on the forums as proof of anything.
@Gruffman I do not actually think The Sims is doing bad, I know it grew two-thirds, but I start wondering about the future, and wondering "what if". And I keep seeing so much negativity. But that is true.. There are people are just going to be negative and that doesn't mean anything about a franchise
Well it does mean *something*. Generally people aren't 'negative' for the sake of it-they often have articulated very clear reasons why they feel disappointed in the hope the situation will improve for how they enjoy the product.
I really dislike the assumption that feedback that isn't praise equals negativity.
People who didn't care about the game wouldn't bother. They would drop the game and be unconcerned about the future of the game. The passion this community (whether from those who like TS4 to those who don't and everyone in between!) shows towards The Sims means that it's important to a great many people. That should be appreciated and cherished. That sort of passion and commitment is very valuable and very difficult to recapture if it's lost.
I'm curious, and maybe it's been asked before and I've forgotten, but how do you expect them to show that they (the devs) appreciate the passion and commitment that we simmers have? I've seen them say a whole lot of times that we all show great passion (and in most cases that they enjoy it) toward the game. What else can they do?
So I'm on topic: I wouldn't take the forums as a barometer of feelings toward the game. For every one person that's stood here offering feedback, be it good or bad, there's probably three others who aren't.
There's no evidence that TS4 is doing badly, but rather the contrary. It seems a lack of an announcement for GP3 and the news that TS4 won't be at EA Play is a little too much for people and we're back to the doomsaying.
Comments
cause people responding here have no insights into what's actually going on
& gurus will rather shut this thread down than respond, EA's policy about TS4 is to stay as silent about it as possible
if you don't find threads discussing such matters then you know why
I just did a search of EA job openings, narrowed to Maxis, Maxis-Mobile, and Sims. There are currently 5 Sims-specific openings, and several other openings that are non-game-specific but also not specifically mobile. Games that are winding down aren't hiring that many new people. (I once worked in a company division that was being shuttered: those of us on annual contracts gradually got not renewed, though renewal had been the norm; those on on long-term term employment got laid off bit by bit as fewer of them were needed; there was no new hiring.)
http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/885511/welcome-simgurunick-and-simguruarvin/p1
I have no memory of this place. Time to start anew I guess
I'm okay with a bit of silence, I admit it was a bit too much lately but they're slowly picking it up again, why would they pick it up if it's dying. When Simcity was failing they didn't put any effort at all anymore, atleast we keep hearing things now. Not to mention it was said that they're planning content for atleast three more years, the only thing is we aren't able to hear what's coming long term and that might be a better idea since most of us like knowing what's coming.
Again, not worried, i'm still hopefull for the future.
Actually, I think both had been with Sims for a long time but not publically active
LOL
Memories, imaginary friends, reputarion system, chemestry, tons if family interactions, playground equipment, day care active career, prom, driving classes etc.
Ah okay. My bad. Still, always enjoy having new Gurus around.
I have no memory of this place. Time to start anew I guess
It's funny how, after TS4, the hive-mind has completely changed their view of TS3. Back on the TS3 Ideas & Feedback forum, there was a lot of criticism that was reminiscent of what is going on now in the forums, except for different reasons, but I digress.
I distinctly recall, because that was when I started to frequent TS3: Ideas & Feedback, TS3: Generations was constantly called a glorified stuff pack. And I still think that holds true. The pack itself felt very much like a modern day game pack. A lot of the content was not at all major, but just small bits of content spread out. I did like some of the content it added, but it was definitely worth half of what I paid, IMHO.
@GabbyGirlJ This person cannot provide you with a quote where EA said "the sims 4 is our biggest game." I've already gone over that with them and they linked me a conference call from summer 2015 that said the game was "doing better then expected." Myself and another went over this in another thread with them and thought it was not accurate to say this and very misleading. You can read the conversation if you'd like, I gave pretty good evidence of it not being their biggest game.
http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/14795610/#Comment_14795610
They said in the FR this time last year it was their biggest game. Google "The Sims 4 Earnings Call Snippet Q1 2016". It says the Sims 4 was EA's biggest source of Revenue. B
There was a bunch of staff that have started over the last few months, and they recently announced they moved to a new floor. It's all out there.
All of which could be achieved in a Game Pack.
And when you say "Tons" of family interactions, you realise Toddlers and Babies literally got one object each and were otherwise forgotten. It was tiny.
I feel like Glorified Stuff Pack is going a bit far, but it's definitely in the realms of a Game Pack. Adding a few new things, but you don't notice the new content unless you search for it. It kinda plumped up the base game, but didn't add anything "new" to the game as it were.
If you had the base game and Generations installed and that was all, you'd forget you had an EP installed after a while.
Insta: https://instagram.com/jkarajs?igshid=oef2ymrand3g
Second, don't take all of the negativity on the forums to heart. If they were going to stop making content for The Sims 4 because it flopped, they would have done it in 2014 when it released as utter flop. It's obvious that EA is trying really hard to make sure that the franchise doesn't go under and it seems to be working (2/3 extra sales in 2015).
