It's more complicated than calling this just another gaming franchise when there is literally no other competitor on the market currently that is like it. There's new Simulator games released every day, some more realistic than the sims in some aspects such as Ranch Simulator which was just created with the Unreal Engine. However, the Sims draws people because of the unique core gameplay features not prevalent in other life simulators such as animal crossing or stardew valley. People don't naturally want to give up on a gaming franchise they invest hundreds of dollars into. They would do what they could to save it, even if it means putting energy into venting their grievances or voicing their concerns and even if they put in "a little more time and energy" it's not wrong. But sadly, some people have simply decided that this game may never get better.
I do hope that players that are disappointed will still play the sims but also try other games that are popular like Animal Crossing, Stardew Valley and Valheim instead of buying these kits but also share why they don't like them. I think that's for the best.
It's also more fun to be a gamer if you have more games to look forward to and watch and play.
Excuse me, when I sold my life away to the Sims I didn't know other games were allowed. Is this the video game equivalent of cheating on your partner?
Heh, I sometimes find it difficult to play something else than the sims sometimes. I think that's where a bit of the anger from the community comes from, you know? because they have a hard time enjoying something else.
I can't even eat without my sims game around. It would be like asking me to relearn how to function.
Do you know how many times my food got cold because I was too absorbed into the hot tub activities of Don Lothario in Sims 2?
ahh the memories
EA should care less about making money and more about the reputation of their games.
People may keep spending money on these packs, but that's only because they're the only life simulation on the market. But every time EA pulls another sleazy money grab, the reputation of their games gets lower. It got lower with My First Pet Stuff, Journey to Batuu, the 20th Anniversary, and of course with Kits.
What if a viable rival game competes with the Sims (like Paralives)? The Sims brand will have such a low reputation that everyone will flock to the rival game and abandon the Sims completely. Why on earth would customers support Maxis and EA after treating them so poorly for years?
I think it doesn't matter to them. People will still buy regardless. The amount of people I've seen raging about how horrible kits are and then posting their experience with vacuums is something else.
At its current stage Paralives will never rival the Sims as it's just a small indie game, struggling to distinguish itself from being a Sims knockoff. If it comes out and it does well and then they have a massive budget, Paralives 2 could possibly knock the Sims out the water but with its current direction the first instalment won't win over the majority of the Sims community as it doesn't feel like an "upgrade" enough to make it a contender.
people still buys anyways. the only way to speak to ea is through the wallet but people puts their own fun on top of what is fair, so likes/dislikes are just a joke. well, sometimes they do something, like ridiculize ea, but they don't give a flip if they're ridiculized, they're laughing at ppl in a yacht while players pretends to be angry having the kits on their accounts lmao and some ppl still defend ea
All this just reminds me of when there was a group that formed to boycott Left 4 Dead 2 and they had legitimate concerns and Valve worked with them, but then Gabe Newell said that people who joined the boycott had still preordered the game they claimed to be boycott.
So basically yes, YouTube can show peoples dislikes and they can voice their dislikes but they in the minority since the majority is still buying and their purchases show EA that there’s still ways to milk what’s left of the franchise before placing it on the shelf to make room for Sims 5.
I think people are buying this time because so much was released at once, but you still need to look at the Dislike. Next time we'll only get a few things - we don't know how much will be in our next $5 pack because a wildly different amount was in each pack - 20 CAS items, 15 BB items, and some gameplay. It's new, and people are always excited by something so new.
You can't judge it if you don't buy it, so it's a little unfair to say that if you do buy it you must automatically like it. That's the kind of argument EA would make for keeping up with making more of these packs. EA has no return policy on Kits.
I always knew I'd end up buying the releases, but the fact that people bought it this time does not mean future packs, released one at a time, will be popular if they're going to be lacking in gameplay or just more of what we already have - the country pack was cute, but hardly an item we felt would expand our game.
Prepping a list of mods to add after Infants are placed into the game. Because real life isn't 'nice'.
The idea that it's ok and/or expected for businesses to do whatever in the pursuit of sales and that's "just how it is" is bizarre. Would it be ok to break into people's homes and threaten them until they buy the product cause it's just about sales???
well, I never said they can do whatever and it's ok because it's for the sales.
That wasn't my point, but I can see how it could be taken that way.
It was about them reacting to negativity on the internet (about REactions rather than actions).
