That's an interesting idea, that items could be priced to reflect gameplay value as opposed to real world value. I tend to play my game very realistically, so I always want to give each bedroom its own laptop, TV, etc. But for gameplay purposes you probably only need one computer for the whole house.
In regards to #3: The problem with Sim money being funneled into other projects is that Maxis proceeded to claim that they were forced to leave out content because of resources and funding. This is a slap in the face to fans who have spent billions of dollars on the franchise. I don't think it is appropriate to use…
I understand your argument, but I think you are operating under a false assumption - that forum users are the only people who were disappointed with the game. It is convenient to argue that everyone outside of the forums is happy, since it is not something you can measure. However, the chances of that being true are slim.…
That's a valid point, but I still think it was handled poorly, specifically by Rachel Franklin and Grant. Their responses were condescending and did nothing to make the players feel appreciated or listened to.
This is true. Business schools could use Maxis as a case study on how to NOT handle community relations. I think the real reason why the SimGurus left the forums is because they were doing more harm than good. Telling players that their concerns were invalid, that they were playing wrong, trash-talking prior installments…
1. Maxis has already used the money which EA allowed Maxis to use for the basegame. Therefore Maxis probably can't just add expensive content like toddlers to the game in a free update. I agree. If we get toddlers, we will likely have to pay for them. I think the real reservation on EA's side is that its a lose-lose…
Right now I am back to playing TS3. There are too many problems with TS4 and the developers seem very stubborn and unwilling to shift their failed vision. I think the Maxis studio has been very poorly managed, to the point where it would be appropriate for many of the producers to be removed from the project.
I actually agree with you on this. It is far more likely for EA to eliminate Maxis entirely than let them both work on the same platform. Firemonkeys might eventually be the future of the franchise if Maxis doesn't get their act together.
If EA wants to scrap plans for TS5 then that's their prerogative, I don't think that fans should hide their discontent out of fear. I would rather have no TS5 at all then a repeat of what we got with TS4. While I agree that there is little hope for open worlds and CASt returning, I don't think its unrealistic to expect…
Rachel Franklin isn't interested in making a good game. Her priority was to "increase appeal" for the franchise by watering it down and marketing to a casual market. Now the game is underperforming. Oops!
Your only interest is to defend EA's PR and you know it. You keep shifting your argument every time you run out of ways to defend it. First you argue that the changes are good for the game. When that fails, you argue that the changes are financially necessary, as if this was some mid-budget franchise. When that fails, you…
So once again you are arguing that the only hope for franchise growth is to slash funding and gut features. Once again you are using a completely irrational race-to-the-bottom mindset. I'm sure that your viewpoint is shared within EA, but that is why your company is one of the least respected publishers in the industry.…
But EA is one of the worst offenders for this business practice, with their sports games. I think everyone understands that base games will lose many features that were introduced in expansions. The difference with TS4 is that we lost tons of features from other BASE games. Then EA's PR strategy is to trash prior…
Why do you think sales numbers would be the same? Do you think all the bad press and reviews had no negative impact on sales? Your argument is what I would call a "race to the bottom" mentality. Cut funding to "maximize profit", which leads to a decline in quality, which hurts long-term sales, which leads to another cut in…
I know that is the official reasoning for the layoffs, but I don't understand why they didn't just move them to TS4 content. Maxis used to keep their staff through multiple projects, so it doesn't make sense why they would lay them off. The writing on the wall suggests that they are shrinking the size of the studio because…
EA used so much of the profit from the Sims on other games and did not properly fund the franchise. The franchise has raked in billions of dollars in revenue, so your argument is not sound. There are plenty of gaming companies that create quality games and still make a profit. The problem with EA was that they refused to…
112 million is not a big budget for the most successful PC franchise of all time *facepalm*. Also, if you seriously believe that all the little people on dev teams are making 100 grand a year, then you don't know much about the gaming industry. Those salaries are reserved for high-level management and software engineers.…
Spot on. If they paid 500 employees 70k a year (which is a VERY generous average salary), that would only be a labor budget of 140 mil for a 4 year team (Realistically, it would only be 104 mil). That budget size is completely reasonable for a cash cow like The Sims. EA was just being cheap and now we have a terrible,…
Lmao, 280 is not that big of a team. Count how many devs there are for other franchises of a similar size. There are many AAA teams with 500+ body counts. Give me a break.
Hmm, that doesn't look too large tbh. Most of those people are testers, family members, and umbrella workers who do work for multiple games simultaneously. The actual development team is fairly small. Take a look at the team sizes for other blockbuster AAA games.
At this point, I have given up hope. EA believes that PC gaming is dying, so they are not willing to invest in PC-exclusive titles anymore. This is why TS4 received such a limited budget despite the franchise making hundreds of millions of dollars. Unfortunately, I have a feeling that the struggles of SimCity and TS4 have…
As a previous poster stated, the fact that they keep shrinking the studio is a bad omen for the franchise. At this point, we should be worried about having a full EP life cycle for TS4, let alone a TS5.
You're probably right about Paradox, but in the end they were still able to create a better game than the big money at EA. The Sims 4's engine is so watered down that I really think we're overestimating the amount of resources required to make an equivalent. From the looks of it, the current Sims studio is not THAT big.…
I admire your devotion, I really do. But unfortunately I have a feeling that we're both going to get burned in the end. Look at what's been happening inside of EA in the last year. They are not interested in keeping the franchise alive in its current state. Rachel Franklin is a champion of MOBILE GAMING for crying out…
Yeah, and that is one of the main reasons why EA is not a respected company. If players spend hundreds of millions of dollars on a franchise and the the company won't properly fund its sequels...it shows that The Sims is not important to EA other than being a cash cow to finance other projects. This is EXACTLY why I think…
Can you quote me in this thread calling TS4 a flop? Did you even read my post? I called SimCity a flop, which I believe is justified since they essentially fired the entire studio. It is easy to call the forums a minority but there are plenty of other ways to judge consumer sentiment. TS4 has had by far the most negative…