I don't want to be rude here. Why the sims 4 supposed to be a new gaming experience .It is still the fourth game of the franchise. Meaning people compare it to past games, and how things work. Because of its a sequel, and its fourth iteration.
Yeah what they seem to easily just forget is that: having a succesful franchise with lots of sequels, comes with great expectations, and the duty for the team to raise the bars. It's just silly.
@SimGuruDrake Bad idea to make another team for the development of the EP.Maybe EA will increase the number of developers on the EP? Maybe then you would make the content better,and faster!
But isn't that the point? You didn't actually notice that certain people moved off to other projects. This is something I responded about on twitter but for all of the panic that one little statement from a SimGuru caused you never would've noticed had they not mentioned that small movement. I have not once seen posts in these forums after any release of a new product where anyone is combing the credits and posting about who worked on what pack (though I'll probably see that more now since mentioning this.)
the point is, people did mention a development slowdown as time went on. If you gradually moved the developers over, this would most definitely explain it.
I wasn't comparing it to the previous iterations, I was only speaking about The Sims 4, the first EP came 7 months after the game release, the second one came 8 months after, and the third one 11 months, and then we was told by Grant (I said Graham earlier, my bad it was Grant) it would be around one per year now on, that's what I mean by we did notice a change, not a change compared to the iterations, but a change during the 2 years and half of The Sims 4.
I do know that it can change, I understand that The Sims 4 isn't the same than the iterations, and wouldn't always be exactly 7-8 months, but passing from 7-8 months to 11-12 months, that's a big difference in production/development, that's 4 months, it's none of my business if The Sims 4 doesn't follow any pattern with the packs, I'm just saying that we did notice a change in the production/development, you don't pass from 7-8 months to 11-12 months without a reason, that you guys couldn't share the why of it isn't the question here, I do understand at 100% that you guys aren't allowed to speak about future projects or how the teams are divided or not between packs or projects, I don't work at EA it's none of my business how the team(s) is/are managed, all I'm saying is we did notice a change, we maybe didn't know what it was exactly, but we noticed.
Maybe I'm wrong, maybe the slow down of EP have nothing to do with it, but whatever the reason is, the production/development of EP slowed down, I'm not saying it's wrong or not saying ''how dare you'', I'm not asking why or how, that's not of my business, but it did slow down, and we did noticed it.
Does it though? From what I've been able to tell you don't really seem interested in The Sims Mobile and most of your posts on The Sims 4 doesn't seem like you enjoy our latest PC offering either. That's not to say you aren't allowed to provide criticism or thought, I fully support one doing so regardless of whether it is positive or negative as long as it is constructive, but you don't seem all that concerned and really shouldn't be since I've made roughly 10+ comments on the subject (I really need to get that "SimGuru" tag implemented so everyone can easily find when we leave comments in a thread.) Whomever is working on The Sims Mobile didn't leave Maxis, they are still with us which is what is important.
From our perspective, The Sims 4 is having a very rocky development, is perceived as being one of the emptiest of the franchise and one of the buggiest. It feels like it's being cash-cowed. Now if you have no budget for it, you have no budget for it and that's that. However EA seems to have easily found the budget for a mobile game instead. So it is our business.
It is also our business that when we provide feedback for TS4, items don't get implemented into TS4, but just got implemented into The Sims Mobile. It feels like we're either getting things withheld on purpose to push us to play both games, or TS4 crew is ignoring its own game feedback threads and really it should be renamed to "feedback for The Sims Mobile".
So aggressive and very unprofessional, not the way to treat your clients @SimGuruDrake! You're talking to huge Sims fans that are worried and you treating them like a threat and taking it personally, I'm sorry but this is not the way to go!
The changes came slowly at first. Most didn't realize, or didn't care, and accepted them. They chose a comfortable life.
So aggressive and very unprofessional, not the way to treat your clients @SimGuruDrake! You're talking to huge Sims fans that are worried and you treating them like a threat and taking it personally, I'm sorry but this is not the way to go!
Lately I feel like we long time simmers are being treated so badly just because we feel neglected.. EA has a huge income from the Sims 4 like they said so themselves, yet the production is extremely slow and very limited. We can not build our own world, we do not have cast, open world is gone, we don't even have cars or the ability to build our own apartments. While the money we have spend @SimGuruDrake is above 300.- now, for some even more. We have a right to express our concerns. It's a shame we can't because you see us as complainers..
Also the statement about the whole ''We don't have a pattern!'' excuse.
Packs always released on Tuesdays, and it suddenly changed with that bowling pack. So yes, there WAS a Pattern. @SimGuruDrake trying to twist everything around is not going to work.
Also that statement @SimGuruLyndsay made a while ago about special life states in EP's. ''It was never meant to be a 'tradition'..'' yet it has always been the case since we can remember.
It's just not true. All I see this as excuses and trying to talk right what's wrong.
