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I think TS5 might be the last generation.

CopperBoltCopperBolt Posts: 132 Member
edited March 2022 in Off Topic Chat
Based on some information dropped in the job postings for EA, it looks very likely that TS5 will have an online element. Now, I personally doubt they'll try to make an Olympus 2.0 after the community backlash, but I'm wondering if they are going to go for an online mostly single-player experience. Why?

Well, look at most online games. World of Warcraft has been going strong since 2004. Minecraft has been out for 11 years. These games have been able to provide a live service for a decade+ without having to reboot an entire franchise the way an offline, single-player experience has. So my thoughts is that based on what the developers have said about TS4, EA is probably looking to provide something similar to Animal Crossing for their "multiplayer" function, where you can visit friend's lots or there are special community 'hubs' for events, similar to Sims Sessions. They would be able to lock inappropriate behaviours (e.g., romances socials) while on these 'hub' lots without it affecting your main gameplay.

If EA went for this model it likely means that TS5 would require a monthly subscription. However, it would add new ways to play and TS5 would have greater longevity than if it was being run on just normal computers. What do you think?
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Comments

  • kaiwrysimskaiwrysims Posts: 1,532 Member
    CopperBolt wrote: »
    Based on some information dropped in the job postings for EA, it looks very likely that TS5 will have an online element. Now, I personally doubt they'll try to make an Olympus 2.0 after the community backlash, but I'm wondering if they are going to go for an online mostly single-player experience. Why?

    Well, look at most online games. World of Warcraft has been going strong since 2004. Minecraft has been out for 11 years. These games have been able to provide a live service for a decade+ without having to reboot an entire franchise the way an offline, single-player experience has. So my thoughts is that based on what the developers have said about TS4, EA is probably looking to provide something similar to Animal Crossing for their "multiplayer" function, where you can visit friend's lots or there are special community 'hubs' for events, similar to Sims Sessions. They would be able to lock inappropriate behaviours (e.g., romances socials) while on these 'hub' lots without it affecting your main gameplay.

    If EA went for this model it likely means that TS5 would require a monthly subscription. However, it would add new ways to play and TS5 would have greater longevity than if it was being run on just normal computers. What do you think?

    Some of the job listings are for lost Astral which will be an online game. So the listings for cloud engineer and etc. don't say The Sims specifically. They say Maxis. Which means it's for the separate maxis IP.
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  • CopperBoltCopperBolt Posts: 132 Member
    This was specifically for a Sims game. From the Sims Community:

    3 new job positions have opened up in EA Redwood, EA Austin and EA Canada all looking for a Backend Software Enginner who will help develop features and prototypes for an upcoming Sims game. In the listing they’ve stated that they’re looking for software engineers who are capable of developing massively scalable and reliable web services that will support millions of players, as well as other responsibilites during the game’s development.

    In the listing they’ve mentioned a particularly interesting task regarding web services and “cheating prevention”:

    Develop responsive, resilient, massively scalable, and globally available web services that support millions of players
    Creatively blend security best practices and original techniques to keep user data secure and prevent cheating
  • logionlogion Posts: 4,712 Member
    edited March 2022
    I'm not sure. Because I am not sure what EA wishes to do with the Sims Franchise.

    They have mentioned that they are inspired by games like Roblox, which is an online environment where the community are making their own content and creating their own worlds.

    But the impression I am getting from the forum and, literally everywhere I look is that people do not want multiplayer for the sims, period. Multiplayer is not why people play the sims.

    EA have also showed more interest towards single player games, with games like Dead Space, Dragon Age 4 and SKATE 4.

    When it comes to longevity, there is usually one thing that speaks against that, and that word is console, if they want The Sims5 for console, then they can't plan for a game to run forever. Even if there are studios like Rockstar Games who are trying their hardest... making games for console is much more difficult, imagine if The Sims5 is planned to run on the Playstation 5, well, when it comes out, in let's say...2024. Then Playstation 5 have maybe 4-5 years left before it will be replaced by the Playstation 6?

    There have also been other interesting requirements from job postings from Maxis, it looks like they are looking into better animations, elevations in how to create worlds etc. so I am having hope that The Sims 5 might be something good. It might have some online features but I don't think they would go full multiplayer and not offer single player.

    Maxis are also expanding and recruiting a lot of people, my guess is that we are not going to see only The Sims5 from Maxis in the future, but we might see other games from them as well, maybe they are even looking into ways that they could connect them, which explains the job postings.

    I'm hoping that we will know more eventually because there is obviously something going on.

  • kaiwrysimskaiwrysims Posts: 1,532 Member
    I think there will be a multi-player element. Online services could also mean something like the gallery. Idk about the "cheating prevention" part. As that doesn't really make sense for a sims game. But they might be looking to officially implement community challenges or smth like that.

