In-Game Pulsating Popup Packs Ad: Community Reacts

I am glad for all you PC players that mods are being released.

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.

@LeucosiaX Thanks for mentioning that Twisted Mexi's Better Build Buy mod removes the button. I already use and love that mod so that makes me happier. :smile: I was worried when the first mod that removed it conflicted with the BBB mod.

@EA_Cade I just wanted to thank you for treating us with such respect and kindness. I'm sure managing this community and being a liaison between us and the company is not an easy job. I was just telling my husband last night how impressed I've been with you in this position. I've been around long enough to have experienced a few others in this role, and I have liked your style the best.

Mods help, for those of us that use them, so I'm happy to see some getting made. But it is extremely frustrating if we need to resort to a mod to remove this "feature". And it's impossible for a lot of players who can't use mods. I am really hoping this gets resolved by EA simply removing that button. Unlike many other features, this one does not seem to have disagreement among players. I have not seen any player yet saying "I love this button and I'm so glad they added it". It really appears unanimous that it is unwanted.

I personally do not want any icon on my user interface that draws attention to itself. I was already very annoyed when the sparkle light was added to the calendar button a few patches back. But that one, at least, I thought some players might find useful since it seemed to come on when new events added to the calendar. And it is easy for me to block with an index card propped up against the monitor when I can't seem to get it to shut off by opening the calendar (sometimes it comes right back on again). I want the calendar button to not sparkle, but I have been willing to tolerate it. So I never expressed my irritation in public.

But I don't feel the same way about the marketing button. It is an unnecessary button, unwanted by all players who have expressed an opinion so far, and it is at the top of the screen where it is hard to physically block from view the way I do with the calendar button.

I mention the calendar button's added animation, because I am wondering if that was meant to be a test case, to see if we would object to a button that has a flashing light animation. Perhaps we didn't say much about it. But not everything that is felt gets said.

......I don't really mind it, personally. 'Tis not in my game, but, if it were, I'd probably just ignore it. :)

I turned on my PlayStation and the update automatically installed. I do have a cart, but it does not pulse and there is no light on it. If I click on the cart, it tells me that I own all the packs, but that there might be more. I do not own the new Crystal Creations, and I do not own all the kits, but I own all of the older EPs, GPs and SPs.

What is in my game TONIGHT will not make me sick. I don't know what my game would have been like before the hotfix, and I do not know what it will be like tomorrow, but TONIGHT on PlayStation, owning the packs listed above, my game will not make me sick.

I don't even understand why this was implemented. I've never heard a player say "Wow, I wish there were in game ads to help me purchase more DLC."

Like, no one on Earth would ever have any use or desire for this feature in the first place. No one is asking for this, so what even is the point of having it?

"LeucosiaX;c-18357332" wrote:
There is also a mod by SimMattically.https://www.patreon.com/posts/hot-fix-remove-99382396

I did the patch, installed the pack, installed this mod and put my updated mods back in. Either the mod to remove the cart is working or I never had it to start with, because I don’t have any sign of a cart. I have one mod that’s throwing an LE at start up, but that’s it. I haven’t had time to do much playing but hopefully tomorrow I’ll see if everything is working. Fingers crossed.

"mightysprite;c-18357312" wrote:
@EA_Cade Thank you for compiling all of our feedback from multiple places and passing it on to EA, it must be a huge job, and thank you also for continuing to communicate with honesty and courtesy in both directions.

TS4 was a game for purchase for a long time and then it became essentially free-with-ads.
I use some free-with-ads services and listen to some free-with-ads podcasts. The ads are annoying but I get it about why they're there and accept that my attention to the ads is the cost of using the service.
I can see why EA wants to adjust to a free-with-ads model now that the game is free to download.

However:
1. The game wasn't made free because of being a free-with-ads game. It was made free largely because of its age. Kinda like the way I bought TS2 with lots of expansions from the Apple store in the early days of the pandemic for like $34.99. It cost me way less than it would have if I'd bought TS2 and the expansions at release. In the land of software, an older product is a less valuable product.
2. Many many players already paid for the game before it became free. Those free-with-ads services often come with a purchase option, where you can pay money to eliminate the ads. At the very least, the shopping cart button should be completely eliminated for those players. Buying the game should buy the ability to remove the cart.