I have a feeling we forum users are not really The Sims' target audience anymore. We're also regarded as a minority. People who use online forums are usually older (20+) since younger people prefer other social media such as twitter or YouTube. And I *have a theory* that's the Sims new target: teens and influencers who make pretty YouTube videos.
In fact I think sometimes the game itself is a product of this time. It's kind of like Facebook or instagram: shallow and lacking depth. You can create the prettiest sims, and take gorgeous pictures. But the gameplay is still lacking in some important departments (such as customization and sims' personalities).
That being said other features such as toddlers or vampires are indeed fully fledged, amazing and add quite a lot of gameplay. So I hope this is an indication that they're trying to make things better and offer us more gameplay and a more sandbox experience. I hope I'm not wrong.
I have a feeling we forum users are not really The Sims' target audience anymore. We're also regarded as a minority. People who use online forums are usually older (20+) since younger people prefer other social media such as twitter or YouTube. And I *have a theory* that's the Sims new target: teens and influencers who make pretty YouTube videos.
In fact I think sometimes the game itself is a product of this time. It's kind of like Facebook or instagram: shallow and lacking depth. You can create the prettiest sims, and take gorgeous pictures. But the gameplay is still lacking in some important departments (such as customization and sims' personalities).
That being said other features such as toddlers or vampires are indeed fully fledged and amazing. So I hope this is an indication that they're trying to make things better and offer us more gameplay. I hope I'm not wrong.
It is. I remember the genius idea to decide to cut out fansites and go with YouTubers instead.
There are plenty of fansites investing lots of work and dedication into it, but they got the boot. It's all about Youtubers now.
And remember that time @SimGuruDrake was mad at the community/fansites posting the City Living leaks? What did she expect? Fansites knowing about leaks and not posting them? Someone internally leaked it, so that's the thing they should try to avoid, not punishing the community for every leak.
Also that whole 'Ask A Simguru' thing. It's on hold again (and I don't mind really, since I couldn't care less about their favorite food or color) but it's just punishing the community for their own mistakes. It's hilarious.
It is. I remember the genius idea to decide to cut out fansites and go with YouTubers instead.
There are plenty of fansites investing lots of work and dedication into it, but they got the boot. It's all about Youtubers now.
And remember that time @SimGuruDrake was mad at the community/fansites posting the City Living leaks? What did she expect? Fansites knowing about leaks and not posting them? Someone internally leaked it, so that's the thing they should try to avoid, not punishing the community for every leak.
Also that whole 'Ask A Simguru' thing. It's on hold again (and I don't mind really, since I couldn't care less about their favorite food or color) but it's just punishing the community for their own mistakes. It's hilarious.
I'm not going to link it, but there's a topic on all of these responses that are happening on SimsVIP right now called "Official Statement: “The Sims 4 is Doing Great”". The comments there are 10X angrier than we're here.
It is. I remember the genius idea to decide to cut out fansites and go with YouTubers instead.
There are plenty of fansites investing lots of work and dedication into it, but they got the boot. It's all about Youtubers now.
And remember that time @SimGuruDrake was mad at the community/fansites posting the City Living leaks? What did she expect? Fansites knowing about leaks and not posting them? Someone internally leaked it, so that's the thing they should try to avoid, not punishing the community for every leak.
Also that whole 'Ask A Simguru' thing. It's on hold again (and I don't mind really, since I couldn't care less about their favorite food or color) but it's just punishing the community for their own mistakes. It's hilarious.
I'm not going to link it, but there's a topic on all of these responses that are happening on SimsVIP right now called "Official Statement: “The Sims 4 is Doing Great”". The comments there are 10X angrier than we're here.
So aggressive and very unprofessional, not the way to treat your clients @SimGuruDrake! You're talking to huge Sims fans that are worried and you treating them like a threat and taking it personally, I'm sorry but this is not the way to go!
Lately I feel like we long time simmers are being treated so badly just because we feel neglected.. EA has a huge income from the Sims 4 like they said so themselves, yet the production is extremely slow and very limited. We can not build our own world, we do not have cast, open world is gone, we don't even have cars or the ability to build our own apartments. While the money we have spend @SimGuruDrake is above 300.- now, for some even more. We have a right to express our concerns. It's a shame we can't because you see us as complainers..
You know this is part of the reason I buy sims 4 stuff on sale.
However, regardless of intention, it's clear we cannot always rely on you to give us all the information we seek, especially when it might be bad or private information about the product.
Well, its either I tell you things and lose my job or I don't tell you things and keep my job...not a hard choice lol.
But really, you cannot realistically expect any employee of any company to tell you things that you are legally not privy to hearing. If there was something occurring internally that would severally affect the studio/development (like layoffs) we would absolutely tell you --case and point is a recent downsize within PopCap.
Yes! Thank you! This is my point, this is exactly what I've been trying to say. Rest of my post aside, this first snippet is the basis why I started posting in this thread to begin with.
I'm not shaming you or blaming you for this, nor do I even have any hopes of anything changing in EA/Maxis' policy about info and transparency. I merely want people to understand that what you just said is the reality of the situation.
