Sims 4 is the best selling base game of the franchise.

"Trashmagic;c-17386665" wrote:
There was a rumor going around towards the end of the Sims 3 reign that money from Sims 3 sales and (store) sales went to fund another EA game.

If true, that is the right of EA to allocate their money where they see fit. However while I do believe the Sims franchise brings them in a nice chunk of change, I don't believe that change gets put back into the Sims franchise as much as it should or could.

I think EA sees the Sims as that game that doesn't need a huge budget but will pull in big cash.
Perhaps that is why the devs talk of a tight/small budget.

This is all theory based on rumor I heard once upon a time but I do think it's something to consider.

Unfortunately this out of the developers hands if so.

EA are still paying for 200 developers, so that's no small sum to pay every month. But I get the impression that either Maxis or EA do not want to invest too much into the sims4. They would rather that the game is a live-service which provides smaller updates consistently. They would rather release bunk beds or ladders over a year, than release them all with one pack.