Has anyone found any leaks (retail listings, code, etc) relating to any new packs?

"Babykittyjade;c-17400455" wrote:

"M1ss_Plumbum;c-17400113" wrote:
Sim Guru Ninja just got a new cover picture on his Twitter profile. It shows his sim self but in a wierd position. At first glance it just looks like his sim is in Strangerville being wierd but when you look at the background you can see some dark purble flowers I haven't seen in the BB catalog. What do you guys think? May be a hint of some sort.

Omg I just saw it!! I guess it could be from strangerville but why would he change it to that suddenly? The background didn't look like strangerville. Not to me anyways. Hmmmmmmm...... I could be reaching but i agree they do toss out hints here and there. Honestly though if not zombies I don't have a clue of what it could mean ???

Those are sims that are infected with that plant virus. That's not new.

"Babykittyjade;c-17400455" wrote:

"M1ss_Plumbum;c-17400113" wrote:
Sim Guru Ninja just got a new cover picture on his Twitter profile. It shows his sim self but in a wierd position. At first glance it just looks like his sim is in Strangerville being wierd but when you look at the background you can see some dark purble flowers I haven't seen in the BB catalog. What do you guys think? May be a hint of some sort.

Omg I just saw it!! I guess it could be from strangerville but why would he change it to that suddenly? The background didn't look like strangerville. Not to me anyways. Hmmmmmmm...... I could be reaching but i agree they do toss out hints here and there. Honestly though if not zombies I don't have a clue of what it could mean ???

It's definitely Strangerville, looking away from town towards the river.

"M1ss_Plumbum;c-17400098" wrote:

"darrenfroggy;c-17400080" wrote:

"M1ss_Plumbum;c-17400065" wrote:

"Erja888;c-17399452" wrote:
I was hoping for a February GP because the silence until the June EP will be very long otherwise...
(Nothing for March and April because of the fiscal year ending/beginning and they have to get their numbers together. However, I can totally understand that.)

Can someone please explain me (and potential others) what "fiscal year" means. Everybody says it, but I still don't know what it is.

I don't understand why they won't release anything in those months.

It's a year that doesn't necessarily start on January 1st (it can be April, July, or October 1st - the beginning of a quarter) and it's used for budget purposes.
So companies will draw up budgets for, for example, the year between April 1 2020 and March 31 2021 and report their finances for that period instead of January to December.

Since in March they're working on a budget for the upcoming year and in April they're totaling the income from the previous one, keeping those clear of any new releases makes the number crunching easier.

Thanks for the explanation :).

I don't think it's a logic I agree on though. Many other small and big companies sell stuff all the time every day all year around and they have no problems making statistics about what have been sold at any given time. It's just a matter of gathering data and analyzing data and I'm pretty sure EA has a team that only does that. It shouldn't effect game developing or marketing because other teams are working on that.

Right - most companies close on December 31st, but that's right at the end of the biggest retail season, and all sorts of things are released in November to take advantage of that. However, there's often a big push to get stuff out for end-of-year, whenever it might be, so it would make sense to get something out in February that will impact the books in March. They might also want to focus their publicity on the overall earnings in April (CEO announcements) rather than on individual games.

"invisiblgirl;c-17400623" wrote:

"M1ss_Plumbum;c-17400098" wrote:

"darrenfroggy;c-17400080" wrote:

"M1ss_Plumbum;c-17400065" wrote:

"Erja888;c-17399452" wrote:
I was hoping for a February GP because the silence until the June EP will be very long otherwise...
(Nothing for March and April because of the fiscal year ending/beginning and they have to get their numbers together. However, I can totally understand that.)

Can someone please explain me (and potential others) what "fiscal year" means. Everybody says it, but I still don't know what it is.

I don't understand why they won't release anything in those months.

It's a year that doesn't necessarily start on January 1st (it can be April, July, or October 1st - the beginning of a quarter) and it's used for budget purposes.
So companies will draw up budgets for, for example, the year between April 1 2020 and March 31 2021 and report their finances for that period instead of January to December.

Since in March they're working on a budget for the upcoming year and in April they're totaling the income from the previous one, keeping those clear of any new releases makes the number crunching easier.

Thanks for the explanation :).

I don't think it's a logic I agree on though. Many other small and big companies sell stuff all the time every day all year around and they have no problems making statistics about what have been sold at any given time. It's just a matter of gathering data and analyzing data and I'm pretty sure EA has a team that only does that. It shouldn't effect game developing or marketing because other teams are working on that.

Right - most companies close on December 31st, but that's right at the end of the biggest retail season, and all sorts of things are released in November to take advantage of that. However, there's often a big push to get stuff out for end-of-year, whenever it might be, so it would make sense to get something out in February that will impact the books in March. They might also want to focus their publicity on the overall earnings in April (CEO announcements) rather than on individual games.

I'm afraid if we don't get a pack in February it will be May before the first gp comes out then we'll get the expansion in June. Prehaps though the free content in updates will make up for it in March or April. We'll see but even then I'll be surprised if we get anything big like cars or a baby update.