Rumors Olympus was Sims 4 come around? Certain users post and say "well maybe there's proof they aren't and they have irrefutable proof they're not showing." I argue the Sims team has a direct interest in showing us such things, but that's ignored. There's a statement two Gurus were moved to the mobile team? Some users speculate if you guys hired Jesus and Bill Gates and just aren't telling us, again I find that rather out of touch because if there were outstandingly good news, you guys have an interest in telling us. And as you just said, amongst bad news or controversial stories, you and everyone else at EA/Maxis clearly has an interest in keeping quiet.
As I said, my point was less focused on criticizing you and EA/Maxis, and more focused on being critical of how this community so heavily relies on wishful thinking, even when we have no logical indication we should. I know you may not want to hear that, but Sims 4 has definitely had it's ups or downs here, and I do believe a good chunk of the fans are holding out hopes that "tomorrow will be better." My stance is that we should only be hoping for tomorrow if we have evidence of tomorrow being great, and all otherwise we should be letting complaints be heard loudly and clearly and aid the project via constructive criticism.....this is sometimes hard to do though when people feel overwhelmingly optimistic regardless of the news, simply because it's their default to feel that way. Both praise and criticism can be valuable feedback, but when we're hearing news of a lead animator moving and a new mobile game that does house developers that were on Sims 3's second EP team, yet people are somehow concluding "THIS IS GREAT NEWS FOR THE FUTURE OF SIMS 4," then it kinda crowds out the criticism parts at a time where I do feel criticism is the better choice of the two. I for one would've loved having that second EP team still around...
But isn't that the point? You didn't actually notice that certain people moved off to other projects. This is something I responded about on twitter but for all of the panic that one little statement from a SimGuru caused you never would've noticed had they not mentioned that small movement. I have not once seen posts in these forums after any release of a new product where anyone is combing the credits and posting about who worked on what pack (though I'll probably see that more now since mentioning this.)
My point with that is that....
Turn back the clock about five months and City Living releases. Quite frankly, I thought it looked terrible. My thought process at the time is not "wow this is terrible, I bet they moved workers without us knowing" because I have no evidence for it. My thought process is instead "wow this is terrible, I wonder what happened so that it wound up this bad."
We can only suspect when changes have been made, we cannot know definitively. You said that much yourself earlier in this thread, and had one of us correctly made an accusation of the team losing members when it did, you likely may have been (correctly) responding that we don't know this or know about the inner workings of the studio. We can't piece things together until we have some degree of evidence in front of us, but that does not neccesarily mean we aren't seeing negative impacts of certain decisions. Are we? I have no idea, but it's certainly possible and I don't think you've proven we aren't, either.
Does it though? From what I've been able to tell you don't really seem interested in The Sims Mobile and most of your posts on The Sims 4 doesn't seem like you enjoy our latest PC offering either. That's not to say you aren't allowed to provide criticism or thought, I fully support one doing so regardless of whether it is positive or negative as long as it is constructive, but you don't seem all that concerned and really shouldn't be since I've made roughly 10+ comments on the subject (I really need to get that "SimGuru" tag implemented so everyone can easily find when we leave comments in a thread.) Whomever is working on The Sims Mobile didn't leave Maxis, they are still with us which is what is important.
Well part of my concern, quite frankly, is we now have heavy evidence that Sims 4 and Olympus were one and the same. We've all long speculated certain problems with Sims 4's development (being revamped into singleplayer towards the end of development) but didn't have quite enough evidence. Now we kinda do, and while I've long suspected that was the case, for me it isn't a shocking revelation Sims 4 may have been Olympus, but rather a revelation about just how much this company hides info that shines a negative light on their product. For example, some users here have referred to mobile gaming as nothing but a cash cow, and I would be inclined to agree. The idea of Sims 4 mobile wasn't really previewed or discussed much, but rather sprung on us. Just the other day I actually was googling something and found an old thread from early 2015 where users who are still active now were showing concern Sims might become a mobile experience only.
Now obviously you've stated Sims 4 development is still going strong and I believe you. However, part of why I believe you is because I would've expected Sims 4 to last at LEAST another year and a half anyways, so I already expected that much. Am I concerned there may be a transition to mobile? Yes, and I have sound reasoning for that. Both of the last two attempts at a Sims mobile game more or less flopped, and I could link you posts from 2015 where users are stating they don't want to see Sims 4 on mobile. Despite all of this, EA/Maxis has been working on one (I'm going to assume development of this mobile game must've begun at least in early 2016) and kept it under wraps.
