When I first saw the announcement for the Summit, my immediate thought was TS5 was going to be annuonced. Especially since they cancelled EA Play Live 2022 and stated:
We love EA Play Live as it’s our way of connecting with our players and sharing what’s new with all of you. However, this year things aren’t lining up to show you everything on one date.
We have exciting things happening at our world-class studios and this year we’ll reveal much more about these projects when the time is right for each of them. We look forward to spending time with you throughout the year!
So I assumed this was how they would be announcing upcoming games/releases for their studios.
But then when I saw the dancers and heard about the on street interviews, and the comedian host .... I figured it was all just an overblown super-hype about TS4 being free to draw in new players.
So, it was not really a surprise to me that it was announced as being in production.
What surprised me most, was that they actually showed a little footage of it rather than just some cryptic "The Future Is Soon" type message with a new plumbob.
Anyway, I'm on Team TS5 (been on it, for years now), so it makes me happy!
And based upon all of the statements about how early in production they are, we have 2-3+ years before it's released.
Hopefully in that time, some players will get some of the things they've been asking for. They just need to be realistic about how much stuff they're wanting to be added before TS4 DLC ends.We literally get maybe 2 EPs a year (if we're lucky) and sometimes 2 GPs a year. And a sh......load of kits (which are pretty much useless as far as enhancing the game and does nothing more than add some more aesthetic assets to the catalog).
They've told us numerous times that a GP takes about a year to make and EPs longer. So that means whatever they've been working on currently and finishing up is coming in 2023 and whatever they're starting next year will be released in 2024. That doesn't leave too too too many more years left for DLC releases if TS5 were to come out in 2025.
Some people's TS4 Wishlist Before It Ends, is like 50 new items, 7-8 New Worlds, and a list of like 5-7 New EPs and GPs, that's NOT realistic.
But simmers need to remember, even when TS5 comes out, that does not mean TS4 will never be able to be played again and nobody will force/coherce/shame them into buying the next version if that's not something they want to do. All it means is that DLC content for TS4 will eventually dwindle down to nothing once TS5 becomes the main game.
