Forum Discussion
sundaysimmer
7 years agoNew Spectator
"Erpe;c-16207345" wrote:"sundaysimmer;c-16207252" wrote:"Simsfan99111;c-16207138" wrote:
The one ep a year thing is such a pain especially when your still waiting for something that really gets you excited and interests you.
Agreed.
I just don't get it - the demand for more than one EP per year is definitely there. So why not have two EP teams and produce more EPs? Simmers would be happier and EA would make more money. Am I missing something?
EA obviously disagrees about that and EA closed the Salt Lake Studio down because EA didn’t think that this studio was needed anymore even though they made 2 EPs for TS3 in 2012 and again 2 EPs for TS3 in 2013.
The reason for this can in my opinion only be that GPs and especially SPs are much cheaper to make and they sell just as well anyway. GPs were an experiment and in the beginning EA only released 1 GP each year. But now EA’s plan seems to be to release 2 GPs, 4 SPs and 1 EP each year. Also EA seems to be able to do that easily even though EA now only has the Redwood Studio and that studio is working on the Sims Mobile and likely also TS5 at the same time. So EA seems to have been able to reduce the size of the number of developers and still release about as much as earlier because all those SPs are so easy, fast and cheap to make.
Yes theoritically EA could release even more GPs and EPs each year. But if EA did that then sales numbers for the many SPs would probably go down so much that it wouldn’t be profitable for EA anyway.
You make a good point. I suppose it makes sense that more than one EP per year could make the sales numbers of GPs and SPs go down. But just reading forum posts about how many of us feel starved for content makes me think that might not necessarily be the case. Yes, there are more GPs released per year now than there used to be but it still doesn't seem like it's meeting the demand.
"icmnfrsh;c-16207375" wrote:"sundaysimmer;c-16207252" wrote:"Simsfan99111;c-16207138" wrote:
The one ep a year thing is such a pain especially when your still waiting for something that really gets you excited and interests you.
Agreed.
I just don't get it - the demand for more than one EP per year is definitely there. So why not have two EP teams and produce more EPs? Simmers would be happier and EA would make more money. Am I missing something?
Agreed.
I hear the problem with the Salt Lake and Redwood teams in Sims 3 was that it was harder to have inter-pack connectivity/gameplay because two packs were developed in parallel without much coordination.
But why not have multiple teams working closely together to churn out 2 packs a year? Just have a few leads oversee both teams to make sure everything is coordinated smoothly.
The game packs are a welcome addition in terms of gameplay, but two game packs don't have as much content as an EP IMO. They're focused, which is good, but not exactly a replacement for an EP. An EP should be more than the sum of its parts, so apart from offering a wide variety of content, they all need to be tightly integrated to form a cohesive whole.
That's exactly what I think. GPs are great since they allow players to pick what they want in their games rather than having to spend more money on content they don't necessarily want. But for overall progression of the game (if that makes sense), more frequent releases of EPs are needed. (At least that's what it feels like for me. I realize that all of us feel differently about just how much DLC is appropriate/needed.)
"icmnfrsh;c-16207420" wrote:"Writin_Reg;c-16207402" wrote:"icmnfrsh;c-16207375" wrote:"sundaysimmer;c-16207252" wrote:"Simsfan99111;c-16207138" wrote:
The one ep a year thing is such a pain especially when your still waiting for something that really gets you excited and interests you.
Agreed.
I just don't get it - the demand for more than one EP per year is definitely there. So why not have two EP teams and produce more EPs? Simmers would be happier and EA would make more money. Am I missing something?
Agreed.
I hear the problem with the Salt Lake and Redwood teams in Sims 3 was that it was harder to have inter-pack connectivity/gameplay because two packs were developed in parallel without much coordination.
But why not have multiple teams working closely together to churn out 2 packs a year? Just have a few leads oversee both teams to make sure everything is coordinated smoothly.
The game packs are a welcome addition in terms of gameplay, but two game packs don't have as much content as an EP IMO. They're focused, which is good, but not exactly a replacement for an EP. An EP should be more than the sum of its parts, so apart from offering a wide variety of content, they all need to be tightly integrated to form a cohesive whole.
Ep teams involve about 40 people - you need the experienced people, the matching equipment and the space to add that many more people. It's not an easy task. Maxis is already a big studio. If it was an easy thing to do, they would not have set up a second studio in another state even just to add that other ep team, nor would they done it had it not been for the store team already working there.
That's also true. And I know that you can't just introduce tons of inexperienced people in the middle of a software project due to the overhead. But if The Sims 4 truly is doing well in sales, it would be nice if they could gradually expand the team and resources to give it the attention it deserves. Whether that's fixing up all the bugs without introducing too many side effects or adding more content, I'm fine with either.
That's what I don't understand. Granted, my perspective is based on this forum, which of course doesn't represent the entire community. So the demand for more EPs might not actually be there.
What it comes down to is that I wish EA wasn't as secretive about their business decisions as they are. Communication is everything.
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