Do we no longer get free updates?

I hope we'll get another big update soon, it's been a year since the last big feature... And there is still so much to add! Like story progression, cars, police and robbers, firefighters and edititing terrain and other smaller things like more stairs, ladders, functional elevators, more hair colours.

"Sk8rblaze;c-16284174" wrote:

"stilljustme2;c-16283526" wrote:
We get free updates every month -- even if it's just for bug fixes that's still content.

We were told, explicitly, "new ways to play every month".

Bug fixes are not playing the game in new ways. Bug fixes are playing the game the way it is supposed to work.

Your link says " I assume that includes Stuff Packs, Game Packs, Expansion Packs and free updates. " ...well, they've certainly delivered on the stuff pack part...

"drake_mccarty;c-16283561" wrote:

"stilljustme2;c-16283542" wrote:

"Sk8rblaze;c-16282510" wrote:
I think it was more so The Sims 4 was rushed, and we had gotten these frequent updates because they were being worked on prior to release, and afterwards, too.

And, of course since it's EA, they created the illusion that all these patches were a good thing, when realistically, they were playing a huge game of catch up.

I'm pretty sure that was the case with pools, but I think they'd never considered adding ghosts till the community outcry over their absence. (Ghosts are still a bit problematic especially with the culling issues that finally got solved to a certain extent with the My Households and Other Households mechanism. I do still need MCCC in order to manage ghosts (plus aliens and vampires).

I figured ghosts were originally planned as DLC. I remember the unintentional leak from before launch (Ryan and Graham’s play through) where they went in the gallery and showed an ad for camping, spooky “stuff”, and a party pack (the first and last realized as Outdoor Retreat, and Luxury Party Stuff). I don’t think the ad was in reference to the spooky stuff pack that released over a year later, and ghosts were the very first content addition so it wouldn’t be too far out. Pools were also mentioned in a survey, so I could also see that feature too as something that was in development as a paid feature but was later released for free in response to backlash. Just speculation on my end though.

I still would like to see a pool pack with pool toys (floating rings, pool noodles and the like), plus a pool slide and water basketball.

@LeGardePourpre What does HCP stands for...? ;)

"stilljustme2;c-16283526" wrote:
We get free updates every month -- even if it's just for bug fixes that's still content.

Plenty of game companies do exactly the same without labeling it as "free content." It's called a monthly patch.
That's sort of the point. Sometimes these forums have a culture of gratitude, and it feels strange given plenty of other companies do the same and yet this culture of gratitude doesn't exist.

Team Fortress 2 is 10 years old now and still gets free major updates much larger than anything we've gotten. New maps, new gamemodes, new classes or weapons....you name it. Heck, it even gets trailer vids made "just because" and has it's own comicbook with a writer/illustrator staffed. The comicbook brings in absolutely zero profit, yet they do it just for fun. No one goes thanking them and acting like Valve is the best company ever because there's an understanding Valve does this to promote the game and encourage sales of things like hats, which do cost money. There's nothing wrong with that, but it's still weird if people were to have the attitude of us owing them gratitude for providing us with a service in the hope we give them money.

In the case of the Sims 4, it's even weirder because it's not a free comicbook "just because," but rather toddlers were taken from the base game, then given back, and somehow people react more positively than they would had we just gotten toddlers from the beginning.

"LeGardePourpre;c-16284374" wrote:

"@JoAnne65;c-16284293" wrote:
@LeGardePourpre What does HCP stands for...? ;)

Holiday Celebration Pack

Oh haha, thanks :)

"Sk8rblaze;c-16284174" wrote:

"stilljustme2;c-16283526" wrote:
We get free updates every month -- even if it's just for bug fixes that's still content.

We were told, explicitly, "new ways to play every month".

Bug fixes are not playing the game in new ways. Bug fixes are playing the game the way it is supposed to work.

We were told, explicitly, "new ways to play every month".

Yeah, and another whopper they told us from the very beginning: “YOU RULE!”

Personally, I'd like a free revamp of Ghosts.

"LeGardePourpre;c-16285051" wrote:
On August 5, 2015...

SimGuruRachel wrote:
That’s just a few of the new things we’ve introduced in the past year, and we’re gonna keep on growing The Sims 4 and giving you more ways to play with life every month!

Note: I don't see the "forever" word in this sentence. It was true during 3 years.

If there was to be a limit in time there, that should have been mentioned ;) Not mentioning it suggests it will be till the very end. Like with Sims 3 by the way, where the Store kept offering new stuff constantly (till the very end). So simmers were actually used to that.

"ChadSims2;c-16282458" wrote:
@SimGuruDrake has said that patching in content every month is over, so giving you more ways to play with life every month is done. At this point free content is random but now seems to be used to draw players back in before a bigger pack is released.

@ChadSims2 Have you got a source for that?