More so about how much weight such things have, dislikes and negative comments/tweets do not hold much weight if they are not reflected in or threatening the sales, which is still the ultimate motivation for a business.
Not because they are "evil" or cash grabbers, but because:
1. (obvious point) they need the money to keep working
2. it's the most reliable way to determine what to react to and what not, what is actually a problem for the majority of their customers and what isn't (cuz those are not all on YT, Twitter, the forums and so on), to spend their time and effort wisely.
Even surveys can only reach so many customers (but are still a better source than social networks imho).
I disagree. You can make a judgement call on these kits without buying them. There is enough information available through reviews, Sims news sites, YouTube videos, and in the content images for the kits on Origin, for customers to decide whether kits are worth their $4.99 price tag. That was all that I needed to for me to conclude that they are not.
At its current stage Paralives will never rival the Sims as it's just a small indie game, struggling to distinguish itself from being a Sims knockoff. If it comes out and it does well and then they have a massive budget, Paralives 2 could possibly knock the Sims out the water but with its current direction the first instalment won't win over the majority of the Sims community as it doesn't feel like an "upgrade" enough to make it a contender.
I totally disagree with this. Paralives has set itself apart from the beginning, and the most recent update that just went public shows how they are developing character models from a gender-neutral place. Another update I can’t discuss because it’s for patrons only is further proof they are creating systems that allow the players customization we haven’t seen at all in The Sims 4, and will likely never see. If TS4 had kept innovating then maybe the Paralives developers wouldn’t feel the need to do what they’re doing, but I’m glad they’re doing what Maxis won’t do and I cannot wait to see how the actual gameplay develops, when they reach that point.
You’re free to have your own opinion but it came across as pretty uninformed, tbh.
More so about how much weight such things have, dislikes and negative comments/tweets do not hold much weight if they are not reflected in or threatening the sales, which is still the ultimate motivation for a business.
@RavenSpit I thought the ultimate motivation for a gaming company was the passion to create great games? When a company's ultimate motivation is to make money and everything else comes second, I think the products are gonna suffer because of that (like they do with EA) and I don't feel like it's irrational to call it out.
To me there is a difference between wanting the product you have created and worked hard on to sell as much as possible and creating a product for the sole purpose of making as much money as possible.
The marketing team in a company is not there to tell the developers what product to make in order to make as much money as possible, the marketing team is there to take the product the game developers make and find ways for it to be profitable.
The fact that EA is not putting game development first but is putting profit first is why the game got backlash, the customers are not satisfied, the staff is complaining about not having budget, time and enough memebers and why many quit and why EA is one of the most hated companies in the US.
You can't judge it if you don't buy it, so it's a little unfair to say that if you do buy it you must automatically like it. That's the kind of argument EA would make for keeping up with making more of these packs. EA has no return policy on Kits.
But sure....there’s a livestream and about a million reviews out there. (The latter was an exaggeration).
Still. If you’re really on the fence about a pack, both content and pricing, it may help to wait for gameplay reviews. When in doubt, it’s usually best to take your time and find out about that product. Judging based on first hand experience is always the best option of course, but there’s no reason not wait and watch an unbiased thorough game play session or pack overview by someone who already owns the content.
Buying something that you’re not sure about at release without having all the information is just a recipe for disappointment. At least that’s how I view it.
You can't judge it if you don't buy it, so it's a little unfair to say that if you do buy it you must automatically like it. That's the kind of argument EA would make for keeping up with making more of these packs. EA has no return policy on Kits.
But sure....there’s a livestream and about a million reviews out there. (The latter was an exaggeration).
@CAPTAIN_NXR7 Agree completely with you only for the one exception that was Bust the dust. Many people were certain they wanted it in the game and knew the features that came with it and liked it so they bought it on launch. Turns out it's such a buggy mess, the same people now have to rely on mods and I think that's unfair.
290 votes on twitter. Very small sample without a normal distribution of the individuals that answered (meaning mostly random dissatisfied people answered). It has no value statistically and it doesn't represent the "population" at all.
the money is there, just not the passion anymore it seems
maybe, idk each person on the sims team and how passionate they are, neither do I know how much creative freedom they get or how much pressure from the "moneypeople".
but again---not what I was talking about anyways.
@RavenSpit I thought the ultimate motivation for a gaming company was the passion to create great games?
still gotta make money to be able to make those games tho.
