I'm sorry so many are unhappy with the Sims 4, makes me wonder why you all continue to play a game you don't like. It's been explained to me before but it just never makes sense to me. Personally I think they could squeeze out 2 expansion packs a year but the game packs and stuff packs make me happy. And I know if they put out 2 or more expansion packs, at 40 bucks a pop, everyone will then complain about the expense. So they just can't win. Ever. And I DO think Seasons is next.
I don't agree they don't win. They win everytime somone buys another stuff pack. But with that said, TS3 didn't have any problems not winning people were gobbling up the entire Store and all the EPs and preordering before they even got the announcements out of their mouths. People complained about world prices on the store and store sets prices, and buying the points to buy store stuff, but that didn't stop them from spending it.
I gobbled up that whole store. Im pretty sure its why my game wont run but i gobbled it up so fast anyway. Neeeed sims items. Giiiive meeee moooooar
See, spending over a $1,000 did't bother you at all, and it probably wouldn't bother you now. People (who buy at full price) have already spent over $600 for this game and packs, and don't even realize we are in year three, and don't have cars, seasons, vacations (more than one type) boats, can't swim in oceans, can't even catch a ball, or slow dance and don't even have an attraction system, or a college....but sure spend away, $600+ doesn't matter, you can spend another $1,000 to get that other stuff ten years from now if one EP a year is all they are going to do.
Dribs and Drabs.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
I'm sorry so many are unhappy with the Sims 4, makes me wonder why you all continue to play a game you don't like. It's been explained to me before but it just never makes sense to me. Personally I think they could squeeze out 2 expansion packs a year but the game packs and stuff packs make me happy. And I know if they put out 2 or more expansion packs, at 40 bucks a pop, everyone will then complain about the expense. So they just can't win. Ever. And I DO think Seasons is next.
I don't agree they don't win. They win everytime somone buys another stuff pack. But with that said, TS3 didn't have any problems not winning people were gobbling up the entire Store and all the EPs and preordering before they even got the announcements out of their mouths. People complained about world prices on the store and store sets prices, and buying the points to buy store stuff, but that didn't stop them from spending it.
I gobbled up that whole store. Im pretty sure its why my game wont run but i gobbled it up so fast anyway. Neeeed sims items. Giiiive meeee moooooar
See, spending over a $1,000 did't bother you at all, and it probably wouldn't bother you now. People (who buy at full price) have already spent over $600 for this game and packs, and don't even realize we are in year three, and don't have cars, seasons, vacations (more than one type) boats, can't swim in oceans, can't even catch a ball, or slow dance and don't even have an attraction system, or a college....but sure spend away, $600+ doesn't matter, you can spend another $1,000 to get that other stuff ten years from now if one EP a year is all they are going to do.
Dribs and Drabs.
Yeah but theres a difference this time around. With Sims 3 i experienced no guilt and no buyers remorse and reading that figure id say "whatever was totally worth it".
But now that you've made me conciously aware my broke behind spent $600 so far Sims 4 i feel similarly to that time i got addicted to Simpsons Tapped Out and spent over $200 of actual money on pixels hahahahaha aka my insides want to die a little.
My speculations on hints for future content:
-Cars Update
-Spiral/Diagonal Stairs Update
-Hotel Pack
-Romance Pack (possibly combined with Hotel Pack)
-Bands Pack
-Royalty Pack
-Fashion Design Pack
-Fairies Pack
-Werewolf Pack
-France-inspired World
I'm sorry so many are unhappy with the Sims 4, makes me wonder why you all continue to play a game you don't like. It's been explained to me before but it just never makes sense to me. Personally I think they could squeeze out 2 expansion packs a year but the game packs and stuff packs make me happy. And I know if they put out 2 or more expansion packs, at 40 bucks a pop, everyone will then complain about the expense. So they just can't win. Ever. And I DO think Seasons is next.
I don't agree they don't win. They win everytime somone buys another stuff pack. But with that said, TS3 didn't have any problems not winning people were gobbling up the entire Store and all the EPs and preordering before they even got the announcements out of their mouths. People complained about world prices on the store and store sets prices, and buying the points to buy store stuff, but that didn't stop them from spending it.
I gobbled up that whole store. Im pretty sure its why my game wont run but i gobbled it up so fast anyway. Neeeed sims items. Giiiive meeee moooooar
See, spending over a $1,000 did't bother you at all, and it probably wouldn't bother you now. People (who buy at full price) have already spent over $600 for this game and packs, and don't even realize we are in year three, and don't have cars, seasons, vacations (more than one type) boats, can't swim in oceans, can't even catch a ball, or slow dance and don't even have an attraction system, or a college....but sure spend away, $600+ doesn't matter, you can spend another $1,000 to get that other stuff ten years from now if one EP a year is all they are going to do.
Dribs and Drabs.
Yeah but theres a difference this time around. With Sims 3 i experienced no guilt and no buyers remorse and reading that figure id say "whatever was totally worth it".
But now that you've made me conciously aware my broke behind spent $600 so far Sims 4 i feel similarly to that time i got addicted to Simpsons Tapped Out and spent over $200 of actual money on pixels hahahahaha aka my insides want to die a little.
I was just pointing out the person I replied to said EA couldn't win people would complain about the pricing. Well, looking at how much people have already spent and they still don't have all the things they ask for, and is expected because this game has a 4 in the title, it would be justified for people to complain if they spend that much and still don't have those things the other games had by year three etc.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
I'm sorry so many are unhappy with the Sims 4, makes me wonder why you all continue to play a game you don't like. It's been explained to me before but it just never makes sense to me. Personally I think they could squeeze out 2 expansion packs a year but the game packs and stuff packs make me happy. And I know if they put out 2 or more expansion packs, at 40 bucks a pop, everyone will then complain about the expense. So they just can't win. Ever. And I DO think Seasons is next.
I don't agree they don't win. They win everytime somone buys another stuff pack. But with that said, TS3 didn't have any problems not winning people were gobbling up the entire Store and all the EPs and preordering before they even got the announcements out of their mouths. People complained about world prices on the store and store sets prices, and buying the points to buy store stuff, but that didn't stop them from spending it.
I gobbled up that whole store. Im pretty sure its why my game wont run but i gobbled it up so fast anyway. Neeeed sims items. Giiiive meeee moooooar
See, spending over a $1,000 did't bother you at all, and it probably wouldn't bother you now. People (who buy at full price) have already spent over $600 for this game and packs, and don't even realize we are in year three, and don't have cars, seasons, vacations (more than one type) boats, can't swim in oceans, can't even catch a ball, or slow dance and don't even have an attraction system, or a college....but sure spend away, $600+ doesn't matter, you can spend another $1,000 to get that other stuff ten years from now if one EP a year is all they are going to do.
Dribs and Drabs.