I've noticed this too, but it seems like they're trying to turn this around - I've seen The Sims on facebook advertise more and more small youtube channel simmers and while it will never be me, I'm just glad that those that actually need advertising are finally getting it
When "news" sites pass off our posts as confirmation of rumors that tells you everything you need to know. The forums in general are overdramatic. They take anything posted on Twitter as a game hint. They take no news as a sign the end is near.
Whatever. I'm actually quite used to not hearing communication in between releases so this doesn't bother me at all.
Now If there was a more bigger proportion of us on this forum, I think that would really change some visuals around.
Thanks. Well, they sound positive about it in this particular report. But I don't see where it says that it's their biggest game. It does list it among other titles.
The part that gives me the most hope, actually is when they say "better-than-expected performance" still vague because we don't know what their expectations were after the kind of shaky launch.
http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/ERTS/2043679077x0x844037/5A41024A-B46C-4471-A08B-12A5062553A2/EA-Transcript-2015-07-30T21_00.pdf
Yes, they would all fit into a GP #sarcasm
@Gruffman I do not actually think The Sims is doing bad, I know it grew two-thirds, but I start wondering about the future, and wondering "what if". And I keep seeing so much negativity. But that is true.. There are people are just going to be negative and that doesn't mean anything about a franchise
Well it does mean *something*. Generally people aren't 'negative' for the sake of it-they often have articulated very clear reasons why they feel disappointed in the hope the situation will improve for how they enjoy the product.
I really dislike the assumption that feedback that isn't praise equals negativity.
People who didn't care about the game wouldn't bother. They would drop the game and be unconcerned about the future of the game. The passion this community (whether from those who like TS4 to those who don't and everyone in between!) shows towards The Sims means that it's important to a great many people. That should be appreciated and cherished. That sort of passion and commitment is very valuable and very difficult to recapture if it's lost.
https://twitter.com/sparkfairy1
lol.. I am asking the people. I like to speculate and see other people's point of view. I always thought that The Sims was only going to go uphill since the launch. The updates, gp, ep would all improve the gameplay and I always thought The Sims only needed time. But idk the fact they won't show up at EA PLAY disappointed me. But maybe it is because they have plans for Gamescom.
I made this cause I wanted to know the community feeling towards the future of The Sims better. I know that what I wrote can be misleading, it was 4 am when I wrote that (lmao). But if any Gurus feels this becomes too negative and full of pointless speculation, I would be fine for them to shut this down.
I was kind of upset of all the attacking negative threads I saw in the community. People attacking SimGuruDrake and other people in the development team and I wanted to write about that, then I saw the EA PLAY and wrote this. I wanted to add as many different views as possible in my text, lot of things I say there is not actually my point of view, but only stuff I read. But I might make a separate thread about the disrespect later on.
the only problem is that every single reiteration of The Sims is so different that it attracted a completely different audience to each. And that audience does not necessarily like other games in the series.
Person A liked The sims 1 to 4
Person B likes The Sims 2 only
Person C likes The Sims 3 only
Person D likes The Sims 1 to 3
Person E likes The sims 4
Person F likes The Sims 4 and The Sims 2
The problem arises when people B to D want to change The Sims 4 to something that they like, because they hate what it currently is. "Well how is that a problem?" you may say. It's a problem when what B to D dislikes is what E and F specifically like. So yes, B to D are very passionate in hating, but at the same time if B to D was listened to E and F will be sitting here hating. The Sims is such a broad franchise that it can't possibly satisfy everyone.
I see. That is actually very true. There are always going to be people that think the gameplay is not right for them but that does not mean that there is a problem.
It's not about 'changing TS4' to remove something from others. It's about everyone having the opportunity to respectfully ask for consideration for how they play.
It's perfectly possible for different types of players to support each other. It happens here every day. It is not the case that any change is to upset another player or that it would-and given that TS4 is described by Rachel Franklin as a 'live service' no one knows what's coming in the future and if things will continue as they have or change direction. Evidenced by players like @kremesch73 who was very happy with the game for a long while until multiple patches changed things so much that she began to enjoy the game less.
It is the responsibility of Maxis to decide and when the decisions are made its not the 'fault' of fellow customers either if they change something. Again Maxis make the decisions.
No one here gets to tell another user they can't give their feedback no matter how they feel about the game. It's in the rules. You get your say and others get theirs. It is how it works.
https://twitter.com/sparkfairy1
@jackjack_k Thanks! I was not aware of that. Well that sounds awesome then. Then they are probably busy working on new content. That is what I thought, but I started to read some negative stuff and I started wondering.
I'm curious, and maybe it's been asked before and I've forgotten, but how do you expect them to show that they (the devs) appreciate the passion and commitment that we simmers have? I've seen them say a whole lot of times that we all show great passion (and in most cases that they enjoy it) toward the game. What else can they do?
There's no evidence that TS4 is doing badly, but rather the contrary. It seems a lack of an announcement for GP3 and the news that TS4 won't be at EA Play is a little too much for people and we're back to the doomsaying.