After all the hype about the new, exciting, unexpected dlc they're working on for 2020, one would think they'd want to build on that and release something better than what we got a week ago. I was stunned when I read the patch notes. And my first thought was something the teams were working on didn't make it into that update. Why else was it so small and disappointing? The backlash from this community must have been difficult to see, and not to have an explanation readily available probably bothered all the teams involved. They can't tell us why it happened, or what is coming next. The only way to fix this mess would be to leak a small bit of news about an upcoming pack, and get that de-railed hype train back on track. Any momentum EA had going forward into the new year stopped as soon as the February update went live. EA has to make a tough decision. It can release a bit of real news, or allow its foreign-based outlets to 'leak' a sneak peek of new dlc. The new stuff pack was released in January, we usually see an EP in June, so the next pack should be a GP set to be released in March or April. And I expect something about it will be leaked within two weeks. If we don't hear anything by then, hang on for a large update in March that will severely impact our games. Because that's how EA rolls.

@M1ss_Plumbum,

Fiscal year is based on your business start date. So if your company opened its doors in April 1st of 2017. Your fiscal year would end March 31st, 2018. Normally referred to as FY2017-2018 in that case. And each FY has four quarters comprising three months each. In this example would be Apr-Jun 2017 FY 1st Quarter, Jul-Sep 2017 FY 2 Quarter; Oct-Dec FY 3 Quarter; jan-Mar FY End 4th Quarter.

It’s confusing if you’re a) not in business for yourself or b) not an accountant or c) not a university business major.

"catloverplayer;c-17400960" wrote:

"invisiblgirl;c-17400623" wrote:

"M1ss_Plumbum;c-17400098" wrote:

"darrenfroggy;c-17400080" wrote:

"M1ss_Plumbum;c-17400065" wrote:

"Erja888;c-17399452" wrote:
I was hoping for a February GP because the silence until the June EP will be very long otherwise...
(Nothing for March and April because of the fiscal year ending/beginning and they have to get their numbers together. However, I can totally understand that.)

Can someone please explain me (and potential others) what "fiscal year" means. Everybody says it, but I still don't know what it is.

I don't understand why they won't release anything in those months.

It's a year that doesn't necessarily start on January 1st (it can be April, July, or October 1st - the beginning of a quarter) and it's used for budget purposes.
So companies will draw up budgets for, for example, the year between April 1 2020 and March 31 2021 and report their finances for that period instead of January to December.

Since in March they're working on a budget for the upcoming year and in April they're totaling the income from the previous one, keeping those clear of any new releases makes the number crunching easier.

Thanks for the explanation :).

I don't think it's a logic I agree on though. Many other small and big companies sell stuff all the time every day all year around and they have no problems making statistics about what have been sold at any given time. It's just a matter of gathering data and analyzing data and I'm pretty sure EA has a team that only does that. It shouldn't effect game developing or marketing because other teams are working on that.

Right - most companies close on December 31st, but that's right at the end of the biggest retail season, and all sorts of things are released in November to take advantage of that. However, there's often a big push to get stuff out for end-of-year, whenever it might be, so it would make sense to get something out in February that will impact the books in March. They might also want to focus their publicity on the overall earnings in April (CEO announcements) rather than on individual games.

I'm afraid if we don't get a pack in February it will be May before the first gp comes out then we'll get the expansion in June. Prehaps though the free content in updates will make up for it in March or April. We'll see but even then I'll be surprised if we get anything big like cars or a baby update.

well the more time they get to do there work the better @catloverplayer
but I would still like to know what the pack is

"Nikkei_Simmer;c-17401665" wrote:
@M1ss_Plumbum,

Fiscal year is based on your business start date. So if your company opened its doors in April 1st of 2017. Your fiscal year would end March 31st, 2018. Normally referred to as FY2017-2018 in that case. And each FY has four quarters comprising three months each. In this example would be Apr-Jun 2017 FY 1st Quarter, Jul-Sep 2017 FY 2 Quarter; Oct-Dec FY 3 Quarter; jan-Mar FY End 4th Quarter.

It’s confusing if you’re a) not in business for yourself or b) not an accountant or c) not a university business major.

Not necessarily - many start-ups conform to the December 31st year-end (except in a few countries). Certainly, not all businesses started on January 1st (which would be a terrible time for many companies to open their doors, at least in the US and Europe).

"M1ss_Plumbum;c-17400065" wrote:

"Erja888;c-17399452" wrote:
I was hoping for a February GP because the silence until the June EP will be very long otherwise...
(Nothing for March and April because of the fiscal year ending/beginning and they have to get their numbers together. However, I can totally understand that.)

Can someone please explain me (and potential others) what "fiscal year" means. Everybody says it, but I still don't know what it is.

I don't understand why they won't release anything in those months.

Companies have budgets. They don't run the calendar from Jan.-Dec. Where I used to work my company's fiscal calendar was Oct through the next Sept. Maxis' calendar is April to the next March. So, when people mention the fiscal calendar for 2020 they mean April (2020) through the following (2021) March.

Even If there have not been any packs in April before, there have been packs released in March. Get to Work, Bowling Night Stuff and My First Pet Stuff have all been released in March.