Yeah but theres a difference this time around. With Sims 3 i experienced no guilt and no buyers remorse and reading that figure id say "whatever was totally worth it".
But now that you've made me conciously aware my broke behind spent $600 so far Sims 4 i feel similarly to that time i got addicted to Simpsons Tapped Out and spent over $200 of actual money on pixels hahahahaha aka my insides want to die a little.
I was just pointing out the person I replied to said EA couldn't win people would complain about the pricing. Well, looking at how much people have already spent and they still don't have all the things they ask for, and is expected because this game has a 4 in the title, it would be justified for people to complain if they spend that much and still don't have those things the other games had by year three etc.
Yeah its getting to the point where we have to hope 4 is the longest series in Sim history for it to even be a third as good as previous incarnations and as someone who has unloaded money on every version, and every pack for every version, its frustrating. Its even more frustrating when total newbies who never even played the game until 4 tells me my frustration is unwarranted. As if they would be so happy to watch a series they've invested in for years be gutted and drained of life. And thats where most of the blind love for 4 comes from. People who never played until now lmao Not saying there arent long timers who love it buuuut most of the time when i see people being annoyed at those who are agitated, they're n00bs. To the point where you can even ask them if they ever played before 4 and have a 95% chance of being right if you guess no lmao
My speculations on hints for future content:
-Cars Update
-Spiral/Diagonal Stairs Update
-Hotel Pack
-Romance Pack (possibly combined with Hotel Pack)
-Bands Pack
-Royalty Pack
-Fashion Design Pack
-Fairies Pack
-Werewolf Pack
-France-inspired World
I'm sorry so many are unhappy with the Sims 4, makes me wonder why you all continue to play a game you don't like. It's been explained to me before but it just never makes sense to me. Personally I think they could squeeze out 2 expansion packs a year but the game packs and stuff packs make me happy. And I know if they put out 2 or more expansion packs, at 40 bucks a pop, everyone will then complain about the expense. So they just can't win. Ever. And I DO think Seasons is next.
It's not because we don't like the slow production that we don't like the game. Stop to always say ''I don't understand why playing a game that you don't like''.
What I don't get is, if so many people dislike the EP's that have taken a year to make, why would you want them to rush them out faster and have them be even worse?
until EA allocates more resources to the sims team (which may never happen) it's probably better the way it is now. and it does seem like they're slowing down on the stuff packs as of recent, so hopefully that helps
What I don't get is, if so many people dislike the EP's that have taken a year to make, why would you want them to rush them out faster and have them be even worse?
until EA allocates more resources to the sims team (which may never happen) it's probably better the way it is now. and it does seem like they're slowing down on the stuff packs as of recent, so hopefully that helps
Id be fine with them taking a year to do it if the end result was actually worthwhile. But it takes them a year to put out something twice as expensive and with half the gameplay of a GP. Whats really at the heart of the issue for most players is value. Investment of time is as important as investment of money too and people forget that. If you wait more time for it, spend more money on it, then the content better be more worthwhile than packs you wait less time for and pay less for.
Cats and Dogs is literally the first expansion that i actually felt like my game was expanded in any real way. Every other EP i bought was pretty much for the world and the items, and to save me the headache of finding cute buildings to download on the exchange lmao
My speculations on hints for future content:
-Cars Update
-Spiral/Diagonal Stairs Update
-Hotel Pack
-Romance Pack (possibly combined with Hotel Pack)
-Bands Pack
-Royalty Pack
-Fashion Design Pack
-Fairies Pack
-Werewolf Pack
-France-inspired World
What I don't get is, if so many people dislike the EP's that have taken a year to make, why would you want them to rush them out faster and have them be even worse?
until EA allocates more resources to the sims team (which may never happen) it's probably better the way it is now. and it does seem like they're slowing down on the stuff packs as of recent, so hopefully that helps
Well, during The Sims 3's life span we would get 2 or 3 expansion packs a year, and the quality of them was always very strong - so why has this suddenly changed for The Sims 4?
What I don't get is, if so many people dislike the EP's that have taken a year to make, why would you want them to rush them out faster and have them be even worse?
until EA allocates more resources to the sims team (which may never happen) it's probably better the way it is now. and it does seem like they're slowing down on the stuff packs as of recent, so hopefully that helps
Well, during The Sims 3's life span we would get 2 or 3 expansion packs a year, and the quality of them was always very strong - so why has this suddenly changed for The Sims 4?
What I don't get is, if so many people dislike the EP's that have taken a year to make, why would you want them to rush them out faster and have them be even worse?
until EA allocates more resources to the sims team (which may never happen) it's probably better the way it is now. and it does seem like they're slowing down on the stuff packs as of recent, so hopefully that helps
Well, during The Sims 3's life span we would get 2 or 3 expansion packs a year, and the quality of them was always very strong - so why has this suddenly changed for The Sims 4?
lower budget. is it not obvious?
But why the lower budget when they made a killing on previous versions? Sucking life out of the series for profit? If the sales of Sims 4 determines whether Sims 5 is made why should anybody bother buying the game if more cash flow still equals a budget being slashed? Obviously high sims 3 sales didnt help sims 4. They may as well fire all the teams and end the series completely if this is their future pattern. Just put all their efforts in mobile versions and milk microtransactions from all the rich n00bs who dont care about the series
My speculations on hints for future content:
-Cars Update
-Spiral/Diagonal Stairs Update
-Hotel Pack
-Romance Pack (possibly combined with Hotel Pack)
-Bands Pack
-Royalty Pack
-Fashion Design Pack
-Fairies Pack
-Werewolf Pack
-France-inspired World
What I don't get is, if so many people dislike the EP's that have taken a year to make, why would you want them to rush them out faster and have them be even worse?
until EA allocates more resources to the sims team (which may never happen) it's probably better the way it is now. and it does seem like they're slowing down on the stuff packs as of recent, so hopefully that helps
Id be fine with them taking a year to do it if the end result was actually worthwhile. But it takes them a year to put out something twice as expensive and with half the gameplay of a GP. Whats really at the heart of the issue for most players is value. Investment of time is as important as investment of money too and people forget that. If you wait more time for it, spend more money on it, then the content better be more worthwhile than packs you wait less time for and pay less for.
Cats and Dogs is literally the first expansion that i actually felt like my game was expanded in any real way. Every other EP i bought was pretty much for the world and the items, and to save me the headache of finding cute buildings to download on the exchange lmao
I completely agree! I think that CL is an example of that. However, I think that they could've gotten more out of Cats & Dogs, but that is just my opinion.
What I don't get is, if so many people dislike the EP's that have taken a year to make, why would you want them to rush them out faster and have them be even worse?
until EA allocates more resources to the sims team (which may never happen) it's probably better the way it is now. and it does seem like they're slowing down on the stuff packs as of recent, so hopefully that helps
Well, during The Sims 3's life span we would get 2 or 3 expansion packs a year, and the quality of them was always very strong - so why has this suddenly changed for The Sims 4?
lower budget. is it not obvious?
