The Sims 4 will continue into 2018!

"Writin_Reg;c-16240453" wrote:
As EA officially announces the next Sims series about 15 or more months before it comes out, I would not be counting on it in 2019 if you do not get the official announcement in the next couple months. Also there is the added issue - that with every past coming new series many of us were aware the next series was being worked on at least a year before EA officially announces it - and frankly not an official - unofficial peep has leaked out yet. So myself I am doubtful about 2019 being the end of Sims 4 - never mind the fact the CEO talked about extending the shelf life of all EA's present games thanks to the live service.

There is no news in this. The development of TS4 started in 2008. But EA said a word about this before EA announced TS4 on May 6, 2013.

One other fact is in the data files of Sims 1 - 2 - and 3 there were numbered slot limits in each game for the number of eps each game would be capable of properly holding and remain stable - so many of us knew the max eps each base game could possibly have from the first day we had the base game - Sims 2 and 3 maxed out their allotted slots, Sims 1 could have had another ep but they never did it. Interestingly, Sims 4 has no allotted slots period, and supports what devs have said since the game came out- "that the Sims 4 had no limits and they could continue to work on Sims 4 as long as it was feasible to do so". On top of it the live service that Sims 4 is now fully connected to could indeed extend the Sims 4 as long as the devs consider it feasible to add to this game. Unlike any previous Sims series game - Sims 4 does not have an expiration date if devs and EA wants to keep it going.

Again there isn’t anything unusual here. EA plans here almost exactly when the next Sims game according to plans should be released - years before it happens. But the first years are mostly used on getting ideas and experimenting. This is necessary to avoid the the next game becomes too similar to either the current game or an earlier game. Then choices has to be made and things graduately become more fixed. But EA doesn’t announce the game before it is almost ready and mainly only testing and bug fixing remains. Then EA can also start showing videos from the new game.

But EA also is prepared to release one or two more expansions for the previous game if EA for some reason should have to postpone the release day for the new game with a few months.

This also explains why Maxis heads have said since the first game that Sims 4 is different than the rest of the series and that we need to not expect what went on with Sims 1-2- and 3 - with the Sims 4. Yet players constantly do the comparisons. I do it myself, even though I recognize it is technically very different from it's game engine up than the previous 3 games of the series.
Yes, we all know that TS4 doesn’t get 2 EPs each year like the previous games because they get more SPs and the new GPs instead. Besides that EA has decided to also put new content into the free updates which clearly is an idea that EA got from the free MMO games. And EA is working on so many (but smaller) expansions at the same time that EA uses more development teams and move developers more freely between the teams. I agree with this.

But all the reasons why EA always has planned the next basegame to be released 5 years after the previous one is still valid because the main reason has always been that EA wants a balance between two things:
1. To avoid the development cost for a new basegame more often than necessary.
2. To avoid releasing expansions for the same basegame in so many years that the sales numbers for new expansions become too small for EA to get much profit from those new expansions.

So I don’t believe that EA’s release policy has just changed at random and for no reason because such decisions aren’t made that way. EA has changed the sizes and numbers of expansions for TS4 because big EPs don’t sell as well as earlier when they are sold as digital downloads and because smaller expansions (SPs and GPs) now sell better. Free content in updates is also a good way to get lost simmers back to playing the game. But not to release the next basegame after 5 years would only make sense if EA plans to stop the series for good and let TS4 become the last big PC Sims game ever. But TS4 still seem to sell better than EA’s other games and EA now has released a console version too. Besides that EA plans to have 2 very different Sims MMO games in the future and released both big updates and tons of new content for both of them at the same time. So EA seems to want to invest more money in making Sims games than ever before and certainly not to let TS4 become the last big Sims game for PCs!