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EA CEO on TS4: FY2020 will be the biggest year in terms of content release

elelunicyelelunicy Posts: 2,004 Member
Fiscal year 2020 is from April 2019 to March 2020.

From yesterday's earnings call:
Our Sims 4 live service also continues to be a rich and rewarding experience for our players and a strong platform for growth. The Sims 4 continues to be one of the great owned IP success stories of our portfolio and we are planning for FY '20 to be our biggest year yet of new content. Knowing that, we gave more fans a chance to get into the game through a one week promotion in May to download the base game for free. Almost 7 million players downloaded the game during that time. In addition to the base game promotion, total expansion and game pack downloads also increased 55% year-over-year in Q1. We launched our seventh expansion pack, Island Living, in late June and has already become one of the best selling packs for The Sims 4. We are fortunate to have an incredibly vibrant and creative Sims community on console, PC and mobile, and we are continuing to double down on this amazing franchise to reach new players and open up exciting new dimensions of The Sims this year.
Finally, as Andrew mentioned, The Sims 4 base game promotion delivered nearly 7 million new installs, and we remain on track to have the fifth consecutive year of growth in The Sims 4 following its launch in 2014.

EA expects TS4 to generate $300-400 million revenue for them in fiscal year 2020.
Now turning to guidance. Except for the increase of our tax benefit of $200 million or $0.66 a share on GAAP EPS, we are reiterating our guidance for the full year. We continue to expect The Sims 4 and Apex Legends to each deliver net bookings in the $300 million to $400 million range.

They also talked about the possibilities of The Sims being on the Nintendo Switch.
Jeffrey Cohen

Thanks for the incremental color on The Sims. It feels like that franchise would be one that would do really well on the Nintendo Switch. So I'm curious how you guys determine which platforms you'd bring the game to or games to? And is there any reason why you wouldn't want to bring that one on there?

Andrew Wilson

Any time we're evaluating platform conversations, we are really looking at a couple of things. One, does the game really fit the profile of that platform in terms of the control or the community ecosystem? Two, do we think the community playing on that platform would appreciate the game to go there? Or would they prefer to play it somewhere else?

We have a lot of data that would suggest a great many Switch owners also own a PlayStation 4 or an Xbox One or a PC and very often choose to play the games that we make on those platforms even though they have a Switch and they enjoy a lot of great content on the Switch. And so there's always an evaluation process that goes on a case-by-case basis. And I wouldn't say that The Sims would never go to the Switch, but I think we're doing really, really well attracting Sims players. As we said, we did the promotion in the last couple of months and brought in 7 million new Sims players that we expect will engage in that community on a platform that is really tailored to user-generated content, creativity and customization.
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Comments

  • elelunicyelelunicy Posts: 2,004 Member
    edited July 2019
    The number of packs we got in previous fiscal years:

    FY2015: 1 expansion pack, 1 game pack
    FY2016: 1 expansion pack, 1 game pack, 6 stuff packs
    FY2017: 1 expansion pack, 2 game packs, 4 stuff packs
    FY2018: 1 expansion pack, 2 game packs, 4 stuff packs
    FY2019: 2 expansion packs, 1 game pack

    I'm predicting in FY2020 we'll get 2 expansion packs (Island Lving and EP8 in November), 2 game packs (Realm of Magic and GP9 early next year), and at least 1 stuff pack (Moschino Stuff). This is easily the most content we've gotten in a year.
    Post edited by elelunicy on
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  • king_of_simcity7king_of_simcity7 Posts: 25,102 Member
    Perhaps that 2020 will be the last full year of content as something even bigger might be arriving the year after? :wink:
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  • drake_mccartydrake_mccarty Posts: 6,114 Member
    Not sure how well switch would run Sims 4 but it would be neat to see it released for the platform. CEO kinda makes me think it won’t happen though but I think he underestimates the appeal of the portability of the switch compared to XB or PS which he says most switch owners also own.
  • SimmingalSimmingal Posts: 8,886 Member
    How about Romance pack for february :smirk: or is that too suitable?
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  • ChazzzyChazzzy Posts: 7,166 Member
    Where do they get data that tells them a Nintendo Switch console owner also owns a PS4 and an Xbox?

    Why would someone owning an Xbox mean they don’t want to play The Sims 4 on their Switch? The consoles do different things and exist for different reasons.

    What a strange explanation just to say “No, we’re not bringing TS4 to Switch any time soon”.
  • drake_mccartydrake_mccarty Posts: 6,114 Member
    Chazzzy wrote: »
    Where do they get data that tells them a Nintendo Switch console owner also owns a PS4 and an Xbox?

    Why would someone owning an Xbox mean they don’t want to play The Sims 4 on their Switch? The consoles do different things and exist for different reasons.

    What a strange explanation just to say “No, we’re not bringing TS4 to Switch any time soon”.

    The heart of his argument is that most people who own a switch also own an XB, PS, or PC. That’s generally true, at least from what I have seen from people who own switch. He’s saying they don’t really need to make a switch version because they’re able to sell the game on the other systems just fine.

    I do think he underestimates the main selling point for switch, and that’s the portability of it being a handheld. I would buy it on Switch just for that alone, but he does have a point that PC/XB/PS would probably be the preferred platforms because they would offer the best experience.
  • ListentoToppDoggListentoToppDogg Posts: 2,103 Member
    Hopefully one of those content releases are some overhauled babies.
  • alanmichael1alanmichael1 Posts: 5,384 Member
    What an incredible cash cow this game is.
  • ChazzzyChazzzy Posts: 7,166 Member
    edited July 2019
    Chazzzy wrote: »
    Where do they get data that tells them a Nintendo Switch console owner also owns a PS4 and an Xbox?