But why the lower budget when they made a killing on previous versions? Sucking life out of the series for profit? If the sales of Sims 4 determines whether Sims 5 is made why should anybody bother buying the game if more cash flow still equals a budget being slashed? Obviously high sims 3 sales didnt help sims 4. They may as well fire all the teams and end the series completely if this is their future pattern. Just put all their efforts in mobile versions and milk microtransactions from all the rich n00bs who dont care about the series
Considering how EA is, I’m assuming that they’re trying to make the most money while spending as little as possible. Just EA being greedy as usual. Which is sad because I do see the potential in Sims 4 and I know the devs can make great things, but there isn’t enough resources needed for Sims 4 to be as great as it could be.
I love the Sims team and The Sims 4, don't get me wrong, but I think the problem is that they are spending too much time/ too much effort into trying to make the packs for Sims 4 'different' to the ones from Sims 2 & 3. Look how different Cats & Dogs is compared to Pets. Vampires compared to Supernatural. Parenthood to Generations. Ambitions to Get to Work. They spend so much time focusing on little details and trying to 're-invent' concepts for packs that we loved, but in reality, we don't care if the packs are similar to Sims 2 & 3, infact all simmers are asking for is the same stuff we had in Sims 2 & 3! We WANT Sims 4 University, Sims 4 Seasons! Sims 4 Late Night! Anyway, that's just what I think. :)
> @somethingstellar said: > Yeah its getting to the point where we have to hope 4 is the longest series in Sim history for it to even be a third as good as previous incarnations and as someone who has unloaded money on every version, and every pack for every version, its frustrating. Its even more frustrating when total newbies who never even played the game until 4 tells me my frustration is unwarranted. As if they would be so happy to watch a series they've invested in for years be gutted and drained of life. And thats where most of the blind love for 4 comes from. People who never played until now lmao Not saying there arent long timers who love it buuuut most of the time when i see people being annoyed at those who are agitated, they're n00bs. To the point where you can even ask them if they ever played before 4 and have a 95% chance of being right if you guess no lmao
@somethingstellar No, they shouldn't be telling you how to feel, but I don't think liking the game necessarily indicates noobishness at all. Yes, there are plenty of things present in previous iterations that are currently missing in the game, such as seasons, werewolves etc. And some of things that HAVE been added haven't been improved much, if at all, either. See: cats and dogs. However, there's also the possibility that those who like the game don't see these as particularly important aspects of the game (at least, not important enough the derail their enjoyment of the game), and hence aren't affected by them as much. I, for one, started simming way back when ts3 was out, and while there were plenty of aspects in it that I liked that aren't currently present in ts4, I still very much prefer the latter to the former, as the absence of those aspects pales in comparison to my love for the emotions system (despite its' flaws, and this is coming from someone who originally wasn't planning to touch the game at all due to the previous absent of toddlers, but got sucked in anyway). The gist of it is, what you (and plenty others) may see as important details to the game, may not necessarily be of equal importance for some. Maybe there's an aspect of the game (be it the overall vibe, the more cartoonish/over-the-top expressions of the sims, or the toddlers etc.) that they just really like, to the point where that alone is enough to outweigh the many flaws for them? Or maybe those various aforementioned missing details just don't matter as much to them in the first place, and as a result don't really take away from their enjoyment of the game?
Again, I agree that no one should be telling others how to feel about something regardless of how much they disagree with them; I have been at the receiving end of that, and it frustrated me to no end. Still, everyone has their reasons for liking something, and being a fan who happens to like ts4 doesn't give them any more of a disposition towards noobishness, as the tone of your post may imply (though you did say at the end that it's possible for long-time fans to like it).
> @somethingstellar said:
> Yeah its getting to the point where we have to hope 4 is the longest series in Sim history for it to even be a third as good as previous incarnations and as someone who has unloaded money on every version, and every pack for every version, its frustrating. Its even more frustrating when total newbies who never even played the game until 4 tells me my frustration is unwarranted. As if they would be so happy to watch a series they've invested in for years be gutted and drained of life. And thats where most of the blind love for 4 comes from. People who never played until now lmao Not saying there arent long timers who love it buuuut most of the time when i see people being annoyed at those who are agitated, they're n00bs. To the point where you can even ask them if they ever played before 4 and have a 95% chance of being right if you guess no lmao
@somethingstellar No, they shouldn't be telling you how to feel, but I don't think liking the game necessarily indicates noobishness at all. Yes, there are plenty of things present in previous iterations that are currently missing in the game, such as seasons, werewolves etc. And some of things that HAVE been added haven't been improved much, if at all, either. See: cats and dogs. However, there's also the possibility that those who like the game don't see these as particularly important aspects of the game (at least, not important enough the derail their enjoyment of the game), and hence aren't affected by them as much. I, for one, started simming way back when ts3 was out, and while there were plenty of aspects in it that I liked that aren't currently present in ts4, I still very much prefer the latter to the former, as the absence of those aspects pales in comparison to my love for the emotions system (despite its' flaws, and this is coming from someone who originally wasn't planning to touch the game at all due to the previous absent of toddlers, but got plum in anyway). The gist of it is, what you (and plenty others) may see as important details to the game, may not necessarily be of equal importance for some. Maybe there's an aspect of the game (be it the overall vibe, the more cartoonish/over-the-top expressions of the sims, or the toddlers etc.) that they just really like, to the point where that alone is enough to outweigh the many flaws for them? Or maybe those various aforementioned missing details just don't matter as much to them in the first place, and as a result don't really take away from their enjoyment of the game?
Again, I agree that no one should be telling others how to feel about something regardless of how much they disagree with them; I have been at the receiving end of that, and it frustrated me to no end. Still, everyone has their reasons for liking something, and being a fan who happens to like ts4 doesn't give them any more of a disposition towards noobishness, as the tone of your post may imply (though you did say at the end that it's possible for long-time fans to like it).
I didnt even say liking it in any way whatsoever requires being a n00b lmao its not like i hate everything about it or something. I was talking about the people who obsessively and pathologically apologize for it like its the best thing ever and act like it has no problems, and choose to act like those who talk about the problems are just being mean.
My issue isnt with those who like it somewhat or think its ok or even like-like it. Im getting close to like-like the more they add. Its the ones who have ostrich syndrome and refuse to acknowledge long time, long invested people are disappointed for good reason and refuse to (or cant) acknowledge this was far from their best work. Or even best effort.
I dont even think I've seen the community bicker as much as it has this time around. I mean there was always bickering but man. Its more toxic than ever before.
