I've been reflecting on the Wedding situation over the last week and I keep coming back to one thing:How can the Paranormal Stuff Pack have been *so* good and added so much more gameplay and fun objects, and yet the Wedding Stories *game pack* - which is meant to be bigger, better and with more gameplay - somehow costs more and is going to do less?Did they just call it a game pack because it's been a while since we had one? Or did they think that the new world made it too big for a stuff pack? And if that's the case, why oh why do we only have basically the same number of new items in game as with a regular stuff pack, and virtually no new gameplay?! I realise there have been a lot of rants on this theme but I wonder if perhaps EA need to re-learn the art of "under-promise, over-deliver".

"ExxCee;d-997737" wrote:I've been reflecting on the Wedding situation over the last week and I keep coming back to one thing:How can the Paranormal Stuff Pack have been *so* good and added so much more gameplay and fun objects, and yet the Wedding Stories *game pack* - which is meant to be bigger, better and with more gameplay - somehow costs more and is going to do less?Did they just call it a game pack because it's been a while since we had one? Or did they think that the new world made it too big for a stuff pack? And if that's the case, why oh why do we only have basically the same number of new items in game as with a regular stuff pack, and virtually no new gameplay?! I realise there have been a lot of rants on this theme but I wonder if perhaps EA need to re-learn the art of "under-promise, over-deliver".Personally, I think there has been a distinct tide change in the game over the past year or so. Maybe, it cost EA more now to produce a pack than it did eight years ago and they want to pass that cost on the customers. Or maybe they could just want more returns for less effort. I don't know, but its probably inevitable that these changes will happen over such a long time. :(

"ExxCee;d-997737" wrote:I've been reflecting on the Wedding situation over the last week and I keep coming back to one thing:How can the Paranormal Stuff Pack have been *so* good and added so much more gameplay and fun objects, and yet the Wedding Stories *game pack* - which is meant to be bigger, better and with more gameplay - somehow costs more and is going to do less?Did they just call it a game pack because it's been a while since we had one? Or did they think that the new world made it too big for a stuff pack? And if that's the case, why oh why do we only have basically the same number of new items in game as with a regular stuff pack, and virtually no new gameplay?! I realise there have been a lot of rants on this theme but I wonder if perhaps EA need to re-learn the art of "under-promise, over-deliver".In terms of number of new items, Wedding Stories has way more objects than Paranormal Stuff. But regardless I definitely think that a stuff pack would've suited a wedding theme much better. Some new wedding related outfits in CAS, some nice wedding themed BB, and then spice up the actual weddings themselves within the scope of a stuff pack.

It comes with a new world. Without the world, it’s a stuff pack.

I can only speculate but there are some aspects regarding Sims4 I was investigating lately and I'd like to stress for those who are still hoping for this franchise. I'm sorry if it's hard to read - English is foreign to me and the subject is pretty complex: No matter how we love Sims and how big we are viewing this game it's not the major profit bringer for EA. In 2019 it was reported as something big that Sims4 revenue overcome 1Billion through it's whole LIFETIME. Meanwhile FIFA title helped EA generate ~$1.3 billion in revenue per YEAR! So development of Sims4 obviously never was a priority for EA from strategic point of view. Most of EA revenue comes not from direct game distribution but from "loot boxes" aka EA Ultimate Team. The model they can't implement (yet) for Sims franchise due to modders providing quality content for free. https://twitter.com/ZhugeEX/status/1397650874378465281?s=20&t=DwohUaSzH6S9k3nqvWvDMQBut recently Console segment of TS4 players is at least on par and probably even a bit bigger than PC segment. Meaning half of player-base can't have CC content, hmmm.... A free giveaway of The Sims 4 for PlayStation Plus users led to the title’s console players outnumbering PC users for the first time (2.5M vs. 2.2M). The title has long earned the lion’s share of its revenue from the sale of in-game content, so the giveaway presented a low-risk way to attract new audience members and potentially convert them to spenders down the road. Obvious solution is bringing in "Store". Which in Sims4 we are having in the form of Kits. If you check the cost of the game for you as a customer in 2021, you'll see that ~40% of it's cost are Kits. Guys, 40% of their gross income for plain assets! No coding, no bug fixing, profit! Of course Kits will be one of the main model of content distribution for them from now on. Though this information is pretty hard to find since around 2019-2020 Sims4 is showing decline in revenue and I think considering how long Sims4 is lasting they are putting the game on life-support mode. In MMORPG this model is realized through milking so called "whales" while doing bare minimum for game maintenance. These are players so devoted to the game they'll buy whatever is released/needed to play it. "In MMORPG whales make up roughly 0.2% of the player base, and yet they spend almost 51% of the money". Though Sims4 has no loot boxes in this franchise we still have completionists - "I'll buy it 'cause I have everything from this franchise" and those who always hunger for assets - "Yes, MWS are buggy but I want the world so bad". They are ideal base for Kits and low-effort packs. Of course for Sims "whales" ratio won't be so dramatic 'cause different distribution models but I assume it's considerable to milk "whales" in Sims.My conclusion from all this is that for Sims 4 we'll see further decline in content quantity and quality due to cost reduction in game life-support state. It is and will be counter-balanced only by individual teams devotion & vision. Luckily for Stuff Packs team has SimGuruConnor who's obviously very passionate for game and has vision resonating with how earlier games in franchise worked. For Game Packs team this obviously is not the case. Unfortunately Kits probably would lead to obliteration of Stuff Packs. Low cost high income. Overall everything will be shifting towards easy assets. I'm not expecting anything exciting from Sims4 at this stage.As for potential Sims5 I bet it won't be continuation of what Sims1 and Sims2 put into this franchise. It won't be a sandbox life simulator. If you'll check latest EA CEO interview where he speaks about Sims while playing a drinking game taking a shot each time he mentions Metaverse you'll be wasted. So ideal model for them would be without an open possibility for modding to create higher demand for cosmetic assets. Plus they can't sell athletes with this franchise but they can sell trends and celebrities. And I view all recent collabs with brands and celebs as a test. To achieve this they need to make game semi-online hyping it as a Metaverse and they are clearly toying with this idea judging from the recent 5$ survey. Just realize that from the business point of view they are not interested at all in developing and selling NOT a live service game with intricate AI and simulation. Development time and cost will be high. But revenue from direct game sales is minimal for them. If they are to keep Sims franchise alive they need a reliable constant way to keep it monetized as a live service. Old-school gamers demanding "gameplay" like in Sims2 are a negligible and discardable segment of potential customers. Nothing personal just business.And to all who are saying "but they tell us..." Just recently they tell us for example that they can't distribute game in Russia without cover changing, later releasing it without cover changing. And then they tell us that release will be delayed 'cause of Russia while in reality they are working on patching the unplayable game. They tell us many things, especially that "they hear us", all the time, but are these thing believable?Sorry to be gloom but the whole MWS situation left me very frustrated and wounded in my deepest feelings towards the franchise 'cause I'm obviously in this negligible nostalgic minority.