I was thinking this morning of exactly these points myself, @mightysprite, but you've expressed them so much better than I ever could.

So for new players who download the base game for free, fine - let them have the shopping trolley button in their game. They're getting a basic but good game for free. We had to spend money for that experience, so those players can't really complain about having this form of in-game ad in their game.

But as soon as any player starts spending money on the game (so, for all of us who bought the game originally, and for anyone who gets the base game for free but then buys any form of DLC), that button should be removed for them. As you say, that's what happens with every other free-to-play game: as soon as you spend money, you get the 'privilege' of having in-game ads removed.

"Katofhyrule12;c-18357387" wrote:
I turned on my PlayStation and the update automatically installed. I do have a cart, but it does not pulse and there is no light on it. If I click on the cart, it tells me that I own all the packs, but that there might be more. I do not own the new Crystal Creations, and I do not own all the kits, but I own all of the older EPs, GPs and SPs.

What is in my game TONIGHT will not make me sick. I don't know what my game would have been like before the hotfix, and I do not know what it will be like tomorrow, but TONIGHT on PlayStation, owning the packs listed above, my game will not make me sick.

My experience so far with the light as well as the pulse was that it was very inconsistent. I built for a while yesterday and there was no light. Then I restarted the game later and there was a light.

"FreddyFox1234;c-18357428" wrote:

"mightysprite;c-18357312" wrote:
@EA_Cade Thank you for compiling all of our feedback from multiple places and passing it on to EA, it must be a huge job, and thank you also for continuing to communicate with honesty and courtesy in both directions.

TS4 was a game for purchase for a long time and then it became essentially free-with-ads.
I use some free-with-ads services and listen to some free-with-ads podcasts. The ads are annoying but I get it about why they're there and accept that my attention to the ads is the cost of using the service.
I can see why EA wants to adjust to a free-with-ads model now that the game is free to download.

However:
1. The game wasn't made free because of being a free-with-ads game. It was made free largely because of its age. Kinda like the way I bought TS2 with lots of expansions from the Apple store in the early days of the pandemic for like $34.99. It cost me way less than it would have if I'd bought TS2 and the expansions at release. In the land of software, an older product is a less valuable product.
2. Many many players already paid for the game before it became free. Those free-with-ads services often come with a purchase option, where you can pay money to eliminate the ads. At the very least, the shopping cart button should be completely eliminated for those players. Buying the game should buy the ability to remove the cart.

I was thinking this morning of exactly these points myself, @mightysprite, but you've expressed them so much better than I ever could.

So for new players who download the base game for free, fine - let them have the shopping trolley button in their game. They're getting a basic but good game for free. We had to spend money for that experience, so those players can't really complain about having this form of in-game ad in their game.

But as soon as any player starts spending money on the game (so, for all of us who bought the game originally, and for anyone who gets the base game for free but then buys any form of DLC), that button should be removed for them. As you say, that's what happens with every other free-to-play game: as soon as you spend money, you get the 'privilege' of having in-game ads removed.

Having that button removed after purchasing DLC... I don't know how I feel about that. From one side it means recognition of those who already invested in the game. From the other side it would reward EA for bugging people with a button until they shell out cash.
Lilsimsie showed in her video she was getting the cart despite owning everything as a game changer. I think that was before the emergency patch. But what exactly were they trying to sell to her if she already had everything? This makes me feel DLC we bought is not factored in at the moment. And if they do so, how high should they raise the bar? A certain amount of cash spent, a certain percentage of DLC? I really hope the cart will be removed or at the very least stop blinking/flashing/moving in any way.

I took a long sims break during the sims 3 era. Afterwards I started playing sims free play but I hit a constant wall where I had to buy gems to complete stuff, in other words microtransaction. I chose to buy sims 4 Base game. I chose to pay once upfront and the be able to use that product (and afterwards bought DLC). But I feel like sims 4 is now slowly becoming more and more like a mobile game. I have seen the home screen go from a fun screenshot to filled with adds, I have experienced the introduction of pop ups on the home screen, and now an in game shopping cart that is designed to be impossible to ignore. Where will this end?

@EAcade thanks for all your patience. I know it's part of your job but I know from experience that having a job that consists (even partly) of hearing and passing on complaints isn't fun.