New Stuff Pack Coming

"DeservedCriticism;c-16363759" wrote:

"drake_mccarty;c-16363723" wrote:
I don’t think this stuff pack will rely on the C&D expansion at all. Basically it’s a stuff pack just like every other stuff pack, but if you have C&D you will have access to 1 (probably) new costume for cats and dogs.

They aren’t going to develop a DLC that heavily requires another DLC. When they do crossover content it’s not going to be anything that takes away from the actual pack they are releasing.

Here's my conspiracy theory:

I think when Sims 4 released, it ran into some serious bumps in development. It probably did see major overhauls and changes due to SimCity bombing, and I think that seriously hurt development. Sims 4's release was not good, we all know that. But of course, this is the Sims. This is a Top 10 Video Game Franchise, and thus it's not really something that could die off that easy. Of course the fans bought, of course the staff could secure funds for expansion packs and such, of course fans wanted to love it and give it time to succeed, and of course it still had a chance.

Time goes on and they release content for it, but there's a pattern of it being less and less. GTW for example only matches Showtime in career count, City Living pales compared to Bridgeport as does apartment customization vs. both 2 and 3, Cats & Dogs has no small pets or horses or things for pets to do, etc etc etc....

And then something unexpected happened: people bought anyways. Sales didn't take a hit, they remained about that what EA initially wanted from the franchise.

I would not be surprised if Sims 4 received a smaller development budget due to a rocky release. Perhaps EA wasn't sure what to make of it, so they "bet" conservatively on the title and only provided some decent funding instead of the massive backing that Sims 2 and 3 got. Despite their comparatively small bet, sales did not disappoint and the franchise carried on as normal. Suddenly they're interested. Not interested in upping the development budget though; why would they when they're already making money? No, suddenly they're interested because they're realizing they can actively cut the budget and still make the same profit. Thus, Sims 4 continues forward exactly as it has since day 1, and EPs etc continue to feel like something's missing. There's likely no plans to increase the budget of the game. If anything? There's probably plans to decrease. Why? Because clearly it worked in their favor, so who's to say how low they can go before people push back?

At this point, I would not be surprised if parts of Sims 4 are seen as an experiment. I would not be surprised if the revenue from the game surprised them and made them rethink how much they actually have to invest in the game to get it to sell. I also would not be surprised if it's encouraged them to test the waters in other areas too.

I currently wonder if this stuff pack is exactly that kind of test. Perhaps they wanna test the waters and see what happens when they blatantly release a Stuff Pack that demands another EP for the full experience, and simultaneously, it blatantly has features we used to expect be included in the EP. Will the public freak out or will it not? If we freak out, they probably have a nice apology ready about how they won't do that again due to feedback and there's NOTHING MORE IMPORTANT TO THEM THAN THE FEEDBACK OF THE FANS!!!, and there will be no harm done to their business. People will accept the apology and breathe a sigh of relief knowing it won't happen again, and sales continue as usual. If we don't freak out, that opens the flood gates and this will not be the last pack of it's kind. I absolutely believe they may be testing the waters.

I mean within this thread, we already see the excuses. Go check the threads and check the attitude, pay attention to how attitudes change over time. Yesterday it started as pure excitement, then people examined the "evidence" and realized it heavily seems like a paid stuff pack that demands Cats and Dogs. (to some degree) People argued "they'd never do that, it's definitely free." Now look at this thread, and we see arguments instead justifying if they do this, saying it makes perfect sense due to a variety of reasons and they're eager to buy. Within one day, people have gone through the stages of grief, starting with denial and now hitting acceptance where they readily defend this potential practice before we even have confirmation it's what's happening. The mere fact this is occurring here is evidence that there is 100% reason to want to test the waters and see what they can get away with. Why? Because they might get away with it!

I eagerly await this pack just to see what happens. I really do wonder if it's free or not, though at the moment I'm leading towards paid. The word choice of saying "stuff pack" explicitly is odd if it's supposed to be free content, cause certainly they could've anticipated the speculation and negative reactions. If it's paid? I honestly have no idea if we as a collective community will flip out or if everyone's gonna buy it and explain why the practice is perfectly acceptable in it's defense. I do know though that EA is gonna be paying careful attention to reactions so they can size this market up and see just how much more profit is possible.

From memory, TS4 was in development and nearing release around the time EA was reporting losses across the entire company. Before it was released, producers were being laid off. I don't necessarily think the initial reception was wholly responsible for the game's budget moving forward, and if budgets were reconsidered, there's as much reason to believe that it had to do with the performance of the company at the time. Further, I believe GTW and OR were already in development prior to S4's release, and OR can be considered a little scant compared to JA, don't you think?

I don't necessarily think that the same people are going through the stages you're describing, unless you can point to specific users? I've perceived the mood to be relatively consistent among some regular users.

I think the Sims has always been experimental in regards to DLC. TS1 gave us EPs, TS2 gave us Stuff Packs, TS3 gave us a fully supported store, and now we have EPs for EPs. I guess it aligns with the ever changing nature of consumerism, especially with hyper-consumption becoming more prevalent.

"TheSkyNomad;c-16363819" wrote:
@DeservedCriticism I believe you nailed it. The Sims fans tend to be completionists: no matter how bad or expensive a DLC is, they will buy it. Just look at the recent vampire nerf controversy: there are people who bough the Vampires GP because of the CAS items. Some even dislike vampires. They were willing to pay a GP's price for something they basically see as a SP with an undesirable (for them) feature (which happens to be the GP's main selling point, but no big deal, apparently). Go figure. The only explanation I can find for people like those is that they somehow got enough aspiration points to buy a real money tree.

*Some Sims fans. I'm not one of those fans :wink: