How many more years of TS4?

The devs have stated that The Sims 4 may have a longer development life than previous titles. However, nobody knows how long that life will be.

Hopfully just next year and then time to finally call it quits

Seeing that publishers milking franchises (Loot Boxes, Creation Club, Live Service), how the Sims 4 is chopped up into small sections that can be added on, and how long it takes to create an EP, The Sims 4 could live twice the life of a normal Sims run.

2024? :o

2018: Seasons?
2019: University?
2020: Farming?
2021:Vacation? We could get it chopped up in game packs. So... new theme?
2022:Supernatural? We could get it chopped up in game packs too. So... new theme?
2023: Future Technology?
2024: Superstar?

It could go on for a while.

"OEII1001;c-16132085" wrote:
The devs have stated that The Sims 4 may have a longer development life than previous titles. However, nobody knows how long that life will be.

I going ti bet 7

You know, players have been requesting a farming pack since the Sims 2 days. Maybe even Sims 1, but I wasn't part of the forums then. The Sims 4 could introduce that as a "new" pack (even though we've had some aspects of it before, but not a full-blown one). Horses and other livestock would fit into the theme as well. And we could have classic farmers, or modern ones with plenty of tools and agricultural innovations. I'm sure it would extend the game's life and draw in more players.

Sims 4 has only been out for 3 years. I believe it’s quite likely to go to 2020. If a new game were to come out, 2020 makes sense because it’s the 20th anniversary of the Sims series. Most assuredly it will not end next year. That would be wild. It should at the very least go to the end of 2019.

Since there's still so much missing from the game, my guess is that TS4 will continue until at least 2020. I can't see how the game could feel "finished" by 2019 or even earlier, considering there's only one EP per year.

Since many Simmers "invest" in this game, they'd be incredibly disappointed if the developers left it unfinished, regardless of how many of those same people are looking forward to TS5. What we've come to expect is that by the end of the lifespan of a Sims game, we have a "complete" (or complete enough) life simulator. Moving on too quickly to the next iteration of the game would affront a lot of people.

I'm also wondering - how many times can EA go through (basically) the same game? Yes, they're all different and both TS2 and TS3 offered some sort of progress. With TS4 (as much as I'm enjoying it), the game feels like it's stagnating. There's nothing really new about it other than CAS (and maybe emotions - but arguably moodlets in TS3 fulfilled that same function). Yes, many details are more fleshed out (restaurants, vampires, toddlers...). But this isn't really progress.

If anything, this attention to detail and quality over quantity makes me think the developers are trying to prolong the lifespan of this iteration as much as they can - until technology not only provides radically different approaches to a Sims game (such as VR which I'm sort of on the fence about) but is actually popular and affordable enough for casual gamers (which supposedly many Simmers are).

And lastly, it might be much more lucrative to keep releasing expansions to an existing game rather than developing a new game altogether (especially if content is broken down into smaller packs such as GPs).

I think it's got another three years at the ABSOLUTE minimum, and probably more, depending on how much EA is willing to put into DLC. DLC is very lucrative these days.

There's no point asking for Sims 5 while it's just going to be Sims 4-and-a-bit. In a few years it can be more than that.

"king_of_simcity7;c-16132946" wrote:
Hopfully just next year and then time to finally call it quits

Let's see how many simmers decide to support a sims 5 if they leave sims 4 unfinished without content like Seasons, Supernatural, University etc. How many people do you honestly think would support another series when they could just abandon that too?

Good thing the Devs have already said that they will keep making content for sims 4 until it stops making sense, and luckily sims 4 is selling very well.

You've got sims 3 to hold you over :)

400 million billion years. It will have everything in life by the time it's over. Every single detail, down to the last atom and blade of grass. The devs will have little dev babies and groom them to take over when they die to continue development, unabated. The legacy of the sims 4 will continue doggedly on until the sun explodes and the world turns to ash. So it is written, so it shall be.

When the ocean rises, the tides will roll in.

When the dust rises, the sand will roll in.

When the heat rises, people high up in the air will get frustratingly hot.

There is no punchline.