Clearly, for whatever reason, our feedback on this topic has amounted to absolutely nothing. Either those that despise mobile gaming are in a minority here, or profit is being prioritized over consumer satisfaction. Either way, it's very concerning for users such as myself. I do think I'm one of those people that's hopeful Sims 4 will improve with time. I thoroughly enjoyed vampires, I thought the Scientist career was solid....but overall I'm limited on the quantity of such features I love right now. For me to thoroughly enjoy the game, I need more, so of course I care about if more is coming. With a standard Sims game development lifespan...? No, it isn't coming and I should perhaps consider ducking out. Additionally, if EA/Maxis would spring things like the mobile development or other controversial stories on us, how am I supposed to trust that I'll get any warning when Sims 4 is about to end...? Hopefully you can see my problem. I find myself with a game I'm sort of "meh" about, where I find it has great potential but currently is only "meh" overall. My question is if that potential will be fulfilled, but unfortunately the only people with answers would gladly withhold info from me, so I need to think long and hard about if I want to ride this out.
Clearly, for whatever reason, our feedback on this topic has amounted to absolutely nothing. Either those that despise mobile gaming are in a minority here, or profit is being prioritized over consumer satisfaction.
It is so definitely this, EA doesn't care about consumers, their satisfaction or anything else... Otherwise they wouldn't have one of the worst customer support services in the known universe, all EA ever cares about is profit.
So aggressive and very unprofessional, not the way to treat your clients @SimGuruDrake! You're talking to huge Sims fans that are worried and you treating them like a threat and taking it personally, I'm sorry but this is not the way to go!
Lately I feel like we long time simmers are being treated so badly just because we feel neglected.. EA has a huge income from the Sims 4 like they said so themselves, yet the production is extremely slow and very limited. We can not build our own world, we do not have cast, open world is gone, we don't even have cars or the ability to build our own apartments. While the money we have spend @SimGuruDrake is above 300.- now, for some even more. We have a right to express our concerns. It's a shame we can't because you see us as complainers..
I really do feel like EA/Maxis would simply love for us "old heads" to just toss our hands up out of frustration and just move on. They want the "new" blood.
So.... lying down on a outdoor lounge chair near the pool is out of the budget? But hold on, here comes the new mobile game
That statement was about the development resources of a stuff pack. It has never, ever, not even once been said that Sims 4 can't have lounge chairs. Ever.
EA CREATOR NETWORK MEMBER — Want to be notified of patches, new Broken Mods threads, and urgent Sims 4 news? Follow me at https://www.patreon.com/luthienrising.
I have a feeling we forum users are not really The Sims' target audience anymore. We're also regarded as a minority. People who use online forums are usually older (20+) since younger people prefer other social media such as twitter or YouTube. And I *have a theory* that's the Sims new target: teens and influencers who make pretty YouTube videos.
In fact I think sometimes the game itself is a product of this time. It's kind of like Facebook or instagram: shallow and lacking depth. You can create the prettiest sims, and take gorgeous pictures. But the gameplay is still lacking in some important departments (such as customization and sims' personalities).
That being said other features such as toddlers or vampires are indeed fully fledged, amazing and add quite a lot of gameplay. So I hope this is an indication that they're trying to make things better and offer us more gameplay and a more sandbox experience. I hope I'm not wrong.
This is so true. EA/Maxis built their little Sims "empire" off of the money long time players have thrown at them for years. Not because we just up and decided that it would be an excellent thing to do with out money, but because we fell in love with The Sims, and for many others Sims 2. They built sold wonderful games, that sucked the player in, providing countless hours of enjoyment. The sims themselves were fleshed out, multi-dimensional, and well crafted. And the games allowed you to play how you wanted without being told or guided.
This is what built such a loyal fanbase and following. And many of use drew family, friends, co-workers, sometimes strangers into the franchise. I for one can say my kids play the Sims. They watched me as they grew - and are still growing up. My cousin plays, one of my best friends play. A few of my kids friends play. All because they either saw us playing, or because I talked up the game so much.
And yes, I know EA wants new customers, but forcing out and ignoring those who made the series what it is today is not the way to go. It's a sad shame and a slap in the face to all of us who have been here since the start. The reason why I believe there even has been improvements made such as the vampires and toddlers, etc. Was do to many speaking up, demanding for better quality. Those simmers who have just started playing via Sims 4 have no idea what came before it. What measuring stick the Sims 4 is up against. But we do. And because of our love for this series, we want ALL simmers to get the best, and expect the best.
But I know I'm going off track so I'm going to stop. lol
So aggressive and very unprofessional, not the way to treat your clients @SimGuruDrake! You're talking to huge Sims fans that are worried and you treating them like a threat and taking it personally, I'm sorry but this is not the way to go!
If my experience with how I tend to want to speak is any indication of accuracy here, I'd bet that Drake is intending to be blunt, not aggressive (e.g. what they were saying about not sugar-coating things). It's just blunt can be interpreted fairly easily as an aggressive tone without nonverbal language to show that there's more going on within the person than the way they are using their words.
But if it's any reassurance, I'm fairly confident that Drake's intention is not to be aggressive.
And personally, I will gladly take blunt community correspondence over attempts to mislead or say something without saying anything (which is something that some community personalities do in other games). I suspect that a lot of us are accustomed to community correspondence being something that *is* sugar-coated because that's the conventional way of doing it and so it can take some getting used to, to see a more blunt-form delivery.