    Again I think there definitely will be a multi-player element. Whether it's a completely separate part of the game or the game is full on mmo won't be fully known until it's announced.
    Check out my twitter and tumblr
  • ElliandreElliandre Posts: 2,468 Member
    I'm okay with an optional multiplayer feature for Sims 4 now. It was fun to add people in Sims FreePlay and visit their worlds to see their builds and households. I've warmed up to the idea of playing the game with other people since they added cottage living. I have a little farm on hay day and a neighborhood I play with and it's fun to chat and help each other out with tasks and gift items to each other. I wouldn't mind visiting other people's restaurants and coffee shops in the Sims and just seeing what lots they build and how they design their Sims or having some in-game gameplay quests / tasks to do and help out with. I think it might be a good change if there are options to toggle features on and off. Maybe it's time for an online store too. I didn't want one at first, but over the past few years, they have really given less and less gameplay, objects, clothes, hair, lots etc. So if an online store is needed to get a lot of new content and different types of content then so be it, I'm ready to shop, almost crashed my laptop with poorly made cc so I'd rather just buy it from an online game store so they can use the money to improve the game.
  • ddd994ddd994 Posts: 418 Member
    logion wrote: »
    I'm not sure. Because I am not sure what EA wishes to do with the Sims Franchise.

    They have mentioned that they are inspired by games like Roblox, which is an online environment where the community are making their own content and creating their own worlds.

    But the impression I am getting from the forum and, literally everywhere I look is that people do not want multiplayer for the sims, period. Multiplayer is not why people play the sims.

    EA have also showed more interest towards single player games, with games like Dead Space, Dragon Age 4 and SKATE 4.

    When it comes to longevity, there is usually one thing that speaks against that, and that word is console, if they want The Sims5 for console, then they can't plan for a game to run forever. Even if there are studios like Rockstar Games who are trying their hardest... making games for console is much more difficult, imagine if The Sims5 is planned to run on the Playstation 5, well, when it comes out, in let's say...2024. Then Playstation 5 have maybe 4-5 years left before it will be replaced by the Playstation 6?

    There have also been other interesting requirements from job postings from Maxis, it looks like they are looking into better animations, elevations in how to create worlds etc. so I am having hope that The Sims 5 might be something good. It might have some online features but I don't think they would go full multiplayer and not offer single player.

    Maxis are also expanding and recruiting a lot of people, my guess is that we are not going to see only The Sims5 from Maxis in the future, but we might see other games from them as well, maybe they are even looking into ways that they could connect them, which explains the job postings.

    I'm hoping that we will know more eventually because there is obviously something going on.

    I don’t think creating the game for console is a bad thing.. for starters more people have consoles over PCs or gaming computers nowadays, and TS4 was originally ported for PS4 but transitioned easy enough over to ps5.. in fact it plays smoother with smaller loading times.

    TS4 was designed to play smoothly on laptops, so a sims lite experience if you will.. which is where most general complaints come from. Lack of open world, lack of swatches or colour wheel, lack of new gameplay items of animations etc.. all so it runs better on low end laptops to get as many consumers as possible, because people have laptops over PCs now.. If we want a truly next gen sims experience it makes more sense to design it for consoles as everyone has the same state of the art gaming platform. No need to consider lower end performing platforms.

    Plus Ts4 is obviously marketed towards a younger audience. I don’t think it would be such a bad thing for them to try something new for TS5. Online gaming is huge so it makes sense they wanna head in that direction with multiplayer options.

    Either way, TS5 is gonna be make or break as now we have some healthy competitors entering the market with paralives and other games.
  • ddd994ddd994 Posts: 418 Member
    Sorry to be controversial haha 😅
  • Chicklet453681Chicklet453681 Posts: 2,431 Member
    Well if they go the console only route, they'd lose me and my $800+. I don't do consoles plus I love my mods and CC.

    I don't play on a laptop either nor do I have a desire to. I've always used a desktop and always will, unless the laptop is required for work and then it's for work only and not for my own free time entertainment.
  • logionlogion Posts: 4,712 Member
    ddd994 wrote: »
    logion wrote: »
    I'm not sure. Because I am not sure what EA wishes to do with the Sims Franchise.

    They have mentioned that they are inspired by games like Roblox, which is an online environment where the community are making their own content and creating their own worlds.

    But the impression I am getting from the forum and, literally everywhere I look is that people do not want multiplayer for the sims, period. Multiplayer is not why people play the sims.

    EA have also showed more interest towards single player games, with games like Dead Space, Dragon Age 4 and SKATE 4.

    When it comes to longevity, there is usually one thing that speaks against that, and that word is console, if they want The Sims5 for console, then they can't plan for a game to run forever. Even if there are studios like Rockstar Games who are trying their hardest... making games for console is much more difficult, imagine if The Sims5 is planned to run on the Playstation 5, well, when it comes out, in let's say...2024. Then Playstation 5 have maybe 4-5 years left before it will be replaced by the Playstation 6?