My speculations on hints for future content:
-Cars Update
-Spiral/Diagonal Stairs Update
-Hotel Pack
-Romance Pack (possibly combined with Hotel Pack)
-Bands Pack
-Royalty Pack
-Fashion Design Pack
-Fairies Pack
-Werewolf Pack
-France-inspired World
> @somethingstellar said: > I didnt even say liking it in any way whatsoever requires being a n00b lmao its not like i hate everything about it or something. I was talking about the people who obsessively and pathologically apologize for it like its the best thing ever and act like it has no problems, and choose to act like those who talk about the problems are just being mean.
> My issue isnt with those who like it somewhat or think its ok or even like-like it. Im getting close to like-like the more they add. Its the ones who have ostrich syndrome and refuse to acknowledge long time, long invested people are disappointed for good reason and refuse to (or cant) acknowledge this was far from their best work. Or even best effort.
You didn't say it, but you implied it.
Now, don't get me wrong, I appreciate people like you. Every healthy community needs its' critics; they're the ones that keep the developers on their toes for constant improvement, and I respect them for that. Fans who can't accept any criticism towards their favorite games are, in a way, a hindrance when it comes to the games' improvement due to their constant need to defend it. In that sense, I agree with you about them being ostrich-headed.
However, it's the way most critics go about this that I take issue with. Even the way you worded the start of your 2nd paragraph: "My issue isnt with those who like it somewhat or think its ok or even like-like it." makes me wonder if it's almost considered a taboo to view ts4 as a good game. I wouldn't be surprised if it was.
If they reduced the number of stuff packs, they could probably have an EP every 8-10 months. It would mean some years there'd be 2 EPs, and other years only one.
Or ditch the concept of stuff packs completely, and make more game packs.
Here in Oz, stuff packs are $15. They never seem to come on sale, so I never buy them. They'd get more money out of me if there were more EPs and GPs, because they do come on sale, so I do end up buying them.
Well sure, if Stuff Packs, Game Packs and Expansion Packs weren't made by completely different teams.
IF they took people off the stuff packs, and put them to working on GPs and EPs, they'd get them done faster.
Why so many stuff packs? They're too expensive for too little content. A lot of players would rather invest in larger packs (that come on sale far more often).
Yes, but that's not how it works.
It could be.
The people on the Stuff Packs added to the people on the GP and EP, you'd firstly be splitting up a team completely and adding them to new teams they've never worked with,
So?
It happens in work places all the time.
and second, you wouldn't suddenly be getting twice as many packs a year, mostly because these new guys would be entering about half-way during the creation of GPs and EPs.
I wasn't really thinking twice as many.
A 1/4-1/3 increase is what I was suggesting. More like 9 months instead of a year for EPs. Quite realistic, if they had a slightly larger team to get things done a bit faster.
In fact you'd be getting a lot less packs - maybe one more GP, and three or four less SPs.
I don't give a rats backside about stuff packs. They're not value for money. I'd rather more effort be spent on game packs and expansion packs. Cut it back to 2 stuff packs a year, and add another game pack or expansion.
Finally, the people on the Stuff Packs aren't specialised in the intricate programming needed in a full Expansion Pack that doesn't so much add gameplay as it does give the GP and SP guys a new engine to play with.
So? They'd be working as a part of a team, there are plenty of other things in a gp or ep that they could work on.
See how we got Get To Work before Dine Out? Dine Out uses parts of Get To Work's retail system to make a restaurant. Stuff Pack's speciality is new animations for brand new objects.
And?
More EPs and more GPs is what I want.
Stuff packs are a waste of money and effort, what they contain could be incorporated into the other packs.
I'm not saying EA couldn't do with hiring more people. But they need to hire the RIGHT people, not just shut up shop on one type of pack.
I think GP team will be taking advantage of the new Pet engine to make horses - possibly some kind of Showhorse festival that extends to Dogs and Cats if you have them. I don't know when it'll happen - certainly not the next GP. I think they will be taking advantage of all the work in Cats and Dogs to make their Werewolves (that's why we don't have Werewolves yet).
It's rather lame that werewolves and horses weren't both included in the pet pack.
When Seasons comes, the SP team will be using it as an excuse to make all kinds of weather-based items in their Stuff Packs.
You mean more stuff that will be a waste of their effort and our money.
> @somethingstellar said:
> I didnt even say liking it in any way whatsoever requires being a n00b lmao its not like i hate everything about it or something. I was talking about the people who obsessively and pathologically apologize for it like its the best thing ever and act like it has no problems, and choose to act like those who talk about the problems are just being mean.
> My issue isnt with those who like it somewhat or think its ok or even like-like it. Im getting close to like-like the more they add. Its the ones who have ostrich syndrome and refuse to acknowledge long time, long invested people are disappointed for good reason and refuse to (or cant) acknowledge this was far from their best work. Or even best effort.
You didn't say it, but you implied it.
Now, don't get me wrong, I appreciate people like you. Every healthy community needs its' critics; they're the ones that keep the developers on their toes for constant improvement, and I respect them for that. Fans who can't accept any criticism towards their favorite games are, in a way, a hindrance when it comes to the games' improvement due to their constant need to defend it. In that sense, I agree with you about them being ostrich-headed.
However, it's the way most critics go about this that I take issue with. Even the way you worded the start of your 2nd paragraph: "My issue isnt with those who like it somewhat or think its ok or even like-like it." makes me wonder if it's almost considered a taboo to view ts4 as a good game. I wouldn't be surprised if it was.
Lmao what words you choose to put in to other peoples mouths is your own problem. Focus on what i actually said not what you THINK i said or what you want me to have said
Lots of things are taboo. So what? You know whats also taboo? Buying products made with slave labor yet we all have a computer and we're all gaming despite not a single device being free of parts made with slavery. Im typing on a cell phone i only got for as cheap as I did because of good ol slavery.
Whats taboo desnt stop anyone from enjoying anything. I could say whatever i like about the taboo, its not going to stop anyone from doing anything. If something feels taboo to someone else thats not my problem they feel that way. If they feel enjoying the game is taboo because many of us are angry, thats their emotion to regulate for themselves. Not mine.
Some of us dont want it to get any worse which tossing money and apoligism at them often does. We dont even know how many of these perpetual defenders even play the game. Companies DO hire PR teams to troll their own forums with apologist BS. Even YouTubers have fake defenders in their comment sections and pay for views and pay for likes hahahahahaha This is also taboo yet it still happens daily.
My speculations on hints for future content:
-Cars Update
-Spiral/Diagonal Stairs Update
-Hotel Pack
-Romance Pack (possibly combined with Hotel Pack)
-Bands Pack
-Royalty Pack
-Fashion Design Pack
-Fairies Pack
-Werewolf Pack
-France-inspired World
What I don't get is, if so many people dislike the EP's that have taken a year to make, why would you want them to rush them out faster and have them be even worse?
until EA allocates more resources to the sims team (which may never happen) it's probably better the way it is now. and it does seem like they're slowing down on the stuff packs as of recent, so hopefully that helps
Well, during The Sims 3's life span we would get 2 or 3 expansion packs a year, and the quality of them was always very strong - so why has this suddenly changed for The Sims 4?
lower budget. is it not obvious?
