Hi… I’ve been watching content about the kits for a few days and I’d like to give my honest feedback from what I’ve seen so far. I haven’t bought the kits myself, but I’ve watched the live stream and a lot of game-changer content and reviews on the subject. I’ve also been following the articles and videos from Simstime, The Sims Community, Pixelade etc. reporting on the content. So, keep in mind that this is my opinion based on what I’ve seen and read so far.
Also, my goal here is not to be negative or disrespectful, but rather to contribute to the debate and give my feedback to EA as someone who’s been playing the game for 20 years.
KITS – THE CONCEPT
As a player, I have a very negative opinion so far about the concept of a Kit Pack.
First, because I do not believe we suffer from a ‘content draught’ on The Sims 4. We already have 10 Expansion Packs, 09 Game Packs, and 17 Stuff Packs. That is a total of 36 packs, which gives us an average of 05/packs a year or one pack every couple of months or so. Not to mention the free content we occasionally get in updates. I feel like the amount of content being provided is not the problem, rather the quality of the product vs. the pricing.
Second, because, from what I’ve seen so far, I believe kits will not tackle the main problems the community has been complaining about for years. It is, in my opinion, a bad use of the Sims team’s time. Instead of focusing on important things like improving and differentiating life stages (especially babies and elders), finding ways to add depth to the gameplay, giving us tools to make each sim more unique etc., EA will be drawing resources to gives even more assets than we already have. Even if EA hires an entirely new team for Kit Packs, at the end of the day, that is still a less efficient use of their manpower, since the same resources could be better employed by addressing the issues players have been pointing since day one.
Third, because fractioning the content into a third of a Stuff Pack for half the price is financially unappealing to players. From what I’ve read so far, even the players who bought the Kit Packs have been consistently criticizing the price as being “too high”. I agree that the other DLC types for The Sims 4 are expensive. I, myself, am a completionist for the game and I’ve often resorted to waiting months or years to buy things on sale, especially because they’re even more expensive in my country, after taxes and due to the exchange rate conversion. However, Kits so far have roughly a third of the content you could get from a Stuff Pack while representing half its cost. For their relatively lower asking price, we can also expect them to rarely (if ever) go on sale. If there was an argument to be made in favor of Kit Packs being a cheaper alternative for players who can’t afford the other types of pack, I think said argument loses its power when you consider what you get for said asking price. Kits seem to be shallower by definition, given their smaller price, which leaves them with a proportionally lesser impact or transformative power in your game. If the real concern was to give more options to players who can’t buy all packs due to their prices, and not to ensure a larger profit margin, the simplest answer would perhaps be to have more frequent sales on all DLC types. That way, those players would not miss out on the different aspects and the added depth of the game. But that has not been the case.
Fourth, because I disagree with the argument made during the live stream that the content delivered with the Kit Packs is something EA probably wouldn’t be able to deliver to players otherwise. The assets and gameplay we’ve seen so far have not been as “hyperfocused” as they seem to have been marketed as. They have all been, without exception, content that could’ve been included as a part of a future (or even past) pack. As the community has pointed out on numerous occasions, the assets and features in “Bust the Dust” would fit perfectly within packs like Laundry Day, Parenthood, or Eco Lifestyle, for example. The “Country Kitchen” pack would also be perfect for the long-awaited and requested farming or generations packs. There’s nothing terribly specific about gym clothes, a new kitchen or a dust system and vacuums. Breaking up packs into CAS, Build/Buy and Gameplay doesn’t make your product hyperfocused, it just diminishes its capacity to generate interest. Unless this changes significantly, the Kit Packs will remain to me as a senseless, lower effort alternative to more fleshed-out packs.
Fifth, because of the different roles I, as a customer, expect EA and the very creative CC creators of our community to assume. I’ve read people argue favorably towards the Kit Packs by saying that people will pay USD 5,00 to CC creators on Patreon and get more or less the same amount of assets that they would on a kit. Others say you usually get more for your money. However, what I’ve been pondering since recent partnerships EA has been making with CC and mod creators and the first leaks about the Kit Packs is: do we expect the Sims team to play the same role to us, as costumers, as the CC community does? Is that what we want, an endless amount of extra content with an EA brand stapled on? What I want from EA is that they provide the players with things that only they can provide; that they look at issues from a sharper, more technical, and more creative point of view than your casual CC/mod creator; that they strive to make sure we get the most of our gaming experience. I want the Sims team to look at the game from a developer's perspective, searching where they can improve and expand current gameplay features. When they look at CAS or Build mode, is not that I don’t want the pretty assets (which I love), but I want them to think of things like tool functionality because that is what will have the biggest impact on all players. I expect them to look at the franchise with the eyes of the past, present, and future games. They have to look beyond because they are the ones with the resources to give us more and to make playing this game a worthwhile experience.
I want the Sims team to learn a lesson from the creators in our community while keeping their unique position in mind to give us that which only they can offer. I want them to offer game-changing content with mod-level depth, and well-made CC-level assets, without the risk of breaking your game. That doesn’t mean replacing those creators, giving us everything to cover every single possible (hyper-focused) niche of player. I don’t expect them to give us smaller packs to compete with CC creators or modders on their Patreons. If that is EA’s goal, they will fail, because the CC creators are vastly more diverse than the Sims team and they outnumber them. They also work out of passion and love for the game: their end goal is not getting higher profits. They need to pay attention to what the community as a whole wants and likes, to ensure we have a good universal playing experience while holding the products they do offer to a higher parameter of quality. I want them to listen to the community and the creators, make partnerships, but don’t lose sight of the fact that they, as developers, can offer us more, because they have the resources of a multi-million dollar franchise a simple modder or CC creator wouldn’t dream of having.
And, last of all, because, judging by the job listings we’ve seen so far for The Sims 5, we might be heading towards a future that includes microtransactions in the game. This is something that I do not want to see EA pursue, as it would make me lose all interest in the game. The Kit Packs look like a testing ground for ideas that could have a very negative impact in our community, increasing the inequality between the players’ experiences. and it honestly gives me just bad vibes. It reminds me of when we had The Sims 3 Store, where our money was worth very little, and it just reads as an overall bad idea.
The more frequent criticism of The Sims 4 I see is that the franchise needs more depth in order to be engaging. What drives players away is opening your game and feeling every sim has the same personality on a different frame or that the game doesn’t surprise you or challenge you. It’s not a “content draught”, it’s a depth of content draught. However, the strategy that seems to be adopted here directly contradicts it. The idea of releasing shallower content very often, instead of fewer, deeper, more interesting content less often, signals to me, as a customer, that EA hasn’t been paying attention to our main complaints.
I’ve been playing The Sims for about 20 years. I’ve played every game in the franchise since I was a child and I plan to keep playing for years. So, my goal here is to provide constructive criticism of the game, not to attack anyone. Please, I respectfully ask you not to tag me in replies if you’ll say that I can “just not buy the content” because that is beside the point. I am an adult and I am aware that I have the option to not buy the Kit Packs or not buy them at full price. I have never been keen on spreading negativity within the community and that is not my intention. As customers, we have every right to an opinion, and I believe honest, constructive feedback is good for the team and for the game as a whole. Thanks.
EA Staff (Retired)