@RavenSpit They do make money, they just want to make all the money. This game has sooooo much money under its name that if 4-5% of that money was invested in making the game better and fixing it we wouldn't be here right now. We'd be playing the game.
@RavenSpit They do make money, they just want to make all the money. This game has sooooo much money under its name that if 4-5% of that money was invested in making the game better and fixing it we wouldn't be here right now. We'd be playing the game.
well...I cant play the game ALL the time, I got other things to do too you know? And sometimes I just wanna chat to my fellow simmers.
But seriously, you are yet again branching out to other topics that I never debated here.
I agree the game has major issues, the PR has major issues too, the packs/kits are overpriced....I see all that, my comment was regarding how much weight YT dislikes and the like hold to a business.
You can't judge it if you don't buy it, so it's a little unfair to say that if you do buy it you must automatically like it. That's the kind of argument EA would make for keeping up with making more of these packs. EA has no return policy on Kits.
But sure....there’s a livestream and about a million reviews out there. (The latter was an exaggeration).
@CAPTAIN_NXR7 Agree completely with you only for the one exception that was Bust the dust. Many people were certain they wanted it in the game and knew the features that came with it and liked it so they bought it on launch. Turns out it's such a buggy mess, the same people now have to rely on mods and I think that's unfair.
The track record of bugs on release in the gaming industry lately is exactly why, even if I am interested in a pack, I would never purchase it on launch. It is always best to wait a while for any potential bug reports.
I don't like games like Stardew Valley and mobile games like that. They are more "comics" than simulation to me. It's just my preference and I've given up on reviewers and game-changers. I did that after reading the bad reviews of Les Miserables when it came out and saw one of the first performances in London and stood up cheering afterwards.
Just make up your own minds people. Sims 4 is my recreation of choice and I only come here for ideas and ways to play it. I'm just an impoverished uk pensioner but pick what I want to spend my own money on. Sims 4 is keeping me sane in Lockdown.
the money is there, just not the passion anymore it seems
maybe, idk each person on the sims team and how passionate they are, neither do I know how much creative freedom they get or how much pressure from the "moneypeople".
@RavenSpit They do make money, they just want to make all the money. This game has sooooo much money under its name that if 4-5% of that money was invested in making the game better and fixing it we wouldn't be here right now. We'd be playing the game.
well...I cant play the game ALL the time, I got other things to do too you know? And sometimes I just wanna chat to my fellow simmers.
But seriously, you are yet again branching out to other topics that I never debated here.
I agree the game has major issues, the PR has major issues too, the packs/kits are overpriced....I see all that, my comment was regarding how much weight YT dislikes and the like hold to a business.
@RavenSpit I don't see how speaking about money is branching off topic when one of the main complaints from the backlash of this kit is that EA is milking this game to death money wise.
Yeah maybe EA doesn't care even though they should imo but other companies who care about their customers do care and have made many changes to their products based on community backlash which made the products even better. But EA won't cause EA...
@CAPTAIN_NXR7 Agree completely with you only for the one exception that was Bust the dust. Many people were certain they wanted it in the game and knew the features that came with it and liked it so they bought it on launch. Turns out it's such a buggy mess, the same people now have to rely on mods and I think that's unfair.
@SimmerGeorge
I was referring to folks who are in doubt about the content and still buy it at release. It may be best to wait and collect more information whenever that info becomes available. When - In - Doubt.
Of course it’s a different thing when somebody wanted the kit in the first place, and is then disappointed. But then again, buying anything at release is taking a huge chance. That’s the way it is with games and software and it has never been any different.
I don’t know how “buggy” the dust pack actually is. As far as I know is that some folks don’t want the bunnies because they’re realism players, so they have them modded out. These folks would have know that dust bunnies are part of the pack. It’s insanely hard to miss those little critters in the ads, believe it or not. Under the assumption that their favorite modder would create a mod, they bought the pack. In those instances it’s not unfair that they “have to go get a mod”. It’s their own choice. Players can’t complain about dust bunnies when it’s clear that they’re part of the gameplay. Some folks don’t like how the dust system is tuned and get a mod for that as well. Others don’t mind it. That’s again personal preference.
I don’t know what actually broke in the game due to the dust pack. That’s a different thing entirely.