Clearly, for whatever reason, our feedback on this topic has amounted to absolutely nothing. Either those that despise mobile gaming are in a minority here, or profit is being prioritized over consumer satisfaction.
It is so definitely this, EA doesn't care about consumers, their satisfaction or anything else... Otherwise they wouldn't have one of the worst customer support services in the known universe, all EA ever cares about is profit.
They're so greedy they put the Ferengi to shame.
Somewhere Quark is shaking his fist. lmbo I love that analogy!
Clearly, for whatever reason, our feedback on this topic has amounted to absolutely nothing. Either those that despise mobile gaming are in a minority here, or profit is being prioritized over consumer satisfaction.
It is so definitely this, EA doesn't care about consumers, their satisfaction or anything else... Otherwise they wouldn't have one of the worst customer support services in the known universe, all EA ever cares about is profit.
They're so greedy they put the Ferengi to shame.
I would definitely concede that I agree with you. EA has a horrendous track record. This isn't me stating my opinion or personal animosity, this is me acknowledging the dominant opinion around the web. Another user here has a signature highlighting that if you google EA, then google will suggest all kinds of negative searches. Just go type in "EA is" and look at what you get. I get "EA is trash," "EA is greedy," "EA is bad."
Whether EA feels they're actually greedy or trash or whatever is irrelevant. What does matter is consumer perception. You could be the most generous company in the world, but that doesn't matter if your customers have their backs to the wall and their hands clutch their money out of fear you'll stab them in the back or make a grab for their cash. You're not gonna make sales that way when people view you like that. Regardless of actual circumstances, EA/Maxis has a lot of work to do improving their image.
And that's precisely where we are. This little fiasco regarding the announcement of a mobile game (that houses developers who once worked on Sims 3's expansions under the second EP team) and confirmation that Sims 4 was once online and they never bothered to tell us...? This is honestly just another drop in the bucket in a rather storied history of ways EA has made fans distrust their intentions. This, for me, is not a shocking revelation, but moreso it's finally a chance to definitively highlight why EA is called greedy and why consumer trust in them is so low.
This mobile game is releasing against the wishes of many users, and we finally know EA/Maxis has been hiding the full story of Sims 4's development from us. Now they encourage us that all is well, Sims 4 is doing great and this new project will not interfere with the old. Okay. I'm not convinced lolololol. Can't imagine why!
Whether EA/Maxis feels I'm right or wrong or that my concerns are unjustified...? That's entirely irrelevant, and would only be relevant if I were an outlier; some crazy paranoid consumer whose thoughts do not resemble anyone else's. That's not the case, and clearly plenty of us are concerned and considering looking for the Exit. It's in their interest and it's on them to try and reassure us that all will be well.
I have a feeling we forum users are not really The Sims' target audience anymore. We're also regarded as a minority. People who use online forums are usually older (20+) since younger people prefer other social media such as twitter or YouTube. And I *have a theory* that's the Sims new target: teens and influencers who make pretty YouTube videos.
In fact I think sometimes the game itself is a product of this time. It's kind of like Facebook or instagram: shallow and lacking depth. You can create the prettiest sims, and take gorgeous pictures. But the gameplay is still lacking in some important departments (such as customization and sims' personalities).
That being said other features such as toddlers or vampires are indeed fully fledged and amazing. So I hope this is an indication that they're trying to make things better and offer us more gameplay. I hope I'm not wrong.
It is. I remember the genius idea to decide to cut out fansites and go with YouTubers instead.
There are plenty of fansites investing lots of work and dedication into it, but they got the boot. It's all about Youtubers now.
And remember that time @SimGuruDrake was mad at the community/fansites posting the City Living leaks? What did she expect? Fansites knowing about leaks and not posting them? Someone internally leaked it, so that's the thing they should try to avoid, not punishing the community for every leak.
Also that whole 'Ask A Simguru' thing. It's on hold again (and I don't mind really, since I couldn't care less about their favorite food or color) but it's just punishing the community for their own mistakes. It's hilarious.
oh its funny there are leaks about pets on youtube right now but i do not see any of the gurus saying anything about them.
I have a feeling we forum users are not really The Sims' target audience anymore. We're also regarded as a minority. People who use online forums are usually older (20+) since younger people prefer other social media such as twitter or YouTube. And I *have a theory* that's the Sims new target: teens and influencers who make pretty YouTube videos.
In fact I think sometimes the game itself is a product of this time. It's kind of like Facebook or instagram: shallow and lacking depth. You can create the prettiest sims, and take gorgeous pictures. But the gameplay is still lacking in some important departments (such as customization and sims' personalities).
That being said other features such as toddlers or vampires are indeed fully fledged and amazing. So I hope this is an indication that they're trying to make things better and offer us more gameplay. I hope I'm not wrong.