But why the lower budget when they made a killing on previous versions? Sucking life out of the series for profit? If the sales of Sims 4 determines whether Sims 5 is made why should anybody bother buying the game if more cash flow still equals a budget being slashed? Obviously high sims 3 sales didnt help sims 4. They may as well fire all the teams and end the series completely if this is their future pattern. Just put all their efforts in mobile versions and milk microtransactions from all the rich n00bs who dont care about the series
I can only name possible motivations:
1) If profit with a title plateaus and doesn't really seem to be improving with a set amount of customers buying a product each time, oftentimes companies are not content with this. They seek more just because it's the design of a company to seek more money. In this case, what they can't make on sales, they could possibly make via cutting back the budget. Mess around a bit and experiment with how much of the budget can be cut without impacting the sales, and that's how you keep improving a product. Still, while this one ties into their ambition quite well (a poll here showed over 80% of us on these forums have played since Sims 1, yet they choose to target teen girls; clearly there's ambition for more money there), the lack of quality has clearly impacted sales. It took the game some time to hit 5 mil sales, and it seems unlikely this game will top Sims 3's sales numbers.
2) There's a somewhat common business phenomenon where sometimes, a manager tries to blitz to the next promotion and does so by cutting costs as much as possible. They cut here, they cut there, they cut everywhere all while sucking up to the boss. The goal is to get promoted as quickly as possible, and if successful, the issue is that the ramnifications and the downsides to their cuts only become clear after that person has already moved up. Oftentimes the fallout is falsely attributed to that person no longer being in charge and that the replacement guy isn't as good, but in reality it was all fallout from the guy that got promoted. When he was in charge, all that was going on was he was telling his boss "look, I cut production costs by 40%!" and the boss was impressed. By the time he moved on, the fans are distrusting of all the lost features and lack of quality, so the next game/pack sells poorly. Whether or not this is correctly attributed to that guy and NOT to the ones that made the next game...? Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't. We would have no way of knowing if this is the case.
3) This is what EA does. I hope I don't need to remind everyone that half of the internet is still livid over the Star Wars fiasco. EA has a terrific habit of buying up franchises, milking them dry, and then cutting out features and generally not caring about maintaining a status quo for quality, and then when the game starts to struggle with sales, they foolishly decide the title is no longer popular and just get rid of it. We've seen this happen with Simcity, it may have happened to Mass Effect (remains to be seen?) and the same thing is happening here. For some reason, this particular company often seems incapable of taking responsibility and recognizing it's their own practices killing titles, NOT a lack of desire for such a product. Heck, maybe they just don't care. Maybe they figured out they can make millions off this system and have no desire to change it as long as they're making money. Pretty unfortunate though because if their goal is to increase profit, then yeah I got news for you EA: long-term fan loyalty via quality products >>>>> short-term profit via cut costs. I mean we're seeing that now in the sense that millions continue to support Sims 4 despite it's obvious loss in quality, but this can only continue so long; a Sims 5 may not be possible if this continues, and I think they're making a grave mistake if they're willing to risk their best selling video game franchise and one of the top 10 best-selling video game franchises of all time. Maybe they think they can replace SimCity and Mass Effect, but they're kidding themselves if they think letting Sims die is just as replaceable or that that WOULDN'T invite competing companies to try and snatch up this market.
What I don't get is, if so many people dislike the EP's that have taken a year to make, why would you want them to rush them out faster and have them be even worse?
until EA allocates more resources to the sims team (which may never happen) it's probably better the way it is now. and it does seem like they're slowing down on the stuff packs as of recent, so hopefully that helps
Well, during The Sims 3's life span we would get 2 or 3 expansion packs a year, and the quality of them was always very strong - so why has this suddenly changed for The Sims 4?
lower budget. is it not obvious?
But why the lower budget when they made a killing on previous versions? Sucking life out of the series for profit? If the sales of Sims 4 determines whether Sims 5 is made why should anybody bother buying the game if more cash flow still equals a budget being slashed? Obviously high sims 3 sales didnt help sims 4. They may as well fire all the teams and end the series completely if this is their future pattern. Just put all their efforts in mobile versions and milk microtransactions from all the rich n00bs who dont care about the series
I can only name possible motivations:
1) If profit with a title plateaus and doesn't really seem to be improving with a set amount of customers buying a product each time, oftentimes companies are not content with this. They seek more just because it's the design of a company to seek more money. In this case, what they can't make on sales, they could possibly make via cutting back the budget. Mess around a bit and experiment with how much of the budget can be cut without impacting the sales, and that's how you keep improving a product. Still, while this one ties into their ambition quite well (a poll here showed over 80% of us on these forums have played since Sims 1, yet they choose to target teen girls; clearly there's ambition for more money there), the lack of quality has clearly impacted sales. It took the game some time to hit 5 mil sales, and it seems unlikely this game will top Sims 3's sales numbers.
2) There's a somewhat common business phenomenon where sometimes, a manager tries to blitz to the next promotion and does so by cutting costs as much as possible. They cut here, they cut there, they cut everywhere all while plum to the boss. The goal is to get promoted as quickly as possible, and if successful, the issue is that the ramnifications and the downsides to their cuts only become clear after that person has already moved up. Oftentimes the fallout is falsely attributed to that person no longer being in charge and that the replacement guy isn't as good, but in reality it was all fallout from the guy that got promoted. When he was in charge, all that was going on was he was telling his boss "look, I cut production costs by 40%!" and the boss was impressed. By the time he moved on, the fans are distrusting of all the lost features and lack of quality, so the next game/pack sells poorly. Whether or not this is correctly attributed to that guy and NOT to the ones that made the next game...? Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't. We would have no way of knowing if this is the case.
3) This is what EA does. I hope I don't need to remind everyone that half of the internet is still livid over the Star Wars fiasco. EA has a terrific habit of buying up franchises, milking them dry, and then cutting out features and generally not caring about maintaining a status quo for quality, and then when the game starts to struggle with sales, they foolishly decide the title is no longer popular and just get rid of it. We've seen this happen with Simcity, it may have happened to Mass Effect (remains to be seen?) and the same thing is happening here. For some reason, this particular company often seems incapable of taking responsibility and recognizing it's their own practices killing titles, NOT a lack of desire for such a product. Heck, maybe they just don't care. Maybe they figured out they can make millions off this system and have no desire to change it as long as they're making money. Pretty unfortunate though because if their goal is to increase profit, then yeah I got news for you EA: long-term fan loyalty via quality products >>>>> short-term profit via cut costs. I mean we're seeing that now in the sense that millions continue to support Sims 4 despite it's obvious loss in quality, but this can only continue so long; a Sims 5 may not be possible if this continues, and I think they're making a grave mistake if they're willing to risk their best selling video game franchise and one of the top 10 best-selling video game franchises of all time. Maybe they think they can replace SimCity and Mass Effect, but they're kidding themselves if they think letting Sims die is just as replaceable or that that WOULDN'T invite competing companies to try and snatch up this market.