Of course it’s a different thing when somebody wanted the kit in the first place, and is then disappointed. But then again, buying anything at release is taking a huge chance. That’s the way it is with games and software and it has never been any different.
@CAPTAIN_NXR7 Again I agree, it's just sad how much companies rely on patches these days. Before patches there used to be a lot more focus on the game being stable.
I feel like if people stop buying products on release day because of the very high possibilty of major bugs then that beats the purpose of a "launch day". Why launch the game when it has major bugs in it. I get it if they're small but that dust kit has only one new gameplay aspect and has like 4 different majot bugs or oversights.
The getting mods I meant was to fix certain bugs and oversights the kit came with, so like the game not spawning random debug items in your inventory for example. I don't mean mods to remove the bunnies or gameplay they don't like.
I just feel like it's not crazy for a person to assume that since a kit only has one small gameplay feature, it won't be as buggy. Nobody expected this kit to have so many things needed fixing. At least I didn't.
Comments
I can't even eat without my sims game around. It would be like asking me to relearn how to function.
Do you know how many times my food got cold because I was too absorbed into the hot tub activities of Don Lothario in Sims 2?
ahh the memories
not a good look folks.
I think it doesn't matter to them. People will still buy regardless. The amount of people I've seen raging about how horrible kits are and then posting their experience with vacuums is something else.
At its current stage Paralives will never rival the Sims as it's just a small indie game, struggling to distinguish itself from being a Sims knockoff. If it comes out and it does well and then they have a massive budget, Paralives 2 could possibly knock the Sims out the water but with its current direction the first instalment won't win over the majority of the Sims community as it doesn't feel like an "upgrade" enough to make it a contender.
Thank you 👏👏👏
Personality,depth,humor,consequences,lore,customization.
So basically yes, YouTube can show peoples dislikes and they can voice their dislikes but they in the minority since the majority is still buying and their purchases show EA that there’s still ways to milk what’s left of the franchise before placing it on the shelf to make room for Sims 5.
You can't judge it if you don't buy it, so it's a little unfair to say that if you do buy it you must automatically like it. That's the kind of argument EA would make for keeping up with making more of these packs. EA has no return policy on Kits.
I always knew I'd end up buying the releases, but the fact that people bought it this time does not mean future packs, released one at a time, will be popular if they're going to be lacking in gameplay or just more of what we already have - the country pack was cute, but hardly an item we felt would expand our game.
well, I never said they can do whatever and it's ok because it's for the sales.
That wasn't my point, but I can see how it could be taken that way.
It was about them reacting to negativity on the internet (about REactions rather than actions).
More so about how much weight such things have, dislikes and negative comments/tweets do not hold much weight if they are not reflected in or threatening the sales, which is still the ultimate motivation for a business.
Not because they are "evil" or cash grabbers, but because:
1. (obvious point) they need the money to keep working
2. it's the most reliable way to determine what to react to and what not, what is actually a problem for the majority of their customers and what isn't (cuz those are not all on YT, Twitter, the forums and so on), to spend their time and effort wisely.
Even surveys can only reach so many customers (but are still a better source than social networks imho).
I disagree. You can make a judgement call on these kits without buying them. There is enough information available through reviews, Sims news sites, YouTube videos, and in the content images for the kits on Origin, for customers to decide whether kits are worth their $4.99 price tag. That was all that I needed to for me to conclude that they are not.
I totally disagree with this. Paralives has set itself apart from the beginning, and the most recent update that just went public shows how they are developing character models from a gender-neutral place. Another update I can’t discuss because it’s for patrons only is further proof they are creating systems that allow the players customization we haven’t seen at all in The Sims 4, and will likely never see. If TS4 had kept innovating then maybe the Paralives developers wouldn’t feel the need to do what they’re doing, but I’m glad they’re doing what Maxis won’t do and I cannot wait to see how the actual gameplay develops, when they reach that point.
You’re free to have your own opinion but it came across as pretty uninformed, tbh.
@RavenSpit I thought the ultimate motivation for a gaming company was the passion to create great games? When a company's ultimate motivation is to make money and everything else comes second, I think the products are gonna suffer because of that (like they do with EA) and I don't feel like it's irrational to call it out.
To me there is a difference between wanting the product you have created and worked hard on to sell as much as possible and creating a product for the sole purpose of making as much money as possible.
