"JoAnne65;c-16393034" wrote:
@Erpe It’s really literally been said, that the life span of Sims 4 will be different (longer) than for its predecessors. I believe it was GuruDrake who said it, on these forums. It isn’t speculation, it’s based on a statement (it left me quite hopeless I must confess, because it even sounded like they were aiming for a ten year anniversary).
The only thing I have seen is a statement where they said (and I believe that it was Graham who said it) that we shouldn’t expect the same schedule for the packs as we have been used to. I understood that statement as we shouldn’t expect 2 EPs a year anymore but instead a GP and some SPs. They later then began to make two GPs each year instead of only one and I thought that the reason was that EA’s top had been very satisfied with the sales numbers for the first GPs and therefore had told the developers to increase the number of GPs. I also saw signs that EA’s top weren’t very satisfied with the sales numbers for EPs and therefore feared that they would tell the developers not to make any more EPs at all. But instead it seems that EA’s top decided to still make about one EP each year but only reduced the budget for that EP such that EPs now have less content than the EPs for TS2 and TS3 used to have. This make me still fear that EA’s top will decide not to make EPs at all for TS5 though.
I have been surprised that so many in the forum instead understood their statement about the changed schedule for packs as they would release packs for TS4 in several more years and it for me looked like many in the forum understood it that way just because they thought that EPs now must have become more difficult to make such that it would take more years to make all the usual EPs for TS4 too. But I just never have believed at all that EA’s top reduced the number of EPs for such a reason and I am sure that EPs for TS4 instead have been even easier and cheaper for EA to make because of their reduced content. So I am sure that the problem instead has been that EA can make 2 GPs for the same money as EA earlier used to make an EP. But 2 GPs likely give EA bigger income from their sales than just one EP does. Therefore I also don’t at all believe that EA again will increase the number of yearly EPs.
@ebuchala I don’t think that EA just stops making EPs when they aren’t profitable anymore because EA has never done that. Instead EA has always stopped already after 5 years even though EA easily could have sold many more EPs. Also EA could have made more EPs for the previous basegame even after EA had released the next basegame. But EA hasn’t done that either. So if we want to understand how EA plans things then we have to ask why not?
So I have conseidered this and I think that EA looks at things much more broadly instead of just considering possible profit for each pack. The problem for EA here must be that EA knows that if they release too many packs within too short time then many simmers will just stop buying everything and the packs will just steal customers from eachother. Therefore EA has decided not to release packs for more than a certain amount of money each year. But EA likely just add the prices for all packs and doesn’t count just EPs like so many in the forum seem to do.
So again I think that EA’s decision about when to release the next basegame is based just on the same considerations as earlier and the problem here mainly is that after 5 years it has become difficult for EA to attract new customers to the current game. Therefore EA has always planned to release a new basegame after almost exactly 5 years and I just don’t see why EA should have made different considerations now. Of course it is possible (at least theoretically) that EA considered to not release TS5 at all or not in the next many years or that EA has postponed the release of TS5 because the development of TS5 has given EA unexpected problems. I just don’t find that very likely.