    There have also been other interesting requirements from job postings from Maxis, it looks like they are looking into better animations, elevations in how to create worlds etc. so I am having hope that The Sims 5 might be something good. It might have some online features but I don't think they would go full multiplayer and not offer single player.

    Maxis are also expanding and recruiting a lot of people, my guess is that we are not going to see only The Sims5 from Maxis in the future, but we might see other games from them as well, maybe they are even looking into ways that they could connect them, which explains the job postings.

    I'm hoping that we will know more eventually because there is obviously something going on.

    I don’t think creating the game for console is a bad thing.. for starters more people have consoles over PCs or gaming computers nowadays, and TS4 was originally ported for PS4 but transitioned easy enough over to ps5.. in fact it plays smoother with smaller loading times.

    TS4 was designed to play smoothly on laptops, so a sims lite experience if you will.. which is where most general complaints come from. Lack of open world, lack of swatches or colour wheel, lack of new gameplay items of animations etc.. all so it runs better on low end laptops to get as many consumers as possible, because people have laptops over PCs now.. If we want a truly next gen sims experience it makes more sense to design it for consoles as everyone has the same state of the art gaming platform. No need to consider lower end performing platforms.

    Plus Ts4 is obviously marketed towards a younger audience. I don’t think it would be such a bad thing for them to try something new for TS5. Online gaming is huge so it makes sense they wanna head in that direction with multiplayer options.

    Either way, TS5 is gonna be make or break as now we have some healthy competitors entering the market with paralives and other games.

    I was mostly referring to console in regard to the fact that a lot of publishers think that they can have the same game running forever, and if you are making games for console, then that's not possible because consoles will get phased out by newer models.

    But you are right that it's probably good when it comes to graphics if they are designing for console. Consoles today are very powerful.

    When it comes to making the game available for everyone, I think investing in optimization is the key, so that The Sims 5 can run well on lower settings on laptops that are maybe not designed for gaming.
  • ddd994ddd994 Posts: 418 Member
    Well if they go the console only route, they'd lose me and my $800+. I don't do consoles plus I love my mods and CC.

    I don't play on a laptop either nor do I have a desire to. I've always used a desktop and always will, unless the laptop is required for work and then it's for work only and not for my own free time entertainment.

    I’m not saying there aren’t dedicated pc players, just that TS4 was designed to play on lower end models so as to cater to as many players as possible, ultimately at the expense of the game though.. hence TS4 being a stripped back experience.
  • DeKayDeKay Posts: 81,472 Member
    I don't mind it as long as they have an option for us to choose to multiplay or not. Honestly, I don't really know how The Sims multiplaying will work. How would the worlds look like? Will there be lots that are not editable, etc? I'm very curious tho.
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  • OldeseadoggeOldeseadogge Posts: 4,973 Member
    Am not a console person either, and the only laptop I use is the one at work. I want a game that works properly and is equally at home with an SS 396 or a Yugo, not Yugo only like TS4 is.
  • simgirl1010simgirl1010 Posts: 35,707 Member
    Lol I had to Google both Yugo and SS396. 😄

    Anyway, a console only version is not an automatic deal breaker for me but it would have to have some groundbreaking features to make me switch from laptop to console. I've gotten used to the flexibility of playing where I want and will never go back to desktop.
  • HonestlyBenjaminHonestlyBenjamin Posts: 381 Member
    I know there's been a mod for The Sims 4 that allows you to play online but I've never played it. I did see CallMeKevin and Anna Rudolf play it on video together though and it does seem cool and give the opportunity for fun gameplay. I wouldn't have a problem with it existing as an optional on-the-side thing. However, it would presumably take development resources away from the game and, given that TS4 lacked a lot of features at launch because of the attempt to make it online, it might end up taking months or years after launch for the game to be as fledged as we'd want it to be, and I would have a problem with that
  • simmeroriginsimmerorigin Posts: 1,370 Member
    I know there's been a mod for The Sims 4 that allows you to play online but I've never played it. I did see CallMeKevin and Anna Rudolf play it on video together though and it does seem cool and give the opportunity for fun gameplay. I wouldn't have a problem with it existing as an optional on-the-side thing. However, it would presumably take development resources away from the game and, given that TS4 lacked a lot of features at launch because of the attempt to make it online, it might end up taking months or years after launch for the game to be as fledged as we'd want it to be, and I would have a problem with that

    I'm nervous about a Sims 5 base game if they are also working on multiplayer features for it
    He/him | Simmer since Sims 1 | Active Sims 2 wants-based rotational player, Sims 3 legacy player | My gameplay rules via PleasantSims | Bring back challenge and depth to the Sims: https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/17959464/#Comment_17959464
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