It is. I remember the genius idea to decide to cut out fansites and go with YouTubers instead.
There are plenty of fansites investing lots of work and dedication into it, but they got the boot. It's all about Youtubers now.
And remember that time @SimGuruDrake was mad at the community/fansites posting the City Living leaks? What did she expect? Fansites knowing about leaks and not posting them? Someone internally leaked it, so that's the thing they should try to avoid, not punishing the community for every leak.
Also that whole 'Ask A Simguru' thing. It's on hold again (and I don't mind really, since I couldn't care less about their favorite food or color) but it's just punishing the community for their own mistakes. It's hilarious.
oh its funny there are leaks about pets on youtube right now but i do not see any of the gurus saying anything about them.
We're talking about the leaked images about the game that came via emails to fansites. Not about coding in a game that everyone can find.
I have a feeling we forum users are not really The Sims' target audience anymore. We're also regarded as a minority. People who use online forums are usually older (20+) since younger people prefer other social media such as twitter or YouTube. And I *have a theory* that's the Sims new target: teens and influencers who make pretty YouTube videos.
In fact I think sometimes the game itself is a product of this time. It's kind of like Facebook or instagram: shallow and lacking depth. You can create the prettiest sims, and take gorgeous pictures. But the gameplay is still lacking in some important departments (such as customization and sims' personalities).
That being said other features such as toddlers or vampires are indeed fully fledged and amazing. So I hope this is an indication that they're trying to make things better and offer us more gameplay. I hope I'm not wrong.
It is. I remember the genius idea to decide to cut out fansites and go with YouTubers instead.
There are plenty of fansites investing lots of work and dedication into it, but they got the boot. It's all about Youtubers now.
And remember that time @SimGuruDrake was mad at the community/fansites posting the City Living leaks? What did she expect? Fansites knowing about leaks and not posting them? Someone internally leaked it, so that's the thing they should try to avoid, not punishing the community for every leak.
Also that whole 'Ask A Simguru' thing. It's on hold again (and I don't mind really, since I couldn't care less about their favorite food or color) but it's just punishing the community for their own mistakes. It's hilarious.
oh its funny there are leaks about pets on youtube right now but i do not see any of the gurus saying anything about them.
We're talking about the leaked images about the game that came via emails to fansites. Not about coding in a game that everyone can find.
well fair enough but i mean i feel like people should be looking into the code unless they work for ea. granted if they did we would not have mods and i feel like ea kind of frowns upon mods.
Comments
Yeah what they seem to easily just forget is that: having a succesful franchise with lots of sequels, comes with great expectations, and the duty for the team to raise the bars. It's just silly.
the point is, people did mention a development slowdown as time went on. If you gradually moved the developers over, this would most definitely explain it.
From our perspective, The Sims 4 is having a very rocky development, is perceived as being one of the emptiest of the franchise and one of the buggiest. It feels like it's being cash-cowed. Now if you have no budget for it, you have no budget for it and that's that. However EA seems to have easily found the budget for a mobile game instead. So it is our business.
It is also our business that when we provide feedback for TS4, items don't get implemented into TS4, but just got implemented into The Sims Mobile. It feels like we're either getting things withheld on purpose to push us to play both games, or TS4 crew is ignoring its own game feedback threads and really it should be renamed to "feedback for The Sims Mobile".
Lately I feel like we long time simmers are being treated so badly just because we feel neglected.. EA has a huge income from the Sims 4 like they said so themselves, yet the production is extremely slow and very limited. We can not build our own world, we do not have cast, open world is gone, we don't even have cars or the ability to build our own apartments. While the money we have spend @SimGuruDrake is above 300.- now, for some even more. We have a right to express our concerns. It's a shame we can't because you see us as complainers..
Packs always released on Tuesdays, and it suddenly changed with that bowling pack. So yes, there WAS a Pattern. @SimGuruDrake trying to twist everything around is not going to work.
Also that statement @SimGuruLyndsay made a while ago about special life states in EP's. ''It was never meant to be a 'tradition'..'' yet it has always been the case since we can remember.
It's just not true. All I see this as excuses and trying to talk right what's wrong.
In fact I think sometimes the game itself is a product of this time. It's kind of like Facebook or instagram: shallow and lacking depth. You can create the prettiest sims, and take gorgeous pictures. But the gameplay is still lacking in some important departments (such as customization and sims' personalities).
That being said other features such as toddlers or vampires are indeed fully fledged, amazing and add quite a lot of gameplay. So I hope this is an indication that they're trying to make things better and offer us more gameplay and a more sandbox experience. I hope I'm not wrong.
It is. I remember the genius idea to decide to cut out fansites and go with YouTubers instead.
There are plenty of fansites investing lots of work and dedication into it, but they got the boot. It's all about Youtubers now.
And remember that time @SimGuruDrake was mad at the community/fansites posting the City Living leaks? What did she expect? Fansites knowing about leaks and not posting them? Someone internally leaked it, so that's the thing they should try to avoid, not punishing the community for every leak.