I hope so badly someone else buys the rights to the Sims brand.
My speculations on hints for future content:
-Cars Update
-Spiral/Diagonal Stairs Update
-Hotel Pack
-Romance Pack (possibly combined with Hotel Pack)
-Bands Pack
-Royalty Pack
-Fashion Design Pack
-Fairies Pack
-Werewolf Pack
-France-inspired World
What I don't get is, if so many people dislike the EP's that have taken a year to make, why would you want them to rush them out faster and have them be even worse?
until EA allocates more resources to the sims team (which may never happen) it's probably better the way it is now. and it does seem like they're slowing down on the stuff packs as of recent, so hopefully that helps
Well, during The Sims 3's life span we would get 2 or 3 expansion packs a year, and the quality of them was always very strong - so why has this suddenly changed for The Sims 4?
lower budget. is it not obvious?
But why the lower budget when they made a killing on previous versions? Sucking life out of the series for profit? If the sales of Sims 4 determines whether Sims 5 is made why should anybody bother buying the game if more cash flow still equals a budget being slashed? Obviously high sims 3 sales didnt help sims 4. They may as well fire all the teams and end the series completely if this is their future pattern. Just put all their efforts in mobile versions and milk microtransactions from all the rich n00bs who dont care about the series
I can only name possible motivations:
1) If profit with a title plateaus and doesn't really seem to be improving with a set amount of customers buying a product each time, oftentimes companies are not content with this. They seek more just because it's the design of a company to seek more money. In this case, what they can't make on sales, they could possibly make via cutting back the budget. Mess around a bit and experiment with how much of the budget can be cut without impacting the sales, and that's how you keep improving a product. Still, while this one ties into their ambition quite well (a poll here showed over 80% of us on these forums have played since Sims 1, yet they choose to target teen girls; clearly there's ambition for more money there), the lack of quality has clearly impacted sales. It took the game some time to hit 5 mil sales, and it seems unlikely this game will top Sims 3's sales numbers.
2) There's a somewhat common business phenomenon where sometimes, a manager tries to blitz to the next promotion and does so by cutting costs as much as possible. They cut here, they cut there, they cut everywhere all while plum to the boss. The goal is to get promoted as quickly as possible, and if successful, the issue is that the ramnifications and the downsides to their cuts only become clear after that person has already moved up. Oftentimes the fallout is falsely attributed to that person no longer being in charge and that the replacement guy isn't as good, but in reality it was all fallout from the guy that got promoted. When he was in charge, all that was going on was he was telling his boss "look, I cut production costs by 40%!" and the boss was impressed. By the time he moved on, the fans are distrusting of all the lost features and lack of quality, so the next game/pack sells poorly. Whether or not this is correctly attributed to that guy and NOT to the ones that made the next game...? Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't. We would have no way of knowing if this is the case.
3) This is what EA does. I hope I don't need to remind everyone that half of the internet is still livid over the Star Wars fiasco. EA has a terrific habit of buying up franchises, milking them dry, and then cutting out features and generally not caring about maintaining a status quo for quality, and then when the game starts to struggle with sales, they foolishly decide the title is no longer popular and just get rid of it. We've seen this happen with Simcity, it may have happened to Mass Effect (remains to be seen?) and the same thing is happening here. For some reason, this particular company often seems incapable of taking responsibility and recognizing it's their own practices killing titles, NOT a lack of desire for such a product. Heck, maybe they just don't care. Maybe they figured out they can make millions off this system and have no desire to change it as long as they're making money. Pretty unfortunate though because if their goal is to increase profit, then yeah I got news for you EA: long-term fan loyalty via quality products >>>>> short-term profit via cut costs. I mean we're seeing that now in the sense that millions continue to support Sims 4 despite it's obvious loss in quality, but this can only continue so long; a Sims 5 may not be possible if this continues, and I think they're making a grave mistake if they're willing to risk their best selling video game franchise and one of the top 10 best-selling video game franchises of all time. Maybe they think they can replace SimCity and Mass Effect, but they're kidding themselves if they think letting Sims die is just as replaceable or that that WOULDN'T invite competing companies to try and snatch up this market.
I hope so badly someone else buys the rights to the Sims brand.
They would never sell, although nothing is stopping other companies from making their own franchise that's functionally extremely similar.
I'm sorry so many are unhappy with the Sims 4, makes me wonder why you all continue to play a game you don't like. It's been explained to me before but it just never makes sense to me. Personally I think they could squeeze out 2 expansion packs a year but the game packs and stuff packs make me happy. And I know if they put out 2 or more expansion packs, at 40 bucks a pop, everyone will then complain about the expense. So they just can't win. Ever. And I DO think Seasons is next.
I don't agree they don't win. They win everytime somone buys another stuff pack. But with that said, TS3 didn't have any problems not winning people were gobbling up the entire Store and all the EPs and preordering before they even got the announcements out of their mouths. People complained about world prices on the store and store sets prices, and buying the points to buy store stuff, but that didn't stop them from spending it.
I gobbled up that whole store. Im pretty sure its why my game wont run but i gobbled it up so fast anyway. Neeeed sims items. Giiiive meeee moooooar
See, spending over a $1,000 did't bother you at all, and it probably wouldn't bother you now. People (who buy at full price) have already spent over $600 for this game and packs, and don't even realize we are in year three, and don't have cars, seasons, vacations (more than one type) boats, can't swim in oceans, can't even catch a ball, or slow dance and don't even have an attraction system, or a college....but sure spend away, $600+ doesn't matter, you can spend another $1,000 to get that other stuff ten years from now if one EP a year is all they are going to do.
Dribs and Drabs.
This made me think about how much I've spent on 4. I've spent £305.83 and I have everything except 5 SPs.
Comments
See, spending over a $1,000 did't bother you at all, and it probably wouldn't bother you now. People (who buy at full price) have already spent over $600 for this game and packs, and don't even realize we are in year three, and don't have cars, seasons, vacations (more than one type) boats, can't swim in oceans, can't even catch a ball, or slow dance and don't even have an attraction system, or a college....but sure spend away, $600+ doesn't matter, you can spend another $1,000 to get that other stuff ten years from now if one EP a year is all they are going to do.
Dribs and Drabs.
Yeah but theres a difference this time around. With Sims 3 i experienced no guilt and no buyers remorse and reading that figure id say "whatever was totally worth it".