Thank you @Harukotyan for elaborating on my fears, you said it much better than I did.

Paranormal vs Weddings | EA Forums

ExxCee
Seasoned Newcomer
3 years ago
"logion;c-18065509" wrote:
"SilentKitty;c-18065477" wrote:
Hmm....

I am not a 100% that the Sims 4 will see no more involved gameplay added to the game.

The latest piece of involving gameplay.
The latest piece of really involving gameplay was Cottage Living, and that was very good according to me. I have gotten a lot of enjoyment out of that expansion and it did change the game for me. It could have been a great goodbye gameplay-wise or we will see something good added later.

What is happening currently.
At the moment we are getting everything that does not include gameplay. BB, CAS and now a world.

Hm.... Just because we are not seeing any involving gameplay added right now does not make it a 100% certain that it will never occur again. The people who make that kind of content are either working on something or laid off. If it is something coming out for Sims 4 or if they are involved in something else time will tell.

Could it be story progression that involves the entire world? Do they wish to add something big that will be added as free content? Are the gameplay-people working on something other than Sims 4? I don't know.

Maybe it is because I came to the Sims from other games, I am used to waiting years for the next addition to my favorite games but I feel like it is premature to write of future gameplay content completely when the latest expansion was so great. Am I certain that we will see more, no. Am I certain that we will see no more, no.

I'm not sure what is going on either, someone on the "wedding stories negative thread" had a theory that My Wedding Stories could have been the expansion pack that we were supposed to get in December. A theory that sounds more and more likely the more you look at how strange it is that some parts are missing while other parts feel way more developed.

Hmmm that's interesting.... I wonder what the EP would have been?
Joanne_Snow
Rising Traveler
3 years ago
My feeling is that over the last year or so something about the general direction has changed because:
* a seizable proportion of developers/designers have been moved to TS5 team
* the game is becoming increasingly more unstable with every new world / mechanic they add, which they've partially confirmed to be the reason for ever smaller worlds
* they either don't see how little some of these packs are offering or they just dgaf
KaraGaelford
3 years ago
"SimTrippy;c-18065544" wrote:
My feeling is that over the last year or so something about the general direction has changed because:
* a seizable proportion of developers/designers have been moved to TS5 team
* the game is becoming increasingly more unstable with every new world / mechanic they add, which they've partially confirmed to be the reason for ever smaller worlds
* they either don't see how little some of these packs are offering or they just dgaf

Agreed, but what also concerns me is that EA/MAXIS are not acknowledging the problems and saying everything is fine and that the Sims 4 going to continue on for x years.
Loanet
Rising Scout
3 years ago
The world feels really well done, but at the same time it doesn't really feel like a 'weddings' world, even if it is romantic in places. If feels like they put all their effort in there.

Instead, we get a ton of unrelated Kit packs. My personal (cynical) opinion for Kit Packs is that EA had a lot of people working from home, and also a lot of items hanging around. And of course, if you look at some of the CAS, a few people to sponsor...

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