Also that whole 'Ask A Simguru' thing. It's on hold again (and I don't mind really, since I couldn't care less about their favorite food or color) but it's just punishing the community for their own mistakes. It's hilarious.
I'm not going to link it, but there's a topic on all of these responses that are happening on SimsVIP right now called "Official Statement: “The Sims 4 is Doing Great”". The comments there are 10X angrier than we're here.
All I saw was a lot of vitriol against SGD.
You know this is part of the reason I buy sims 4 stuff on sale.
Yes! Thank you! This is my point, this is exactly what I've been trying to say. Rest of my post aside, this first snippet is the basis why I started posting in this thread to begin with.
I'm not shaming you or blaming you for this, nor do I even have any hopes of anything changing in EA/Maxis' policy about info and transparency. I merely want people to understand that what you just said is the reality of the situation.
Rumors Olympus was Sims 4 come around? Certain users post and say "well maybe there's proof they aren't and they have irrefutable proof they're not showing." I argue the Sims team has a direct interest in showing us such things, but that's ignored. There's a statement two Gurus were moved to the mobile team? Some users speculate if you guys hired Jesus and Bill Gates and just aren't telling us, again I find that rather out of touch because if there were outstandingly good news, you guys have an interest in telling us. And as you just said, amongst bad news or controversial stories, you and everyone else at EA/Maxis clearly has an interest in keeping quiet.
As I said, my point was less focused on criticizing you and EA/Maxis, and more focused on being critical of how this community so heavily relies on wishful thinking, even when we have no logical indication we should. I know you may not want to hear that, but Sims 4 has definitely had it's ups or downs here, and I do believe a good chunk of the fans are holding out hopes that "tomorrow will be better." My stance is that we should only be hoping for tomorrow if we have evidence of tomorrow being great, and all otherwise we should be letting complaints be heard loudly and clearly and aid the project via constructive criticism.....this is sometimes hard to do though when people feel overwhelmingly optimistic regardless of the news, simply because it's their default to feel that way. Both praise and criticism can be valuable feedback, but when we're hearing news of a lead animator moving and a new mobile game that does house developers that were on Sims 3's second EP team, yet people are somehow concluding "THIS IS GREAT NEWS FOR THE FUTURE OF SIMS 4," then it kinda crowds out the criticism parts at a time where I do feel criticism is the better choice of the two. I for one would've loved having that second EP team still around...
My point with that is that....
Turn back the clock about five months and City Living releases. Quite frankly, I thought it looked terrible. My thought process at the time is not "wow this is terrible, I bet they moved workers without us knowing" because I have no evidence for it. My thought process is instead "wow this is terrible, I wonder what happened so that it wound up this bad."
We can only suspect when changes have been made, we cannot know definitively. You said that much yourself earlier in this thread, and had one of us correctly made an accusation of the team losing members when it did, you likely may have been (correctly) responding that we don't know this or know about the inner workings of the studio. We can't piece things together until we have some degree of evidence in front of us, but that does not neccesarily mean we aren't seeing negative impacts of certain decisions. Are we? I have no idea, but it's certainly possible and I don't think you've proven we aren't, either.
Well part of my concern, quite frankly, is we now have heavy evidence that Sims 4 and Olympus were one and the same. We've all long speculated certain problems with Sims 4's development (being revamped into singleplayer towards the end of development) but didn't have quite enough evidence. Now we kinda do, and while I've long suspected that was the case, for me it isn't a shocking revelation Sims 4 may have been Olympus, but rather a revelation about just how much this company hides info that shines a negative light on their product. For example, some users here have referred to mobile gaming as nothing but a cash cow, and I would be inclined to agree. The idea of Sims 4 mobile wasn't really previewed or discussed much, but rather sprung on us. Just the other day I actually was googling something and found an old thread from early 2015 where users who are still active now were showing concern Sims might become a mobile experience only.
Now obviously you've stated Sims 4 development is still going strong and I believe you. However, part of why I believe you is because I would've expected Sims 4 to last at LEAST another year and a half anyways, so I already expected that much. Am I concerned there may be a transition to mobile? Yes, and I have sound reasoning for that. Both of the last two attempts at a Sims mobile game more or less flopped, and I could link you posts from 2015 where users are stating they don't want to see Sims 4 on mobile. Despite all of this, EA/Maxis has been working on one (I'm going to assume development of this mobile game must've begun at least in early 2016) and kept it under wraps.
Clearly, for whatever reason, our feedback on this topic has amounted to absolutely nothing. Either those that despise mobile gaming are in a minority here, or profit is being prioritized over consumer satisfaction. Either way, it's very concerning for users such as myself. I do think I'm one of those people that's hopeful Sims 4 will improve with time. I thoroughly enjoyed vampires, I thought the Scientist career was solid....but overall I'm limited on the quantity of such features I love right now. For me to thoroughly enjoy the game, I need more, so of course I care about if more is coming. With a standard Sims game development lifespan...? No, it isn't coming and I should perhaps consider ducking out. Additionally, if EA/Maxis would spring things like the mobile development or other controversial stories on us, how am I supposed to trust that I'll get any warning when Sims 4 is about to end...? Hopefully you can see my problem. I find myself with a game I'm sort of "meh" about, where I find it has great potential but currently is only "meh" overall. My question is if that potential will be fulfilled, but unfortunately the only people with answers would gladly withhold info from me, so I need to think long and hard about if I want to ride this out.
