Pack/DLC Price Model

I’ll preface this by saying that I’m really excited for Business & Hobbies and I think the Small Business and Mentorship features are going to really seamlessly blend into the rest of my gameplay. I’ve been watching a lot of the early access streamers and I’m so happy to hear the positive feedback the pack is getting. 

AND, because of that excitement, I really wish all the Sims players could use these awesome new features without paying $40 and I think the fact that these new features are so overarching and expansive are the reason they should be free. This is where I’ll introduce my argument for changing the DLC packaging/pricing model. 

I think The Sims / EA should do-away with Expansion Packs (not the content, just the $40 packaging model) and instead do one major/large free base-game update per year and limit the paid DLC to more niche gameplay, hobbies, interests, cosmetics, aesthetics, etc. 

In this case, instead of Business & Hobbies Expansion Pack ($40), we could have: 

• Small Businesses & Mentorship base game update (free) (could include the world of Nordhaven and some of the Build stuff) 
• Tattoo Stuff Pack ($10)
• Pottery Stuff Pack ($10)
• B/B Kit ($5)
• CAS Kit ($5)

Yes, this is only $30 total, but that would open the customer base to folks that can’t spend $40 on an Expansion Pack but who might spend $5-$20 on a combination of cheaper packs. And even the folks that don’t buy any of those new packs might get re-invested in the game and be encouraged to spend money on different DLC. 

I know EA wants to make as much money as possible, and that offering free content seems opposed to that, BUT I think the advantages of make the large-scale gameplay expansion free would include:

• Keeping more players engaged for longer (and more likely to spend money on other DLC)
• Making the game easier to patch / update
• Building good faith / better relationships with players (desperately need)
• More players can buy more packs if they are cheaper

I also don’t think this would really need to change the content/pricing model of the rest of the DLC. I think the prices and content could largely stay the same. We could still have: 

• Game Packs ($20) for new Worlds, Occults, Careers, and collections of activities (like a music/bands pack, a game night pack, a sports pack, etc.)
• Stuff Packs ($10) for singular hobbies (Tattooing, Pottery, Sewing, etc.), Lot Types, or large scale B/B or CAS sets 
• Kits ($5) for small scale B/B and CAS sets

There are so many great features that I use so often I forget they are Expansions (Seasons, Get to Work, Get Together, Cats & Dogs, Growing Together, etc), and I really wish all players had access to them. 

And I know The Sims has done a lot of small base game updates here and there (especially for the 25th birthday), but in a big picture comparison to how much money the Sims charges for DLC and how much money so many players have spent on this game over the years, I think the free base game updates are bare-minimum and the players deserve a lot more.