But now that you've made me conciously aware my broke behind spent $600 so far Sims 4 i feel similarly to that time i got addicted to Simpsons Tapped Out and spent over $200 of actual money on pixels hahahahaha aka my insides want to die a little.
-Cars Update
-Spiral/Diagonal Stairs Update
-Hotel Pack
-Romance Pack (possibly combined with Hotel Pack)
-Bands Pack
-Royalty Pack
-Fashion Design Pack
-Fairies Pack
-Werewolf Pack
-France-inspired World
I was just pointing out the person I replied to said EA couldn't win people would complain about the pricing. Well, looking at how much people have already spent and they still don't have all the things they ask for, and is expected because this game has a 4 in the title, it would be justified for people to complain if they spend that much and still don't have those things the other games had by year three etc.
Yeah its getting to the point where we have to hope 4 is the longest series in Sim history for it to even be a third as good as previous incarnations and as someone who has unloaded money on every version, and every pack for every version, its frustrating. Its even more frustrating when total newbies who never even played the game until 4 tells me my frustration is unwarranted. As if they would be so happy to watch a series they've invested in for years be gutted and drained of life. And thats where most of the blind love for 4 comes from. People who never played until now lmao Not saying there arent long timers who love it buuuut most of the time when i see people being annoyed at those who are agitated, they're n00bs. To the point where you can even ask them if they ever played before 4 and have a 95% chance of being right if you guess no lmao
-Cars Update
-Spiral/Diagonal Stairs Update
-Hotel Pack
-Romance Pack (possibly combined with Hotel Pack)
-Bands Pack
-Royalty Pack
-Fashion Design Pack
-Fairies Pack
-Werewolf Pack
-France-inspired World
It's not because we don't like the slow production that we don't like the game. Stop to always say ''I don't understand why playing a game that you don't like''.
until EA allocates more resources to the sims team (which may never happen) it's probably better the way it is now. and it does seem like they're slowing down on the stuff packs as of recent, so hopefully that helps
Id be fine with them taking a year to do it if the end result was actually worthwhile. But it takes them a year to put out something twice as expensive and with half the gameplay of a GP. Whats really at the heart of the issue for most players is value. Investment of time is as important as investment of money too and people forget that. If you wait more time for it, spend more money on it, then the content better be more worthwhile than packs you wait less time for and pay less for.
Cats and Dogs is literally the first expansion that i actually felt like my game was expanded in any real way. Every other EP i bought was pretty much for the world and the items, and to save me the headache of finding cute buildings to download on the exchange lmao
-Cars Update
-Spiral/Diagonal Stairs Update
-Hotel Pack
-Romance Pack (possibly combined with Hotel Pack)
-Bands Pack
-Royalty Pack
-Fashion Design Pack
-Fairies Pack
-Werewolf Pack
-France-inspired World
Well, during The Sims 3's life span we would get 2 or 3 expansion packs a year, and the quality of them was always very strong - so why has this suddenly changed for The Sims 4?
lower budget. is it not obvious?
But why the lower budget when they made a killing on previous versions? Sucking life out of the series for profit? If the sales of Sims 4 determines whether Sims 5 is made why should anybody bother buying the game if more cash flow still equals a budget being slashed? Obviously high sims 3 sales didnt help sims 4. They may as well fire all the teams and end the series completely if this is their future pattern. Just put all their efforts in mobile versions and milk microtransactions from all the rich n00bs who dont care about the series
-Cars Update
-Spiral/Diagonal Stairs Update
-Hotel Pack
-Romance Pack (possibly combined with Hotel Pack)
-Bands Pack
-Royalty Pack
-Fashion Design Pack
-Fairies Pack
-Werewolf Pack
-France-inspired World
I completely agree! I think that CL is an example of that. However, I think that they could've gotten more out of Cats & Dogs, but that is just my opinion.
YouTube: https://goo.gl/PK7vxR | The Gallery: https://goo.gl/a5DZAK
Twitter: https://goo.gl/QzQVUK | Origin-ID: SimmerNickYT
Lol
> Yeah its getting to the point where we have to hope 4 is the longest series in Sim history for it to even be a third as good as previous incarnations and as someone who has unloaded money on every version, and every pack for every version, its frustrating. Its even more frustrating when total newbies who never even played the game until 4 tells me my frustration is unwarranted. As if they would be so happy to watch a series they've invested in for years be gutted and drained of life. And thats where most of the blind love for 4 comes from. People who never played until now lmao Not saying there arent long timers who love it buuuut most of the time when i see people being annoyed at those who are agitated, they're n00bs. To the point where you can even ask them if they ever played before 4 and have a 95% chance of being right if you guess no lmao
@somethingstellar No, they shouldn't be telling you how to feel, but I don't think liking the game necessarily indicates noobishness at all. Yes, there are plenty of things present in previous iterations that are currently missing in the game, such as seasons, werewolves etc. And some of things that HAVE been added haven't been improved much, if at all, either. See: cats and dogs. However, there's also the possibility that those who like the game don't see these as particularly important aspects of the game (at least, not important enough the derail their enjoyment of the game), and hence aren't affected by them as much. I, for one, started simming way back when ts3 was out, and while there were plenty of aspects in it that I liked that aren't currently present in ts4, I still very much prefer the latter to the former, as the absence of those aspects pales in comparison to my love for the emotions system (despite its' flaws, and this is coming from someone who originally wasn't planning to touch the game at all due to the previous absent of toddlers, but got sucked in anyway). The gist of it is, what you (and plenty others) may see as important details to the game, may not necessarily be of equal importance for some. Maybe there's an aspect of the game (be it the overall vibe, the more cartoonish/over-the-top expressions of the sims, or the toddlers etc.) that they just really like, to the point where that alone is enough to outweigh the many flaws for them? Or maybe those various aforementioned missing details just don't matter as much to them in the first place, and as a result don't really take away from their enjoyment of the game?
Again, I agree that no one should be telling others how to feel about something regardless of how much they disagree with them; I have been at the receiving end of that, and it frustrated me to no end. Still, everyone has their reasons for liking something, and being a fan who happens to like ts4 doesn't give them any more of a disposition towards noobishness, as the tone of your post may imply (though you did say at the end that it's possible for long-time fans to like it).
I didnt even say liking it in any way whatsoever requires being a n00b lmao its not like i hate everything about it or something. I was talking about the people who obsessively and pathologically apologize for it like its the best thing ever and act like it has no problems, and choose to act like those who talk about the problems are just being mean.
My issue isnt with those who like it somewhat or think its ok or even like-like it. Im getting close to like-like the more they add. Its the ones who have ostrich syndrome and refuse to acknowledge long time, long invested people are disappointed for good reason and refuse to (or cant) acknowledge this was far from their best work. Or even best effort.
I dont even think I've seen the community bicker as much as it has this time around. I mean there was always bickering but man. Its more toxic than ever before.