It is so definitely this, EA doesn't care about consumers, their satisfaction or anything else... Otherwise they wouldn't have one of the worst customer support services in the known universe, all EA ever cares about is profit.
They're so greedy they put the Ferengi to shame.
I really do feel like EA/Maxis would simply love for us "old heads" to just toss our hands up out of frustration and just move on. They want the "new" blood.
Anyways, back on track... major thanks for sharing the information with everyone @TWISTEDMEXICAN
That statement was about the development resources of a stuff pack. It has never, ever, not even once been said that Sims 4 can't have lounge chairs. Ever.
This is so true. EA/Maxis built their little Sims "empire" off of the money long time players have thrown at them for years. Not because we just up and decided that it would be an excellent thing to do with out money, but because we fell in love with The Sims, and for many others Sims 2. They built sold wonderful games, that sucked the player in, providing countless hours of enjoyment. The sims themselves were fleshed out, multi-dimensional, and well crafted. And the games allowed you to play how you wanted without being told or guided.
This is what built such a loyal fanbase and following. And many of use drew family, friends, co-workers, sometimes strangers into the franchise. I for one can say my kids play the Sims. They watched me as they grew - and are still growing up. My cousin plays, one of my best friends play. A few of my kids friends play. All because they either saw us playing, or because I talked up the game so much.
And yes, I know EA wants new customers, but forcing out and ignoring those who made the series what it is today is not the way to go. It's a sad shame and a slap in the face to all of us who have been here since the start. The reason why I believe there even has been improvements made such as the vampires and toddlers, etc. Was do to many speaking up, demanding for better quality. Those simmers who have just started playing via Sims 4 have no idea what came before it. What measuring stick the Sims 4 is up against. But we do. And because of our love for this series, we want ALL simmers to get the best, and expect the best.
But I know I'm going off track so I'm going to stop. lol
But if it's any reassurance, I'm fairly confident that Drake's intention is not to be aggressive.
And personally, I will gladly take blunt community correspondence over attempts to mislead or say something without saying anything (which is something that some community personalities do in other games). I suspect that a lot of us are accustomed to community correspondence being something that *is* sugar-coated because that's the conventional way of doing it and so it can take some getting used to, to see a more blunt-form delivery.
Somewhere Quark is shaking his fist. lmbo I love that analogy!
I would definitely concede that I agree with you. EA has a horrendous track record. This isn't me stating my opinion or personal animosity, this is me acknowledging the dominant opinion around the web. Another user here has a signature highlighting that if you google EA, then google will suggest all kinds of negative searches. Just go type in "EA is" and look at what you get. I get "EA is trash," "EA is greedy," "EA is bad."
Whether EA feels they're actually greedy or trash or whatever is irrelevant. What does matter is consumer perception. You could be the most generous company in the world, but that doesn't matter if your customers have their backs to the wall and their hands clutch their money out of fear you'll stab them in the back or make a grab for their cash. You're not gonna make sales that way when people view you like that. Regardless of actual circumstances, EA/Maxis has a lot of work to do improving their image.
And that's precisely where we are. This little fiasco regarding the announcement of a mobile game (that houses developers who once worked on Sims 3's expansions under the second EP team) and confirmation that Sims 4 was once online and they never bothered to tell us...? This is honestly just another drop in the bucket in a rather storied history of ways EA has made fans distrust their intentions. This, for me, is not a shocking revelation, but moreso it's finally a chance to definitively highlight why EA is called greedy and why consumer trust in them is so low.
This mobile game is releasing against the wishes of many users, and we finally know EA/Maxis has been hiding the full story of Sims 4's development from us. Now they encourage us that all is well, Sims 4 is doing great and this new project will not interfere with the old. Okay. I'm not convinced lolololol. Can't imagine why!
Whether EA/Maxis feels I'm right or wrong or that my concerns are unjustified...? That's entirely irrelevant, and would only be relevant if I were an outlier; some crazy paranoid consumer whose thoughts do not resemble anyone else's. That's not the case, and clearly plenty of us are concerned and considering looking for the Exit. It's in their interest and it's on them to try and reassure us that all will be well.
oh its funny there are leaks about pets on youtube right now but i do not see any of the gurus saying anything about them.
We're talking about the leaked images about the game that came via emails to fansites. Not about coding in a game that everyone can find.
well fair enough but i mean i feel like people should be looking into the code unless they work for ea. granted if they did we would not have mods and i feel like ea kind of frowns upon mods.