    Why would someone owning an Xbox mean they don’t want to play The Sims 4 on their Switch? The consoles do different things and exist for different reasons.

    What a strange explanation just to say “No, we’re not bringing TS4 to Switch any time soon”.

    The heart of his argument is that most people who own a switch also own an XB, PS, or PC. That’s generally true, at least from what I have seen from people who own switch. He’s saying they don’t really need to make a switch version because they’re able to sell the game on the other systems just fine.

    I do think he underestimates the main selling point for switch, and that’s the portability of it being a handheld. I would buy it on Switch just for that alone, but he does have a point that PC/XB/PS would probably be the preferred platforms because they would offer the best experience.

    Right. People have Switch because they want to play games on the go or away from a tv or computer.

    The real truth is they just got 7 million new players to download the game for free during the promotion onto their computers and that’s 7 million more people they can now expect to purchase additional content. So, financially speaking, and right now anyway, there is zero incentive for them to put time and money into developing a Switch version. Because, why do that when they can wait to see how much money they get from these new PC players first?
  • aprilroseaprilrose Posts: 1,832 Member
    We shall see
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  • king_of_simcity7king_of_simcity7 Posts: 25,102 Member
    What an incredible cash cow this game is.

    Not getting my cash :wink:
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  • HermitgirlHermitgirl Posts: 8,825 Member
    Thanks for posting... I never look this stuff up. I usually read posts about giving the base away like it was a sign that it wasn't selling well while rolling my eyes and all I could think is it's a way to snag many, many new customers to buy the DLC. They get the base free or at a reduced cost and have to try out an EP... then maybe another. Then who knows maybe all of them if they enjoy the game. I haven't ever been worried about the game ending before all the major themes came out but yeah it definitely supports them wanting to keep backing a winner.
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  • logionlogion Posts: 4,712 Member
    Aren't they expecting a little too much? Especially if they seem to be targeting younger audiences with this rebrand? I wonder if they plan to include more packs with origin access...

    The cynical part of me thinks the reason why they are earning so much money is because their budget for game development is so low.
  • Sigzy05Sigzy05 Posts: 19,406 Member
    edited July 2019
    logion wrote: »
    Aren't they expecting a little too much? Especially if they seem to be targeting younger audiences with this rebrand? I wonder if they plan to include more packs with origin access...

    The cynical part of me thinks the reason why they are earning so much money is because their budget for game development is so low.

    I wouldn't put that past them. Have you seen how much depth and effort they put into EP's now? They even recycle recipes lol
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  • BrokenChaos69BrokenChaos69 Posts: 928 Member
    I can't help but be excited by this news. I enjoy the game despite it's flaws, even more so than TS3. I just wish the expansions were a bit meatier. But with the game continuing to generate good revenue I can see TS4 lasting another 2+ years, especially if the boost to sales from the free base game helps keep that revenue and growth going.
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  • elelunicyelelunicy Posts: 2,004 Member
    logion wrote: »
    The cynical part of me thinks the reason why they are earning so much money is because their budget for game development is so low.

    Revenue != profit. Budget has nothing to do with the revenue generated.
    What an incredible cash cow this game is.

    Not getting my cash :wink:

    If you bought every single TS4 pack your cash would still be a rounding error for them.
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  • kayt45kayt45 Posts: 434 Member
    Nope, it sounds like the game is still bringing in new consumers and expanding somewhat. They won’t get rid of it anytime soon.
    Perhaps that 2020 will be the last full year of content as something even bigger might be arriving the year after? :wink:

  • MovottiMovotti Posts: 7,774 Member
    Maybe they're just shaking the last crumbs out of the box, ready for a big announcement at the end of the year...
    Perhaps that 2020 will be the last full year of content as something even bigger might be arriving the year after? :wink:
    Fingers and toes crossed?


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  • luthienrisingluthienrising Posts: 37,617 Member
    Movotti wrote: »
    Maybe they're just shaking the last crumbs out of the box, ready for a big announcement at the end of the year...
    Perhaps that 2020 will be the last full year of content as something even bigger might be arriving the year after? :wink:
    Fingers and toes crossed?






    Not happening.
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  • catloverplayercatloverplayer Posts: 93,362 Member
    I hope one of those content drops is cars either free or in a Game or Expansion Pack.
  • simgirl1010simgirl1010 Posts: 35,707 Member
    Movotti wrote: »
    Maybe they're just shaking the last crumbs out of the box, ready for a big announcement at the end of the year...
    Perhaps that 2020 will be the last full year of content as something even bigger might be arriving the year after? :wink:
    Fingers and toes crossed?






    Not happening.

    Let's not forget this one. :)

  • rudy8292rudy8292 Posts: 3,410 Member
    Let's see if Updated Babies and Cars are part of the massive amount of quality content drops.
  • LeGardePourpreLeGardePourpre Posts: 15,175 Member
    edited August 2019
    And franchises like The Sims have been continually producing that range of revenues because we run them as a live service.

    That joke...

  • SindocatSindocat Posts: 5,622 Member
    edited August 2019
    Perhaps that 2020 will be the last full year of content as something even bigger might be arriving the year after? :wink:

    They have as much as said, in as many words, that they look forward to continuing development of TS4 "for many more years". Probably not, as one year isn't "many", however you define it.
  • LeGardePourpreLeGardePourpre Posts: 15,175 Member
    edited August 2019
    elelunicy wrote: »
    Almost 7 million players downloaded the game during that time.

    7 millions of FREE copies, I didn't think there were so many illegal copies :p

    And there are still people who missed that promotion.



    Post edited by LeGardePourpre on
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