I agree with many of the commenters before me. I don’t want this cart button in the game at all. I’ve played this game for years and have spent hundreds of dollars on it already. And I’m frustrated because so many packs are buggy or just don’t work. The shopping cart reminds me of how much I’ve invested in this game, and it reminds me of the disappointment I feel for many of the old and new packs.
For example, Get to Work is unplayable and filled with bugs that have existed for years. Dine Out is almost impossible to use in game. Wedding Stories has never worked from the moment it was released. And High School Years and For Rent face all sorts of technical problems that hinder gameplay. Yet nothing has been done to fix what already exists. I’m disappointed with the announcement of each new pack because I would prefer to see existing content fixed.
As for the packs I don’t have yet, the addition of a shopping cart does not incentivize me to purchase them because I know they’re broken and that I would only be disappointed. One of the packs I’ve been wanting lately is Outdoor Retreat, but given its age and long-standing bugs, I know that it won’t live up to my hopes. The presence of a shopping cart on my screen, pulsing or not, will not change that.
As for the newer packs that perhaps haven’t been selling as well, Sims 4 packs have developed the reputation of being half-finished upon release. We wait months to see if their problems are fixed before we feel comfortable buying them. The addition of the shopping cart button feels tone deaf because it doesn’t address why players aren’t buying these packs. Rather than getting to the heart of the matter, it makes us feel as if the only goal is money. To the dedicated fan base, this is insulting and hurtful.
Like many others, I ask that you remove the shopping cart from the game screen due to the message that it sends. We don’t need more advertising throughout our gameplay. We need existing game content—both base game and current packs—to be fixed in order to feel incentivized and excited to buy new content. Refreshing existing material and fixing bugs is more important to many of us than launching new, unfinished packs before they are ready. That is the key to increasing sales here. Thank you for your time and consideration.