-Cars Update
-Spiral/Diagonal Stairs Update
-Hotel Pack
-Romance Pack (possibly combined with Hotel Pack)
-Bands Pack
-Royalty Pack
-Fashion Design Pack
-Fairies Pack
-Werewolf Pack
-France-inspired World
> I didnt even say liking it in any way whatsoever requires being a n00b lmao its not like i hate everything about it or something. I was talking about the people who obsessively and pathologically apologize for it like its the best thing ever and act like it has no problems, and choose to act like those who talk about the problems are just being mean.
> My issue isnt with those who like it somewhat or think its ok or even like-like it. Im getting close to like-like the more they add. Its the ones who have ostrich syndrome and refuse to acknowledge long time, long invested people are disappointed for good reason and refuse to (or cant) acknowledge this was far from their best work. Or even best effort.
You didn't say it, but you implied it.
Now, don't get me wrong, I appreciate people like you. Every healthy community needs its' critics; they're the ones that keep the developers on their toes for constant improvement, and I respect them for that. Fans who can't accept any criticism towards their favorite games are, in a way, a hindrance when it comes to the games' improvement due to their constant need to defend it. In that sense, I agree with you about them being ostrich-headed.
However, it's the way most critics go about this that I take issue with. Even the way you worded the start of your 2nd paragraph: "My issue isnt with those who like it somewhat or think its ok or even like-like it." makes me wonder if it's almost considered a taboo to view ts4 as a good game. I wouldn't be surprised if it was.
So?
It happens in work places all the time.
I wasn't really thinking twice as many.
A 1/4-1/3 increase is what I was suggesting. More like 9 months instead of a year for EPs. Quite realistic, if they had a slightly larger team to get things done a bit faster.
I don't give a rats backside about stuff packs. They're not value for money. I'd rather more effort be spent on game packs and expansion packs. Cut it back to 2 stuff packs a year, and add another game pack or expansion.
So? They'd be working as a part of a team, there are plenty of other things in a gp or ep that they could work on.
And?
More EPs and more GPs is what I want.
Stuff packs are a waste of money and effort, what they contain could be incorporated into the other packs.
It's rather lame that werewolves and horses weren't both included in the pet pack.
You mean more stuff that will be a waste of their effort and our money.
Lmao what words you choose to put in to other peoples mouths is your own problem. Focus on what i actually said not what you THINK i said or what you want me to have said
Lots of things are taboo. So what? You know whats also taboo? Buying products made with slave labor yet we all have a computer and we're all gaming despite not a single device being free of parts made with slavery. Im typing on a cell phone i only got for as cheap as I did because of good ol slavery.
Whats taboo desnt stop anyone from enjoying anything. I could say whatever i like about the taboo, its not going to stop anyone from doing anything. If something feels taboo to someone else thats not my problem they feel that way. If they feel enjoying the game is taboo because many of us are angry, thats their emotion to regulate for themselves. Not mine.
Some of us dont want it to get any worse which tossing money and apoligism at them often does. We dont even know how many of these perpetual defenders even play the game. Companies DO hire PR teams to troll their own forums with apologist BS. Even YouTubers have fake defenders in their comment sections and pay for views and pay for likes hahahahahaha This is also taboo yet it still happens daily.
-Cars Update
-Spiral/Diagonal Stairs Update
-Hotel Pack
-Romance Pack (possibly combined with Hotel Pack)
-Bands Pack
-Royalty Pack
-Fashion Design Pack
-Fairies Pack
-Werewolf Pack
-France-inspired World
I can only name possible motivations:
1) If profit with a title plateaus and doesn't really seem to be improving with a set amount of customers buying a product each time, oftentimes companies are not content with this. They seek more just because it's the design of a company to seek more money. In this case, what they can't make on sales, they could possibly make via cutting back the budget. Mess around a bit and experiment with how much of the budget can be cut without impacting the sales, and that's how you keep improving a product. Still, while this one ties into their ambition quite well (a poll here showed over 80% of us on these forums have played since Sims 1, yet they choose to target teen girls; clearly there's ambition for more money there), the lack of quality has clearly impacted sales. It took the game some time to hit 5 mil sales, and it seems unlikely this game will top Sims 3's sales numbers.
2) There's a somewhat common business phenomenon where sometimes, a manager tries to blitz to the next promotion and does so by cutting costs as much as possible. They cut here, they cut there, they cut everywhere all while sucking up to the boss. The goal is to get promoted as quickly as possible, and if successful, the issue is that the ramnifications and the downsides to their cuts only become clear after that person has already moved up. Oftentimes the fallout is falsely attributed to that person no longer being in charge and that the replacement guy isn't as good, but in reality it was all fallout from the guy that got promoted. When he was in charge, all that was going on was he was telling his boss "look, I cut production costs by 40%!" and the boss was impressed. By the time he moved on, the fans are distrusting of all the lost features and lack of quality, so the next game/pack sells poorly. Whether or not this is correctly attributed to that guy and NOT to the ones that made the next game...? Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't. We would have no way of knowing if this is the case.
3) This is what EA does. I hope I don't need to remind everyone that half of the internet is still livid over the Star Wars fiasco. EA has a terrific habit of buying up franchises, milking them dry, and then cutting out features and generally not caring about maintaining a status quo for quality, and then when the game starts to struggle with sales, they foolishly decide the title is no longer popular and just get rid of it. We've seen this happen with Simcity, it may have happened to Mass Effect (remains to be seen?) and the same thing is happening here. For some reason, this particular company often seems incapable of taking responsibility and recognizing it's their own practices killing titles, NOT a lack of desire for such a product. Heck, maybe they just don't care. Maybe they figured out they can make millions off this system and have no desire to change it as long as they're making money. Pretty unfortunate though because if their goal is to increase profit, then yeah I got news for you EA: long-term fan loyalty via quality products >>>>> short-term profit via cut costs. I mean we're seeing that now in the sense that millions continue to support Sims 4 despite it's obvious loss in quality, but this can only continue so long; a Sims 5 may not be possible if this continues, and I think they're making a grave mistake if they're willing to risk their best selling video game franchise and one of the top 10 best-selling video game franchises of all time. Maybe they think they can replace SimCity and Mass Effect, but they're kidding themselves if they think letting Sims die is just as replaceable or that that WOULDN'T invite competing companies to try and snatch up this market.
I hope so badly someone else buys the rights to the Sims brand.
-Cars Update
-Spiral/Diagonal Stairs Update
-Hotel Pack
-Romance Pack (possibly combined with Hotel Pack)
-Bands Pack
-Royalty Pack
-Fashion Design Pack
-Fairies Pack
-Werewolf Pack
-France-inspired World
They would never sell, although nothing is stopping other companies from making their own franchise that's functionally extremely similar.
This made me think about how much I've spent on 4. I've spent £305.83 and I have everything except 5 SPs.