The marketing team in a company is not there to tell the developers what product to make in order to make as much money as possible, the marketing team is there to take the product the game developers make and find ways for it to be profitable.
The fact that EA is not putting game development first but is putting profit first is why the game got backlash, the customers are not satisfied, the staff is complaining about not having budget, time and enough memebers and why many quit and why EA is one of the most hated companies in the US.
But sure....there’s a livestream and about a million reviews out there. (The latter was an exaggeration).
Still. If you’re really on the fence about a pack, both content and pricing, it may help to wait for gameplay reviews. When in doubt, it’s usually best to take your time and find out about that product. Judging based on first hand experience is always the best option of course, but there’s no reason not wait and watch an unbiased thorough game play session or pack overview by someone who already owns the content.
Buying something that you’re not sure about at release without having all the information is just a recipe for disappointment. At least that’s how I view it.
still gotta make money to be able to make those games tho.
@CAPTAIN_NXR7 Agree completely with you only for the one exception that was Bust the dust. Many people were certain they wanted it in the game and knew the features that came with it and liked it so they bought it on launch. Turns out it's such a buggy mess, the same people now have to rely on mods and I think that's unfair.
290 votes on twitter. Very small sample without a normal distribution of the individuals that answered (meaning mostly random dissatisfied people answered). It has no value statistically and it doesn't represent the "population" at all.
the money is there, just not the passion anymore it seems
but again---not what I was talking about anyways.
@RavenSpit They do make money, they just want to make all the money. This game has sooooo much money under its name that if 4-5% of that money was invested in making the game better and fixing it we wouldn't be here right now. We'd be playing the game.
But seriously, you are yet again branching out to other topics that I never debated here.
I agree the game has major issues, the PR has major issues too, the packs/kits are overpriced....I see all that, my comment was regarding how much weight YT dislikes and the like hold to a business.
The track record of bugs on release in the gaming industry lately is exactly why, even if I am interested in a pack, I would never purchase it on launch. It is always best to wait a while for any potential bug reports.
Just make up your own minds people. Sims 4 is my recreation of choice and I only come here for ideas and ways to play it. I'm just an impoverished uk pensioner but pick what I want to spend my own money on. Sims 4 is keeping me sane in Lockdown.
Feedback is the place for complaints.
the "it seems" i said before summarized this lol
@RavenSpit I don't see how speaking about money is branching off topic when one of the main complaints from the backlash of this kit is that EA is milking this game to death money wise.
Yeah maybe EA doesn't care even though they should imo but other companies who care about their customers do care and have made many changes to their products based on community backlash which made the products even better. But EA won't cause EA...
@SimmerGeorge
I was referring to folks who are in doubt about the content and still buy it at release. It may be best to wait and collect more information whenever that info becomes available. When - In - Doubt.
Of course it’s a different thing when somebody wanted the kit in the first place, and is then disappointed. But then again, buying anything at release is taking a huge chance. That’s the way it is with games and software and it has never been any different.
I don’t know how “buggy” the dust pack actually is. As far as I know is that some folks don’t want the bunnies because they’re realism players, so they have them modded out. These folks would have know that dust bunnies are part of the pack. It’s insanely hard to miss those little critters in the ads, believe it or not. Under the assumption that their favorite modder would create a mod, they bought the pack. In those instances it’s not unfair that they “have to go get a mod”. It’s their own choice. Players can’t complain about dust bunnies when it’s clear that they’re part of the gameplay. Some folks don’t like how the dust system is tuned and get a mod for that as well. Others don’t mind it. That’s again personal preference.
I don’t know what actually broke in the game due to the dust pack. That’s a different thing entirely.
@CAPTAIN_NXR7 Again I agree, it's just sad how much companies rely on patches these days. Before patches there used to be a lot more focus on the game being stable.
I feel like if people stop buying products on release day because of the very high possibilty of major bugs then that beats the purpose of a "launch day". Why launch the game when it has major bugs in it. I get it if they're small but that dust kit has only one new gameplay aspect and has like 4 different majot bugs or oversights.
The getting mods I meant was to fix certain bugs and oversights the kit came with, so like the game not spawning random debug items in your inventory for example. I don't mean mods to remove the bunnies or gameplay they don't like.
I just feel like it's not crazy for a person to assume that since a kit only has one small gameplay feature, it won't be as buggy. Nobody expected this kit to have so many things needed fixing. At least I didn't.